Free Republic

When Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina became Pope Francis, much of his home country celebrated as if it had just won a soccer World Cup championship. A decade later, the first Latin American leader of the Catholic Church generates divided opinions and much less fervor. Francis, who still likes to listen to tango, left Argentina in February 2013 to attend the conclave that elected him as the successor to Benedict XVI on March 13. He never returned. “It’s clear, there are people who are angry at him,” said Argentine journalist Sergio Rubin, who recently co-wrote a book about Francis, “El Pastor,”...

Via Church Militant. Seminarians from Barcelona say they were scandalized when Pope Francis reportedly used the f-word and other expletives at a papal audience in Rome. According to testimonies from the seminarians, Francis ranted against “f***ing careerists who f*** up the lives of others.” The pope criticized “those who climb to show their a**,” the Italian media outlet Daily Compass reported on Monday. The trainee priests were shocked when Francis also reportedly insisted that priests should never deny absolution to penitents in the confessional under any circumstances. Eyewitnesses describe how the pontiff, at the audience on Dec. 10, tossed his...

The Pope’s Shameless Coddling of the ChicomsHe dignifies this stance as the “way of diplomacy.”Early in his papacy, Pope Francis tweeted out, “Inequality is the root of social evil.” That statement remains a defining moment of his pontificate. Contained in that one remark is a Marxist mindset alien to the Church’s teachings which has animated many of the pope’s worst policies, including his appallingly sympathetic treatment of China’s brutal regime. One of his Argentine cronies at the Vatican, Bishop Marcel Sorondo, has said with a straight face, “[A]t this moment, those who best realize the social doctrine of the Church...

ROME, Italy — Pope Francis accused the West of racism Friday, insisting migrants are “subdivided” by skin color and country of origin. “Refugees are subdivided,” the pontiff declared during a lengthy Good Friday interview on Italian television. “There’s first class, second class, skin color, [whether] they come from a developed country [or] one that is not developed.” “We are racists, we are racists. And this is bad,” the pope stated. As he has done on other occasions, Francis compared the current problem of migrants and refugees to the flight into Egypt of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus when King Herod was...

The Pope’s Horizontal Church Reports that he may restrict the old liturgy fit with it.Before leaving office in 2013, Pope Benedict XVI mused about the dangers of a horizontal church, one that is more preoccupied with this life than the next one. He decried the “hermeneutic of politics” that had lowered the vision of churchmen and convinced them “that the pre-conciliar Church was finished.” He might as well have been describing his successor. The relentless focus of Pope Francis on temporal politics and contempt for tradition conform to that view perfectly. His pontificate has resembled a U-turn, taking the Church...

Pope Francis on Saturday issued an urgent call to action to defend the planet and help the poor in his second TED talk. […] “We have just a few years — scientists calculate roughly fewer than 30 — to drastically reduce the emissions of gas and the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere,” the pope said, adding that the transition needs to take into account the impact on the poor, local populations and those who work in the energy sector. He called on investors to exclude companies that do not taking into account the environment, as have many faith-based organizations already...

Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce star in this intimate look at a historic turning point in the Catholic Church. Directed by Academy Award nominee Fernando Meirelles. On Netflix December 20.