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Does Francis have a Marxism problem?

No, he does not.

“Ultimately, many believed Jesus was the one who had come to deliver them from the Roman oppressors. And yet others said, “Isn’t this the son of a carpenter?”

So too, many have misunderstood who this bouncer-turned-cardinal-turned-pope is. Some believe he has come to “at last” set the Church free from the patriarchal oppression of past popes. Others say he is the new champion of Liberation Theology.

Some say a conservative, others a liberal, still others a Marxist or one of the Communists.

But when Jesus asked who do you say that I am? Peter replied, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”2

Who, really, is Pope Francis? In his own words, “I am a son of the Church.”

PREPARING FOR PASSION

After Jesus entered Jerusalem and the din of praise simmered, His true mission began to be revealed—to the dismay of the people. His first act was to cleanse the temple, overturning the tables of the money-changers and seats of the sellers. The very next thing?

The blind and the lame approached him in the temple area, and he cured them. (Matt 21:14)

After being elected, Pope Francis set about preparing his first Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium. In it, the Holy Father likewise began turning over the tables of the money-changers, attacking “an economy [that] kills” and the “dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose.”4 His words, based on the Church’s social doctrine, were an indictment particularly of “unbridled consumerism” and a corrupt stock exchange system that has created “a new tyranny” and a “deified market”, “a new idolatry of money” where “ethics has come to be viewed with a certain scornful derision.”5

His accurate and stinging depiction of the imbalance in wealth and power immediately (and predictably) drew the anger and ire of those who had only applauded him weeks before.

As for the Pope, he continued to shun opulence, choosing instead to be with the people.

I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security. —POPE FRANCIS, Evangelii Gaudium, n. 49

It was after His entry into Jerusalem, also, that Jesus taught the “greatest commandment”: to “love the Lord, your God, with all your heart… and your neighbour as yourself.”6 Likewise, the Holy Father made “love of neighbour” through service to the poor and evangelization central themes of his Exhortation.

But after exhorting the people to live the great commandments, Jesus did something else seemingly out of character: he publicly denounced the Scribes and Pharisees in no uncertain terms calling them “hypocrites… blind guides… whitewashed tombs…” and took them to task for seeking titles,7 keeping silent,8 and self-indulgence.9

Likewise, the gentle Pope Francis has also boldly challenged those who have lost the meaning of authentic Christian love, most especially the clergy. He has admonished those who are “obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently.”10 He has criticized religious and clergy for buying new vehicles encouraging them to “choose a more humble one.”11 He has lamented those who take “over the space of the Church” for “programmes of self-help and self-realization” and12 churchmen with a “business mentality, caught up with management, statistics, plans and evaluations whose principal beneficiary is not God’s people but the Church as an institution.”13 He has called out the “worldliness” of the Church that leads to “complacency and self-indulgence.”14 He has framed homilists who do not properly prepare their sermons as being “dishonest and irresponsible” and even “a false prophet, a fraud, a shallow impostor.”15 He described those who promote and imbibe clericalism as “little monsters.”16 And, as for titles, Francis, in an effort to curb careerism in the Church, has abolished the honor of “Monsignor” for secular priests under the age of 65.17 Last, the Holy Father is planning to renovate the Curia, which no doubt, will upset the balance of power that has built-up over years among many “career Catholics.”

http://www.markmallett.com/blog/francis-and-the-coming-passion-of-the-church

The entire article is well worth the read. ;-)