This Pope is actually very, and ironically (epicly so) ... Capitalistic ... in how he’s running the Church.
He’s looking to rejuvenate the Church by filling pews. Cuba represents a massive untapped vein of faith, and he doesn’t want to end up back in an adversarial relationship with a dictatorial government that’s only recently started loosening prohibitions on the practice of his Faith. Tick off the Castros and the Church might find itself shut out for another couple decades. So he’s going to play nice with them.
Then he comes to the US and shifts his message. He’s betting that appeals on issues that matter to Liberals will get them back into the pews without costing him much in the way of Conservatives who leave. Probably also considering that the Conservatives will largely die out over the next 20-30 years while the upcoming Millennials who will provide the bulk of future Churchgoers will be much more Liberal in their outlook.
This is all business management 101.
Must keep those bucks coming in.
It's amazing how many Catholics there are here that are badmouthing the pope.
Makes one wonder if they are looked down upon by the leadership for not following pope rules that all living beings MUST be in subjection to the pope.
They must be torn, some open and even caucus threads they are saying things about Catholicism that would get a Protestant/Evangelical/Christian possibly banned.
The bottom line is the bottom line. Period.