The Populist Pope

Another Hope for the Pope Story

Here's an article by a writer (Marco Cáceres)
who sees it almost the way I do.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marco-caceres/a-regular-guy-this-francis_b_2885145.html

I found THIS outstanding:

"A good example of this happened yesterday when Pope Francis happened to come across Cardinal Bernard Law at the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.

"This is the Cardinal Law who was forced to resign in 2002 as Boston's Archbishop after it was revealed that he had covered up cases of child sexual abuse by some 250 priests within his diocese. The Vatican's response? A promotion. Pope John Paul II named Cardinal Law to be the Archpriest emeritus at Santa Maria Maggiore.

"Cover up the crimes of the Church, and you get a cushy retirement post in Rome. Nice.

"John Paul II? He was beatified in 2011 -- the third in the four-step process of being canonized a Saint.

"When Pope Francis saw Cardinal Law, he apparently said to one of his assistants, "I don't want him (Cardinal Law) to be coming to this Basilica regularly." The incident was reported by the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano. According to the article, when the pope saw Cardinal Law, his face became contorted, and he immediately hurried on.

"The alternative might have been to make eye contact, smile, give a nod and wave. But nope, the pope went with his gut. A regular guy this Francis. Maybe there's hope, after all."

All I can add is: AMEN! A-MEN!

 

 

The Populist Pope

This part of my blog is dedicated to Pope Francis. First, a bit of background is in order.

I was born into a Catholic family. My mother was Roman Catholic and my father was Greek Orthodox Catholic (he was of Ukrainian descent). I was not baptized as an infant although my two older sisters were baptized. At the age of 7, when I had my tonsils out, a priest in the hospital baptized me "just in case." Then I decided to go to Catechism at St. Brigid's church in New York City, on the Lower East Side. For some reason, the priests in that church were not satisfied with the baptism I received and baptized me again. I chose the name Theresa because I liked it. For confirmation, I chose Brigid.

OK, so I was a Catholic and I graduated my Catechism class winning top honors and a gift of a watch from the church.

Somewhere along the way, as I got older and the sexual revolution got into full swing, I began to see differences between my own views and those of the Church. First, I believed in divorce because of the bad marriages in my family. Then I believed in birth control, and masturbation too, although the Church forbade it. Then I believed it was fine for people to be gay. Then I believed that women should be the equal of men, never taking orders from any man.

Getting into New-Age philosophy, I began to explore more about extrasensory perception and reincarnation and other kinds of mystical beliefs. I also explored converting to Judaism because I felt very culturally Jewish. Needless to say, I did not consider myself a Catholic anymore.

Learning about the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the role of Pope Pius in World War II also did not endear me to the Church.

Fast forward. I met my future husband, who is a "lapsed Catholic." He told me that he went to a preparatory seminary and had been thinking of becoming a priest but gave it up before he met me—so I uttered a prayer of thanks that Jimmy never did become a priest. It would have been hard going if he had, because I would never have dated a priest, and I would not have wanted to be responsible for making him leave his calling, if he had one. Now, Jimmy had this aunt, Sister Paula Marie Spaight and therein hangs another tale. . .

We were planning our wedding and, right away, we hit a huge stumbling block. I have this thing that I won't lie on an altar of G-d. So, that meant that with all my New-Age, progressive beliefs, there was no way I could get married in a Catholic church, because it would be a lie. Jimmy agreed with me but asked me to try to get a priest to bless the marriage. Well, I tried, but the hangup was that if I wasn't going to raise any potential children as Catholics, "no can do"....and I wasn't willing....

With heavy hearts and a horrible knot in my stomach, we faced Aunt Paula and explained our problem. We expected her to be very upset with us. This was not the case. She looked at us and said: "I am sure that you are doing this with the best of intentions. I cannot attend the ceremony as a religious but I will be at your reception and you have my personal blessing." Stunned and relieved, we hugged and kissed her....

And, throughout the more than 25 years of marriage, Aunt Paula became a very beloved person in our life. She never ran exactly to dogma. One time when she was in the hospital I gave her a little statue of the Virgin Mary. Later on that year, she gave me a statue of Our Lady of Fatima. "I don't deserve this," I said. She responded: "You love G-d in your own way, and you do deserve it.

Then there was the time I went to see the  blasphemous movie, Hail Mary, about Mary and Joseph. I never believed in the Virgin Birth, because parthenogensis is not scientifically possible. I watched Mary's inner dialogue as she considered whether or not to sleep with Joseph. She decided against it, because the soul that was coming to her needed to be free of that kind of distraction in order to be born. Jimmy and I walked out of the movie and I turned to him and said: "You know what?! This movie had a weird effect on me. I believe in the Virgin Birth now." He agreed. And, when we told Aunt Paula this story, unlike all the nuns and priests that were out there picketing the movie, she stated: "G-d works in mysterious ways."

Fast forward, I went through a period when there was a mistake in my DNA report and I thought I was a Jew. I told Aunt Paula and her response was: "It all started with the Lord. He was a Jew."

Aunt Paula made a big impact in my life. I realized that, although there were rifts between me and the Church, there were people within it whom I could love very dearly. I was learning a great lesson about tolerance because, I was pretty darn intolerant when I was younger. One of the many reasons G-d had sent me Jimmy was to teach me that tolerance—I wasn't about to hate his sweet Aunt and some of his other religious folks. 

Sadly, we lost Aunt Paula. But I shall never forget her very last words to me: "I love you." I miss her all the time.

So, what does all this have to do with Pope Francis?

OK, now let me get to that. Pope John Paul earned my admiration for his stance for Jews in World War II, but then he split, and we got Pope Benedict (he of the fancy crown and Prada shoes). And we got more pedophile scandals. And, meanwhile, back in the civil world, we got gay marriage in NY State. I ended up breaking up a friendship with a neighbor of mine because she was so devoutly Catholic that she practically accused me of blasphemy and would not even agree to disagree. Exit Benedict. Enter Francis. 

. . .

From the moment that Pope Frances came through the balcony doors, I saw there was something different about him. He stood for about five minutes just looking at the crowd. He looked like he was gobsmacked, like "oooops. I'm Pope now. I had better do something." So he talked to the crowd and made a little joke: "It seems that they picked me from far away."

Then later on, we learned that he chose to see the people first before seeing the Cardinals. He joked with the Cardinals: "G-d, forgive you for electing me."

Then started the reports about how he had taken the bus, cooked his own meals, and refused a limosine when he was a Cardinal. Then, after all the ceremonies were over for the day he was elected, he just went back to his hostel and slept there and then paid his bill himself. Then, they talked about how didn't want any fancy Pope shoes (no Prada for this man!). Then, they said he reached out to Jews and Muslims. Then, they said he went into the crowds and drove the security people crazy with that. 

There were some conservative notes that I wasn't crazy about—for example, his being against gay adoptions, because I am for them. But then, it came out that he originally FAVORED civil unions for gays, even though he wouldn't do them in the Church. Not bad for a 76-year-old Pope! 

Every day, there are new reports about how he doesn't want to sit on a papal throne when he talks to the Cardinals, how he picked up his own phone to make a call, how he doesn't want to be stuck in a Popemobile.

It appears that he doesn't like pomp and circumstance. By example, he is showing us not to put ourselves above others, not to be hierarchical. 

It also appears that he is trying to reach out to disaffected people and saying: "Let's make peace. Let's agree to disagree." That's better than excommunicating priests, because they think differently. That was one of Benedict's things.

My hope is that he can clean up the scandals and get rid of some of the vainglory from the Vatican. And, if he can extend a hand to people with other beliefs and continue to reach out to people, I think he will have advanced Catholicism along.

It's true not all of my progressive desires will be realized. I know not to expect that. But, "calling 'em as I see 'em," I would say that something is changing for what I believe is the better. And for that, when Pope Francis asks us to pray for him, I don't mind doing so.

I remain unchurched, but my eyes are looking and waiting. . . .