For good or for ill, Francis is pope. I get that. When I say rosaries, I pray for his intentions and I also pray that his intentions be consistent with God's intentions. I know that he will not eclipse the track record of such predecessors as Alexander VI.
I am giving him and Bishop Cupich the benefit of the doubt by presuming that they are motivated by a desire to suck up to folks in the megadonor class and that they do not actually believe in the substance of many of the things they say and do. Does Francis really mean it when he asks as to practitioners of homosexual perversions: "Who am I to judge?" Of the 7 billion people on this earth, he is the very first in line with a right and a DUTY to judge. That comes with the power of the Keys.
Does the overcooked linguine spined Cupich REALLY believe that it is a sensible policy for a Catholic bishop to require that his priests and seminarians not pray outside Planned Barrenhood baby-killing mills? Or is it that judging homosexuals and confronting America's leading purveyor of infanticide just sooooooo embarrassing when chatting up the thoroughly liberated Mrs. Gotmegabucks for a contribution to ministries that she finds more "respectable" and politically "correct." "Some more Beluga caviar, Mrs. Gotmegabucks?"
I take second place to none in my admiration for St. John Paul II but, in appointing such disgraces as Joseph Cardinal Bernardin to Chicago and Roger Cardinal Mahony to Los Angeles, even St. John Paul II was prone to occasional prudential errors. If Pope Francis in his capacity as Pope Chatty Cathy I in his relations with reporters, does not learn to stifle his misplaced enthusiasm to be quoted promiscuously by every reporter with a notepad or a tape recorder, he will make many more. Likewise the appointment of the likes of Blaise Cupich to sees like Chicago and to receive the inevitable red hat.
Having lived through John XXIII and Paul VI with my Catholic credentials intact, I never panic. I do remain firmly rooted in reality observed.
If the Holy Ghost has anything to do with the selection of Francis or of Cupich, it must be that He knows we are in dire need of some collective punishment for our sins and that Chicago is worse in that respect than most American venues. The good news is that Francis is about to be 78 years old and Cupich is 65 and required to resign in ten years. Maybe Chicago can then get another Catholic like Francis Cardinal George.
It occurs to me that Judas was chosen to remind future generations of Catholics that, If our Savior's choices turn out to be as bad as Judas, then we can endure the Bernardins, the Mahonys, and the Cupiches.
OTOH, Francis Cardinal George made a series of predictions in his archdiocesan newspaper earlier this year. He said that he expected to die in bed, that his immediate successor would die in prison and the next successor would be martyred in the public square. I hope Cupich is up to the challenge.