Monday, December 8, 2014

The Pope's Agenda

From Fr. Angelo:
First Things just posted an excellent post by William Doino, “The Pope’s True Agenda.”   It is necessary reading, because it it is a well documented piece showing that Pope Francis doesn’t fit into any of the boxes partisans wish to put him in.  He is not a liberal, nor a conservative, but a Catholic.  Thank God for Bill Doino’s courage.

It strikes me as a bit ironic, especially among those concerned about orthodoxy, that even as people eschew labels and generalizations, they attempt to pigeonhole Francis.  I recently read a post by a well-known theologian, who while admitting he ordinarily argues against the use of labels, decided to use the tags “liberal” and “conservative” just one time in defense of Francis. 

I for one, have never argued that the labels are inappropriate in the concrete because they say something real.  There are liberals and conservatives who are Catholic, and attempt to bend the faith to their party.  This goes on all the time, and even those who say the labels are inappropriate do it.

This is really obvious when the social teaching of the Church comes up.  Both liberals and conservatives have to do a dance to get around the parts they don’t like.  It is the conservatives most of all who tend to be offended by the labels because they say they are for orthodoxy.  Yet the labels continue to be useful so long as peoples’ behavior does not change. (Read more.)
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