[Mrs. Don-o]

Here's a choice assessment of Pope Francis from the actual Catholic Left (and ex-Catholic but still-Left), Andrew O'Hehir and Matthew Fox --- courtesy of Salon:

http://www.salon.com/2013/03/16/is_pope_francis_a_fraud/

"As Fox and many other Catholic and ex-Catholic dissidents see it, Vatican II marked the moment when the church had the chance to reinvent itself as a flexible moral and spiritual force in a rapidly changing world. Indeed, it briefly seemed to do just that – and it’s important to understand that Bergoglio, like Joseph Ratzinger and Karol Wojtyla before him, was part of the right-wing counterrevolution within the church that aggressively rolled back those changes, crushed dissident thought and reasserted the absolute power of the pope and his hierarchy.

"Pope Francis is a longtime ally of Communion and Liberation, a fiercely conservative Catholic organization that insists on “total fidelity and communion” with the church leadership and is devoted, among other things, to battling European socialism and Latin American liberation theology. In Italian politics, CL has been closely tied to the party of Silvio Berlusconi, and its founder was an intimate friend of Cardinal Ratzinger before he became Benedict XVI."

I love to hear sweet, reassuring words like that.. :o)

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

This would all be great if true. I still believe the Pope has issues with free market capitalism, limited government, individual liberty, and private property as do many in the Catholic clergy from top to bottom. Would like to be proven wrong about my current assessment.