Posted on 03/14/2013 1:39:29 PM PDT by marshmallow
We need a new pope with the steel of St Francis
What’s in a name? Evidently a great deal. When we heard the name “Francis” as that chosen by the new Pope, everyone was startled – it had never been used before – and then reassured; after all, St Francis of Assisi must be everyone’s favourite saint. Obviously I am a little partial to him as he is my own patron, but in the world’s eyes he manages to be very attractive – all that love of animals and nature – while not seeming uncompromisingly “Catholic”. It is, however, a mistake to see St Francis in this sanitised and sentimental way, just as it would be a mistake to see Pope Francis as just a man whose origins are humble (his father was an Italian immigrant and railway worker) and who clearly loves the poor. Piers Paul Read, in an article in last week’s Herald, spoke of the new pope needing the quality of “rigeur” – a character of steel in defending Church teaching. St Francis had this “rigeur” when necessary, and so, from what I have read, does Pope Francis.
Not only that, as a Jesuit, the choice of name might also have been influenced by the example of St Francis Xavier, the great missionary Jesuit who died of a fever on the island of Shangchuan while waiting for a boat to take him to mainland China, a nation he longed to convert. So our new Pope has two significant saintly traditions attached to him: simplicity and renewal of the Church from its tendency to worldliness – and the longing to bring the good news of Christ to the far corners of the earth.
Naturally enough, the media is scrutinising the new Pope’s life in order to understand his personality.
I’m kind of surprised that no pope chose the name Francis until now.
Me too. I mean sixteen “Benedicts” and not one “Francis”?
“So our new Pope has two significant saintly traditions attached to him: simplicity and renewal of the Church from its tendency to worldliness – and the longing to bring the good news of Christ to the far corners of the earth.”
From the actions and homily of his first days (see link below) - I think these are both correct. After reading his homily and his humbleness - I already really like this guy!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2996908/posts
So very, very true; embarrasing really.
“What’s in a name?”
I don’t know, but in high school, I was pretty impressed by Brother Frederick Anthony. “FA” had taught school on the south side of Philly and apparently in a reform school, too. He was an RN, so he knew just how long and hard to hold onto your nose until it got black & blue without any residual gangrene. He whacked me in the head a time or two with one of those huge Biology books when I wasn’t paying attention.
“Isn’t that right?”
“Yes”
“What’s right?”
“What you said.”
WHACK
He was proud of showing off his Bermuda shorts under his cassock (?), sort of a plaid pattern.
But the Pope is a Jesuit...and I'm pretty certain he took his name to recognize St. Francis Xavier.
I went to an all girl Catholic High School. Every year, a Jesuit Priest came to the school and lectured us for three days.
A very moralistic lecture it was...to the extreme. I went home and destryoyed all my patent leather shoes. (Every old Catholic girl will remember that one.)
Wll the gays and nuns march together to Rome?? Both groups drive us nuts. We have lost our right to peace and quiet.
I was just thinking yesterday when I read a thread about Fred Phelps brutality on his older sons. They a little younger than I am and times were different. I know so many fathers who whacked the heck out of their kids and no one thought a thing of it.
My father only spanked me once and it didn’t hurt anything but my feelings but my mother could get brutal, she wanted to hurt you and I wasn’t about to act like I was hurt so she whacked on some mmore.
My first grade teacher was always whacking people with rulers but I got nothing compared to what my husband got in a little rural school, they were torturers. He always swore that when he was grown he was going to kill his former principal and the only thing that kept him from, at least, beating him to a pulp was decorum and reputation because he was an old man already.
Those people would be in jail today and I’m not upset that there is little corporal punishment in schools. They’ve gone to far, as usual, but there was no need for all of that.
Really? No, I don’t think so. I am an “old Catholic girl”, and I never heard of that nonsense about patent leather shoes until about 20 years ago. Some people just love to ridicule the clergy and the religious of the Catholic Church.
St. Francis Borgia became the Superior General of the Jesuits, and in that position, he sent missionaries all over the world.
Many people think that the newly elevated Pope took his Papal name from St. Francis of Assisi, but that would make little sense, especially in light of his Jesuit origins.
St. Francis Borgia is a very interesting choice in and of itself, and while it was not at all the same story as St. Francis of Assisi, still many people can draw inspiration in a different and unique way.
I got picked up by my ankles and held upside-down in school, but can’t recall being whacked. I was a nice kid. Got whacked at home a number of times but that’s that. One soon learns what is acceptable behavior and what is not. Just go with the flow.
Phelps, on the other hand, is a monster.
Sweathearts, where you been all my life? I’m just one of those guys who drove the Nuns and Brothers crazy in high school. I even took a course in Home Economics. On the girl’s side of the building!
St. Francis Borgia was a direct descendant of the last Spanish-speaking pope, Alexander VI.
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