Posted on 03/15/2013 10:21:15 AM PDT by haffast
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is the first ever from the Americas, an austere Jesuit intellectual who modernized Argentina's conservative Catholic church.
snip
Bergoglio's legacy as cardinal includes his efforts to repair the reputation of a church that lost many followers by failing to openly challenge Argentina's murderous 1976-83 dictatorship. He also worked to recover the church's traditional political influence in society, but his outspoken criticism of President Cristina Kirchner couldn't stop her from imposing socially liberal measures that are anathema to the church, from gay marriage and adoption to free contraceptives for all.
snip
"In our ecclesiastical region there are priests who don't baptize the children of single mothers because they weren't conceived in the sanctity of marriage," Bergoglio told his priests. "These are today's hypocrites. Those who clericalize the Church. Those who separate the people of God from salvation. And this poor girl who, rather than returning the child to sender, had the courage to carry it into the world, must wander from parish to parish so that it's baptized!"
Bergoglio compared this concept of Catholicism, "this Church of 'come inside so we make decisions and announcements between ourselves and those who don't come in, don't belong," to the Pharisees of Christ's time — people who congratulate themselves while condemning all others.
This sort of pastoral work, aimed at capturing more souls and building the flock, was an essential skill for any religious leader in the modern era, said Bergoglio's authorized biographer, Sergio Rubin.
snip
Many Argentines remain angry over the church's acknowledged failure to openly confront a regime that was kidnapping and killing thousands of people as it sought to eliminate "subversive elements" in society. It's one reason why more than two-thirds of Argentines describe themselves as Catholic, but fewer than 10 percent regularly attend mass.
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(Excerpt) Read more at southcoasttoday.com ...
Was the Pope involved in the dirty war in some way? Is he a war criminal?
I gather from what I read of the MSM that the Papal Curia actually elected a war criminal to the Papacy. Can this really be true?
I don’t think we can expect anything from the media other than slurs.
Are you srsly expecting truth from the MSM?
Red flag time; in conservative lingo the word “intellectual” is usually describing someone on the radical left.
Vatican Responds to Accusations About Cardinal Bergoglio and the "Dirty War"
“The campaign against Bergoglio is well-known and dates back to many years ago. It has been carried out by a publication specializing in sometimes slanderous and defamatory campaigns. The anticlerical cast of this campaign and of other accusations against Bergoglio is well-known and obvious.”
“The charges refer to the time before Bergoglio became bishop [of Buenos Aires], when he was Provincial Superior of the Jesuits in Argentina and accuse him of not having protected two priests who were kidnapped.”
Argentine priest kidnapped in Dirty War reconciled w/ Pope Francis (Don't blame Pope for Pinochet)
Maybe it’s me but “Bergoglio’’ doesn’t sound very Spanish to me. Sounds and looks to be spelled Italian.
His parents immigrated to Argentina from Italy.
I thought the name didn’t look Spanish.
From Wikipedia:
"Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, one of the five children of Mario José Bergoglio, a railway worker born in Portacomaro (Asti) in Italy's Piedmont region, and his wife Regina María Sivori, a housewife born in Buenos Aires to a family of northern Italian (Piedmontese-Genovese) origin."
Yes and no. He did grow up in Argentina, but there is no doubt that his Italian ancestry and culture must have been an influence.
Probably about a third of Argentina is of Italian descent. Even the way they speak Spanish is with an Italian inflection.
Perez Esquivel added that many members of the church "quietly did what they could to free many prisoners." He concluded, "Bergoglio had no ties to the dictatorship."
To the mud-slingers´ chagrin, none of their mud seems to be sticking.
Message from Esquivel’s website translated by Google translator:
“We welcome the appointment of the first Latin American pope in the history of the Catholic Church and its choice of name hopeful Francisco to pursue his papal period.
Hopefully you will work for justice and peace beyond the pressures and interests of world powers. Expect to put aside mistrust Vatican to prominence of the peoples in their liberation. And also encourage social transformations that have been ongoing in Latin America and elsewhere in the world, with the help of popular governments that try to overcome the night of neoliberalism.
We hope you have the courage to defend the rights of the people against the powerful, without repeating the grave mistakes, and sins, which was the Church. During the last dictatorship in Argentina the members of the Catholic Church had not homogeneous attitudes. It is undisputed that there was complicity of much of the church hierarchy in the genocide perpetrated against the people of Argentina, and although many with “excessive caution” silent efforts made to free the persecuted, few pastors who courageously and decisively took our human rights struggle against the military dictatorship. Jorge Bergoglio not think that has been complicit in the dictatorship, but I think he lacked courage to accompany our struggle for human rights in the most difficult moments.
I am traveling to Italy to celebrate another anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Arnulfo Romero, a conservative minister against repression in El Salvador had his “Road to Damascus” to the people and gave his life for justice and peace. I hope also that the choice of the name Francisco, one of the most important saints of the Church, expressed in testimony of option and defense of the poor against the powerful and the defense of the environment.
Francois has not inherited an imperial throne chair but the humble fisherman. So we hope do not forget the words of Argentine martyr Bishop, Bishop Enrique Angelelli, when he said that “we have heard in the Gospel and one in the village, to know what God says. “
Peace and Good
Adolfo Perez Esquivel
Nobel Peace Prize
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
“He disapproved of the European intervention in the Libyan civil war and warned against an intervention in Syria.[9] In the aftermath of the Death of Osama bin Laden, he sent a letter to President Barack Obama suggesting the United States killed rather than tried bin Laden because he may have revealed unsettling information about 9/11.[9] He argued, “You know that there are people who have investigated the tragic events of 9/11/2001 and claim there is evidence that this was a self-coup (self-inflicted attack).”[9] Later, he added, “This event was the perfect excuse to launch a war against Afghanistan and Iraq and now against Libya,” and referred to the United States an “axis of evil.”[9]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolfo_P%C3%A9rez_Esquivel
In Brazil, they speak Portuguese. In Argentina, they speak Spanish. Believe me, it is not the Spanish you learned in school.
Actually I’m proud to say in school I failed French for two years. Prissy ass language. The little bit of Spanish I do know I learned in night class. I didn’t fail at it but I hated it. My wife said ‘’If you’re going to fight the enemy you have to know the enemy’’. I think of all the Romance languages Italian is the nicest sounding.
I had two years of French in college and traveled around Francophone Africa for a while. If you dropped me in the middle of France, I could order a meal, get a hotel and rentacar and find my way back to CDG or ORL. I had an official five month Spanish course, then spent ten years in Latin America. Spent four years in Italy and could get by in Italian, back in the day.
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