[ebb tide]

Generally speaking, his [Francis'] language of mercy and compassion has been directed toward “outsiders.” To those inside the sheepfold, however, he’s struck a startlingly different tone. As Catholic writer Michael Brendan Dougherty has observed, “Where Benedict sought to condemn errors in the abstract, Pope Francis makes it personal and attacks tendencies within certain groups of people, usually in highly stylized papal idioms” (The Week, Feb. 11). In fact, Francis has proven himself to be something of an acid-tongued put-down artist. As Dougherty puts it, “Francis is practically an insult comic” — Don Rickles in a white cassock, if you will.

[Mrs. Don-o]

`

[bigheadfred]

There is something I need to say about this. I am not Catholic but that isn’t the problem. It is something else.

[aquila48]

This pope is to the Catholic church what Obama is to America. They are both out to fundamentally transform their respective realms.

The parallel are uncanny, it’s like they’re using the same playbook. Obama puts down America and her friends (Israel, UK, etc.) while lauding our enemies. According to this article this pope is doing the same as he puts down the catholic church itself and its friends and adherents, while kowtowing to all her detractors and outright enemies.

Boggles the mind.

[miele man]

‘

[Alex Murphy]

Generally speaking, his [Francis'] language of mercy and compassion has been directed toward “outsiders.” To those inside the sheepfold, however, he’s struck a startlingly different tone. As Catholic writer Michael Brendan Dougherty has observed, “Where Benedict sought to condemn errors in the abstract, Pope Francis makes it personal and attacks tendencies within certain groups of people, usually in highly stylized papal idioms” (The Week, Feb. 11). In fact, Francis has proven himself to be something of an acid-tongued put-down artist. As Dougherty puts it, “Francis is practically an insult comic” — Don Rickles in a white cassock, if you will.

[GOP Poet]

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[marshmallow]

This is a trend which has prevailed in the Church since the Council. The greatest enmity...in fact the only enmity....has been reserved for those who hold fast to tradition. Heretics and modernists have been allowed much greater freedom. The "who am I to judge" mantra is applied selectively and arbitrarily.

While the Pope's verbal assault on persons is a matter of concern, a more worrying issue, at least as far as I'm concerned, is the way he plays around with Gospel passages. He stated that when Jesus rebuked the Apostles, he wasn't really angry. He was just "pretending". He followed that up by pouring cold water on the miracle of the loaves and fishes (the feeding of the 5,000) and said that the real miracle here was one of sharing, not multiplication; i.e. people brought food with them and shared it as a result of prayer.

If a Pope is prepared to twist and trivialize Scripture, there is little doubt that he'll do the same with the Church.

Everything about the past 12 months has been bizarre. From the sudden resignation of BXVI, to lightning striking the dome of St. Peter's on the same day, to Francis' assault on the FMI, to his frequent tongue lashings of traditionalists.