Posted on 03/16/2013 5:35:45 AM PDT by Kaslin
In the Monday, April 4, 2005 Mullings I wrote:
I am not certain why I feel as strongly as I do about the passing of Pope John Paul II. I am not Catholic. I am not even Christian.
I felt the same way watching the coverage of the Conclave in the Vatican to choose a man to replace Pope Benedict I. I'm not sure why I was so taken by the process and so eager to see who would be chosen.
I have proven over the past four or five months that my understanding of American politics is a little thin. I have no clue as to the politics of 115 Cardinals, relatively elderly men, who are called upon to make a choice that will directly affect the (according to the BBC) 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in the world, and indirectly affect the 5.8 billion other humans on the planet.
Like the choice of a Chief Justice of the United States, I suspect the Cardinals had to go on Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio's official record, his unofficial record, and the personal interactions over the years.
As those investment ads on CNBC always say, "Past performance is no guarantee of future results."
Cardinal Bergoglio chose the name Pope Francis (I have to admit, I first typed "Pope Francisco" I think because I'm used to saying SAN Francisco) perhaps, as the first Jesuit Pope, holding out an olive branch to another major Catholic order, the Franciscans.
In an era when almost every mention of religion is in a negative connotation - one religion against another, one sect against another, religious influence on secular life, and so on - it was soothing, really, to see the amount of time at least the American cable networks devoted to the choosing of the leader of one.
There is no official leader of Protestant Christians; no one world chief Rabbi; no single Imam. I don't think there is a single leader of Buddhists nor for Hindus, but I am willing to be corrected about that.
I know there are other major religions, please don't complain if I left yours out, but you understand my point.
After the networks have packed up and left St. Peter's Square and the joyous prayers of the faithful have faded into the background din of Roman life, the naysayers will have their turn.
They will look into every nook and cranny of Cardinal Bergoglio's life and find examples of things his has said, written or done with which they disagree.
Someone is bound to point out that Argentina was a significant landing point for Nazi war criminals after World War II. First of all at 76, Pope Francis was about 8 years old when the war ended so he probably was not a major player in that.
Secondly, if we believe the stain of segregation in the U.S. should have a statute of limitations, so should Argentina's post War activities.
Others will keep track of the various, and serious, scandals that have befallen the Church and report on how - or if - Pope Francis is dealing with them.
But for me, and I suspect for many non-Catholics, we are praying for Pope Francis' success.
Vivat Papa
Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen.
IT’s a great prayer but it’s not from St. Francis. It’s tone and emphasis is very much early 1900s, around WWI. It has no trace in any of Francis’s writings. Scholars have shown that this exact prayer was printed on a pious calendar around the time of World War I, in France (Normandy, I believe) somehow it became attached to one of the saints on the calendar, Francis.
It’s now ineradicable as “the Prayer of St. Francis” but nothing about it is particularly Franciscan. Christian, yes, so in a general sense, Francis would own it but so would every other Christian and even non-Christians. But specifically Franciscan, it is not.
It’s a good prayer. Just not St. Francis’s prayer.
I’m betting that, at some point soon, Francis will be calling for amnesty in the U.S. for illegals telling us we have to treat them with love...
Take your betting to the race track and not to what the new pope might do
No, I don’t think so.
The pope has to live by the teachings of the Church, something that seems to have eluded our United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (the USCCB), since they began inserting their views and demands into politics, particularly in economics, where they not only don’t belong but are very destructive.
They are sue that if they impose their priority of social justice onto the government, love, peace and prosperity will break out.
They have no business there.
The Pope had rejected that crap back in the day.
Even so, he would not, any pope, would not neglect a simple reading of the Catechism, the way these others have done, which states that a country cannot give its resources frivolously to non citizens, as it would eventually cease to exist and would no longer be able to give refuge to these people and not even its own people.
The Church and nations coexist. A nation thrives on the good order of its religious inhabitants and the Church thrives while its people live in hospitable countries.
The pope would certainly not be foolish in this manner.
I hope you're right. I have become so cynical regarding ANY world leader vis-a-vis the U.S.'s invader problem that I have come to believe even the Pope, who should stay out of the discussion, will stick his two cents in.
Thanks for the reasoned reply.
He was alive in 579? Whoa, this guy must be REALLY old. It must have been a rough trip visiting Rome to see the election of Pope Benedict I's successor, seeing as the city was under siege by Lombards at the time... http://www.cfpeople.org/books/pope/POPEp62.htm
;-)
Well stated. Thank you.
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