I figured that the conversation about Pope Francis' long interview would have faded by the time I adjusted to fatherhood and returned to the blog. That was apparently too optimistic.
So, my two cents:
So far, I haven't been thrilled about Francis the way I was with Benedict. Then again, Benedict was my "return to the flock" pope, so my warm fuzzies may be colored by sentimentality. My interest and path back to the Church has been moral philosophy, so Benedict often seemed to be addressing what I wanted to know.
Not so with Francis, who often seems to be speaking to the liberal worldview. He's from Latin America and a Jesuit, the main sources of the discredited liberation theology. The danger, traditionalists fear, is that his Jesuit background and life surrounded by Marxist politics (though Argentina is hardly the worst of the region) will allow Leftist thinking to infect the pontificate. This will cause, in typical Leftist fashion, the moral authority of the Church to hollow.
I will allow that Francis' statements have been alarming to me and I won't strike the possibility that he may weaken the Church in some manner. However, I believe, as we are called to believe, that the Church is holy and the Bride of Christ. If the Holy Spirit has placed Francis where he is, and we are called to believe that, too, then there is no cause for worry, even if the immediate results look dire.
The Church will always be under siege, even from within. But the highest Power of all is guiding it; there is no need to despair.
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