Pope Francis: Reckless Blabbermouth or Sophisticated Strategist?

His public utterances on all manner of subject may seem scattergun or contradictory, but this pope is playing a long, tactical game

It’s a mistake to take too much notice of what the pope says. And funnily enough, he’d be the first to say so. By which I don’t mean that it won’t be worth listening when he makes the speech, announced this week, to the United Nations general assembly in September. Pope Francis is due to publish the Catholic church’s first encyclical on the environment in a couple of months, and he’ll draw on that to argue in New York for greater international commitments to curb greenhouse gases. He’ll probably call for the rich to do much more to help poor people around the world already blasted by the effects of climate change.

And the day before it will be well worth watching the seat-squirming that will take place when he becomes the first pope ever to address both Houses of Congress in Washington. Expect uncompromising denunciation of the idolatrous ideology of the free market which keeps the young jobless and dispenses with the old.

It’s the stuff in between you should treat with more scepticism. Take the interview he gave the other day to mark the second anniversary of his election. He had a feeling, he told Mexican television, that his pontificate would be brief, just two or three years more. Maybe he would resign, as his predecessor had. But the interview was full of other bar-room ramblings, about how he “didn’t mind” being pope. (He loves it). Or how he misses the anonymity of strolling into a pizzeria for a pizza. (They deliver.) Or his reaction to the criticism that he talks too much and too spontaneously: “I’ve always spoken that way. Always. For some it’s a.....

Don't normally post too much Guardian stuff but this piece aint bad and he makes what I think is a very good point. Here's the money quote:

But what Francis is trying to do is willfully devalue the coinage of papal utterances. He is doing something similar with the synod of bishops. Previously every synod was as carefully orchestrated as an old-style Soviet congress. But Francis has told bishops that debate is not dissent and unleashed a tsunami of heated argument over totemic issues like contraception, divorce and same-sex relationships. It is all part of dismantling the old imperial papacy and opening the church to a style of governance that is more participative and, though it is not a word Francis would use, democratic. He knows he will need a few more years to entrench that idea into the Catholic hierarchy. Which is why talk of his imminent resignation should not be taken very seriously.

Previously every synod was as carefully orchestrated as an old-style Soviet congress. But Francis has told bishops that debate is not dissent and unleashed a tsunami of heated argument over totemic issues like contraception, divorce and same-sex relationships.

Francis must not be put off by the sight of sausage being made :)

What the "debate" at the most recent synod did was to flush out the real beliefs of many cardinals. Those who debated in favor of heterodox positions clearly did so because they personally believed them, not as some kind of academic exercise.

Yeah, I’d say he’s sophisticated, according to the original meaning of the word...

sophisticate

SOPHIST’ICATE, v.t.

1. To adulterate; to corrupt by something spurious or foreign; to pervert; as, to sophisticate nature, philosophy or the understanding.
2. To adulterate; to render spurious; as merchandise; as, to sophisticate wares or liquors. They purchase but sophisticated ware.

SOPHIST’ICATE, a. Adulterated; not pure; not genuine. So truth, when only one supplied the state, grew scarce and dear, and hey sophisticate.

Curiously enough, though, the Pope is very autocratic - not to mention vindictive and sneaky - in his actions. What he’s doing is devaluing the institution of the Papacy, that’s true, but he’s also making it more focused on the personality of the person who holds it (as long as he’s Pope, at least). He’s creating a sort of populist cult around himself.

He has essentially taken the Curia out of the game and seems to be heading for less participation rather than more, while at the same time relying on unofficial and unaccountable “advisers” that he has brought to Rome, some of them from Argentina. The latter country is hardly a good model for the rest of the Church, btw.

Those who call him the Obama of the Catholic Church are on target, not only with respect to his opinions, but with respect to his modus operandi.

"What the "debate" at the most recent synod did was to flush out the real beliefs of many cardinals. Those who debated in favor of heterodox positions clearly did so because they personally believed them, not as some kind of academic exercise."

That's a very interesting comment, Alex. That's worth thinking about.

Here's something else I've noticed. In his book Silencio y Palabra (Silence and Word) Bergoglio said that before he will organize us around the “issues” he will ask us to reflect by "keeping silence, praying and humbling ourselves". He especially warned that evil presents itself as good or "the bad spirit comes in the guise of an angel."

The way to deal with such Spirit is not to fight it head on, he says, because only God can defeat such a Power. He tells us, "Be gentle! The evil ones will take that for weakness... The devil emboldened will show himself and his true intentions, no longer disguised as an angel of light but boldly and shamelessly."

Did this not happen at the extraordinary synod in October 2014 when the pope was much criticized by us conservatives for not "speaking up" against falsehoods?

His disciplined silence allowed over the next few months that several prominent episcopal "angels of compassion and light" ---- the rich, proud leftists like Kasper, Marx, Wuerl, Forte, Baldisseri ---- were exposed by their own deeds and words to be thieves, liars, and racists.

They're doing what strutting bullies so often do: they're digging their graves with their mouths. To get the modus operandi, watch a couple of old episodes of Columbo (I loved Peter Falk).

According to Cardinal George Pell, three-fourths of the synod's bishops expressed objections to the manipulated draft relatio when it came up for discussion on the floor. The fake relatio actually ignited the conservatives.

Is this what Pope Francis had in mind? I don't know, but willy-nilly, by bold design or by bumbling, it's happening. If not what Francis had in mind, it may be what the Holy Spirit had in mind.

This year I predict the Bad Guys, who have in their positions of power have been lured into overplaying their hands, are going to be smacked down hard: not by Pope Francis himself, maybe, but by somebody better: the Poles, the African bishops and cardinals.

Watch. We'll see. I am praying for it

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.