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Is Pope Francis Liberal or Conservative?
American Thinker ^ | 03/18/2013 | Selwyn Duke

Posted on 03/18/2013 7:09:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

With the election of Pope Francis, there has been an almost "catholic" attempt to determine if he is liberal or conservative. CBS claims he is a "staunch conservative" based on the fact that, as correspondent Allen Pizzey put it, he "opposes abortion, supports celibacy, and called gay adoption discrimination against children," not to mention his opposition to faux marriage.

Tingle Central's Chris Matthews said that the new pontiff is economically "progressive," which, if we were to be informed by actual statistics, should mean he wouldn't give one red cent to anybody. But none of these analysts will peg the pope because they're using the provisional to understand a man defined by an institution based in the perpetual. And the reality is this: the terms "liberal," "conservative," and "moderate" are, in the truest sense, meaningless in Catholic circles. And understanding why holds a lesson for all of us.

Republican Ohio senator Rob Portman recently announced that he now supports faux marriage, and other self-proclaimed conservatives, such as CNN News' Margaret Hoover, have long done so. On the other hand, conservative Cliff Kincaid was recently scored by Michelle Malkin's site Twitchy for writing, "There is no such thing as a 'gay conservative,' unless the term 'conservative' has lost all meaning," prompting Renew America's Bryan Fischer to accuse the Malkinites of "trying to redefine conservatism." But Kincaid gets it close to right and Fischer is wrong.

Conservatism never had enduring meaning because it was never truly defined in the first place.

Understand that all places and times -- that is, all modern times -- have had their conservatives. Europe has its conservatives, but their general attitude toward faux marriage ranges from support to blithe indifference, and they don't trouble much over abortion.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: catholic; conservative; liberal; popefrancis; religiousleft
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1 posted on 03/18/2013 7:09:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Trying to fit his theological outlook into American political labels is foolish.


2 posted on 03/18/2013 7:11:58 AM PDT by FewsOrange
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To: SeekAndFind

Cbs thinks any Catholic is, by definition, “conservative”; completely unknowing about the idiot liberation theology that Jesuits in particular follow.


3 posted on 03/18/2013 7:16:02 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: SeekAndFind

I don’t care whether he is conservative or liberal.

What I care about is respect for the mass, expecially the Tridentine mass which this Pope, as a Cardinal in Argentina, eradicated.


4 posted on 03/18/2013 7:16:06 AM PDT by SatinDoll (NATURAL BORN CITZEN: BORN IN THE USA OF CITIZEN PARENTS.)
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To: FewsOrange

Jesuits are liberal. By liberal, I mean, they view God’s word and Canon Law as “living and breathing” documents. The Jesuits I have come across mostly in American acedemia are heretics that believe in multiple Gods (everyone has their own), reject the existence of satan and evil (they call sin the absence of a relationship with God), and manage to find enough loopholes to justify social ills such as abortion and homosexuality. Not that this is true of Pope Francis. I am willing to give him a chance with an open mind, but my experience with Jesuit theology has not been positive, to include a retreat just this last weekend. I got a lot out of it philosophically that I can apply to my life in a positive way, but the theology was heresy IMO.


5 posted on 03/18/2013 7:21:43 AM PDT by wolfman23601
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To: yldstrk

RE: Cbs thinks any Catholic is, by definition, “conservative”;

How can a news organization ignore the fact that MOST American Catholics voted FOR the gay marriage supporting, partial birth abortion supporting Obama?


6 posted on 03/18/2013 7:21:44 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SatinDoll

RE: What I care about is respect for the mass, expecially the Tridentine mass which this Pope, as a Cardinal in Argentina, eradicated.

OK< what if Francis is not really against the Tridentine mass, but is giving Roman Catholics the choice to attend the kind of mass that edifies them more?


7 posted on 03/18/2013 7:23:13 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Well, I don’t know if most Catholics did, but there are plenty that should be excommunicated that believe in all that liberal mantra


8 posted on 03/18/2013 7:23:27 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: SeekAndFind
How can a news organization ignore the fact that MOST American Catholics voted FOR the gay marriage supporting, partial birth abortion supporting Obama?

True, but not in any great majority and less so than in 2008. Still, the American Bishops have their work cut out for them.

9 posted on 03/18/2013 7:26:06 AM PDT by Last Dakotan
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To: yldstrk

RE: Well, I don’t know if most Catholics did

From Reuters:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/08/us-usa-campaign-religion-idUSBRE8A71M420121108

EXCERPT:

________________________________

Post-election polling shows U.S. Roman Catholics were as likely to favor President Barack Obama as the general population in 2012, continuing the Catholic record as the bellwether of the popular vote.

Catholics - the country’s largest religious group with one-quarter of the population - have supported the winner of the popular vote in every election since 1972.

Reuters/Ipsos exit polling found that 51 percent of Catholics favored President Barack Obama, compared with 48 percent for Republican contender Mitt Romney. A report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life had a similar finding, with 50 percent of Catholics for Obama and 48 percent for Romney, the same as the popular vote in the general population.

Hispanic Catholics were far more likely to favor Obama - by 76 percent to 23 percent - than white Catholics, who favored Romney by 56 percent to 43 percent, according to the Reuters poll. Black Protestants favored Obama by 97 percent to 3 percent, while white Protestants favored Romney by 69 percent compared to 29 percent for Obama.

_____________________________

Well, now you know.


10 posted on 03/18/2013 7:26:44 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

ick yuck patooie, how embarrassing


11 posted on 03/18/2013 7:27:24 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: SeekAndFind

Why would it matter what this mortal man thinks? Isn’t his primary job to be a “mouthpiece” for God. So unless it’s known that Popes insert their own ideas into the messages God sends to people, what does it matter.

Of course I don’t believe in Catholicism, but it seems to me that Catholics want or expect mortal men to adjust God’s truth to what “tickles” their ears the most. God and his Truth are the same yesterday, today, and forever, and we don’t need a mortal man in Italy to tell us what that truth is.


12 posted on 03/18/2013 7:27:25 AM PDT by ScubieNuc (When there is no justice in the laws, justice is left to the outlaws.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I wonder what the numbers look like for Catholics that regularly attend mass and discount the Christmas and Easter blood Catholics or the Jersey Shore Catholics?


13 posted on 03/18/2013 7:31:26 AM PDT by wolfman23601
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To: yldstrk
"Cbs thinks any Catholic is, by definition, “conservative”"

This is a serious misreading. He thinks Catholicism is, by definition, conservative; this will be true whether "any Catholc" actually conforms to Catholicism or not.

The trouble with a bad Catholic is almost always that he isn't Catholic enough.

14 posted on 03/18/2013 7:37:19 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (The Holy Catholic Church: the more Catholic it is, the more holy it is.)
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To: yldstrk
Well, I don’t know if most Catholics did, but there are plenty that should be excommunicated that believe in all that liberal mantra

Don't know but I still see Obama bumper stickers in the church parking lot on Sundays.

15 posted on 03/18/2013 7:39:16 AM PDT by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: wolfman23601

RE: I wonder what the numbers look like for Catholics that regularly attend mass and discount the Christmas and Easter blood Catholics or the Jersey Shore Catholics?

Wonder no longer, the devout ones voted AGAINST Obama. Unfortunately, they aren’t in the majority in this country.


16 posted on 03/18/2013 7:40:41 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
...MOST American Catholics voted FOR the gay marriage supporting, partial birth abortion supporting Obama?

This is what I don't get. The most evangelical protestant groups see no where NEAR this support for these evils, and yet militant Catholics have the gall to call US heretics.

A good tree produces good fruit.

17 posted on 03/18/2013 7:42:08 AM PDT by fwdude ( You cannot compromise with that which you must defeat.)
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To: ScubieNuc

“God and his Truth are the same yesterday, today, and forever, and we don’t need a mortal man in Italy to tell us what that truth is.”

Everyone has their interpretation on what is the “Truth”. You could post any verse of the Bible and it would mean something different to everyone on this forum. Unless you are a Mennonite, you too are relying on mortal man’s interpretation. I, for one, am more receptive to those with decades of training and language, history, and culture than someone who paid $50 for a “Reverend” license out of Parade Magazine. It does matter. Just like the constitution, if you have the wrong person in charge, they can make it say whatever they want. Nobody claims the Pope is anything but mortal. As the chief administrator of such a large and far reaching organization, it is important who is in charge because he will be the ultimate determiner of what offshhots are allowed to get away with.


18 posted on 03/18/2013 7:42:39 AM PDT by wolfman23601
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To: SatinDoll
I do not believe Francis will do anything to undermine the freedom Pope Benedict granted to the traditional Latin Mass in 2007 ... And, even more, I agree with what one reader writes: “Unlike Pope Benedict, I would not be at all surprised to see Pope Francis publicly offer a traditional Latin Mass some day. He has a deep devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, is said to practice the Five First Saturday Devotions, and prays 15 decades of the Rosary each day.
19 posted on 03/18/2013 7:42:41 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: fwdude

RE: This is what I don’t get. The most evangelical protestant groups see no where NEAR this support for these evils, and yet militant Catholics have the gall to call US heretics.

The counter argument is this — DEVOUT Catholics voted against Obama. Unfortunately, they are in the minority.


20 posted on 03/18/2013 7:47:13 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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