Posted on 03/27/2014 1:33:30 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Republicans say the “liberal media” has two world powerhouses all wrong: Barack Obama — and the pope.
Democrats believe Pope Francis is their guy, arguing he’s softened the Catholic Church stance on gay rights and abortion and taken GOP economic theories to task. When he meets with Obama in Rome on Thursday, they’re hoping it’ll seal the deal.
But many big-name conservative Catholics say Francis is no liberal, only painted as one by a biased media that wants a liberal Holy See alliance — even though it doesn’t exist.
“What I’ve learned to do is ignore what the newspapers write and go to what [Francis] said,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Catholic convert. “The New York Times has been relentlessly anti-Catholic for most of the modern era, so the fact that they distort the pope is nothing new. It’s the American media.”
The jockeying around the pope is not surprising. Francis is a galvanizing figure who boasts a sky-high approval rating — 85 percent among American Catholics and 63 percent among all Americans, according to a survey by the Saint Leo University Polling Institute.
It’s also a reminder of what often happens when religion and politics collide: The devout grasp messages that support their beliefs and dismiss those that don’t.
Some Republicans hope that the pope sets the record straight Thursday when he and Obama meet face to face for the first time at the Vatican.
“If I were Pope Francis, I would ask him: When did your life begin?” said Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), referring to the famous 2008 presidential debate in which evangelical pastor Rick Warren asked candidate Obama a similar question. Obama famously said that’s “above my pay grade.”
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
He’s a Jesuit. They are notorious as God’s army. They are anything but liberals.
“What I’ve learned to do is ignore what the newspapers write and go to what [Francis] said,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Catholic convert. “The New York Times has been relentlessly anti-Catholic for most of the modern era, so the fact that they distort the pope is nothing new. It’s the American media.”
That’s really all anyone needs to know.
The Pope is liberal with regard to nationalism/borders issues. That is to be expected, since the word “catholic” itself implies universalism, but that kind of thing should be politely ignored by politicians of individual nations - their specific political duty is to their “polity,” the people within their borders. Not to the world as a whole.
Quelle surprise.
Jesuits are a mixed bag. Some are flakes and some are really orthodox. However, even the orthodox ones approach things a little differently. Oddly enough, while people expect Jesuits to be very logical and pragmatic, they really aren’t, and I think Francis has shown this to us. Too many examens...
My opinion on Pope Francis is still unresolved. I also am very protestant.
Those things said: when Pope John Paul II died, I read a bunch of his writings (I know, he didnt actually write all of it himself...like most major political figures, he has a staff), and was quite impressed. What saddened me was how unaquainted with his positions and insights the Catholics I knew were, even conceptually.
True. I've know some good conservative Republican Jesuits. And, some of them ARE very logical and pragmatic.
Well said. I only had a few Jesuits as professors during college. I was greatly influenced by one who taught philosophy my senior year. I found out just a few years ago that he left the priesthood and got married.
I worked my tail off in that class...I'm as proud of that "B" as I am of any A grade. It was a class of 14, 12 of whom were theology/philosophy majors studying for the priesthood. The first two weeks were very intimidating, and I voiced my concerns to him after class.
His response: "remember, with philosophy, it's not what you say, it's how you say it. Philosophy is nothing but a bunch of bull----!"
It's one of the few classes I actually remember to this day. He was a good man, and a great professor.
Sadly, some of the better Jesuits are the ones who left (when the order got taken over by liberal flakes). You probably had one of those good ones as your prof!
Ignatius Loyola would be (or probably is) very distressed, particularly since the Jesuits were founded to be the “Army of the Pope.”
Who am I to judge?
I believe the Jesuits have been called “God’s Marines”. Sadly, not all of them from what I have seen in recent years in the US.
He's not the first to display such sentiments:
Col_2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
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