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 His Holiness Pope Francis |
Francis is no liberal. He had no truck with liberation theology, the popular movement in Latin America and elsewhere which links the church’s work to radical social change, even though many of its supporters have been Jesuits. Not Francis: he is close to the conservative Communion and Liberation movement. The Economist
Latin America is the breadbasket and center of gravity of the Roman Catholic Church today, both in number of faithful and number of vocations. But there are storm clouds on the horizon; two movements have the Church worried in Latin America and the problems they cause are interconnected: on one hand the revolutionary movements of the Bolivarian variety, which threaten the position of the propertied classes and on the other the growing, US financed, Evangelical Protestant penetration in the continent.
Though as socially conservative as the Catholics, the Evangelicals are ultra-conservatives on economic issues following the US model and very much part of the reactionary culture of the American south. The problem for the Catholic Church is that if they cannot stop the left wing revolutionaries from making inroads in the Catholic population, the rich criollo's money in South America will begin to flow toward the Evangelicals to see if they can do the job, thus leaving the Church without cash and vocations.
Don't expect any loosening of Church doctrine under the new pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Karol Wojtyla and his enforcer Josef Ratzinger, systematically carried out a 35 year long purge of all "green shoots" of John XXIII, Paul VI and Vatican II. This has been deep and thorough and every trace of progressive thought has been exhaustively eradicated from the Church aparat. Bergoglio is a product of that purge and a collaborator in carrying it out. The Jesuit order was once a hotbed of left wing liberation theology, Bergoglio made his bones helping to stamp that out.
There is a lot of disturbing news about the new pope coming out of Argentina. He is accused of operating hand in glove with the Videla regime... it might be a good idea to moderate our enthusiasm for this "Franciscan" simplicity of his till all that is cleared up. DS
5 comments:
Genocide and indiscriminat child abuse:
http://itccs.org/2013/03/15/international-arrest-warrant-issued-against-pope-francis-i-jorge-mario-bergoglio-for-crimes-against-humanity-and-child-trafficking/
And let's not fall for that "first non-European Pope in 1000 years" line either. Both his parents were born in Italy so like at least 60% of Argentines he is ethnically Italian. So Rome really hasn't strayed from its own backyard. This was a purely political choice to try and salvage their last regional stronghold which as you point out is rapidly slipping through their fingers.
On the other hand in one quantum leap Argentine national politics have gone from soap opera to grand opera. Only in fiction could such an unexpected turn of event change the entire political landscape. The Ks --- having gone out of their way to make an enemy of this man for ten years --- are finally toast and nothing can save them now--- Hallelujah!
Mrs. Kirchner went straight to Rome and asked the pope to intervene in the Falkland Island dispute... If he doesn't his stock in Argentina will drop dramatically... Between God and Peron, in Argentina bet on Peron.
Mrs. K may have asked for intervention in the Falklands "dispute" (which is a pure smokescreen and a fake issue and almost all but the most militant Argentines know this) but the real purpose of her visit was a desperate act of (false) contrition. Francisco may have treated her graciously as is his custom but he surely has not forgotten the TEN years of deliberately humiliating slights against him during her (and her now sainted husband's) entire administrations. Kirchnerism stands in the starkest possible contrast with the values of this new Pope who if nothing else is authentic in his positions. The photo ops with her all black (her cynical and transparent use of widow's weeds reached its sell-by date a LONG time ago) and he all in white say it all. Don't bet against him as the Ks by even further contrast really believe in nothing. My money says that he will supplant the "sainted peron" in short order.
I've known a lot of Argentinos in my time and none of them were that Catholic. The joke in Madrid is that Francis is really humble... normally an Argentino on becoming pope would name himself "Jesus II".
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