a few thoughts on pope francis

For the record.  Since so many have been teasing me about my "pope romance," I thought I'd take the time to clarify my stance.  I do not support the Catholic Church but I do support its demise.  If Christ ever blessed the Middle East with his wisdom it is long lost to the men who used him for control and dominance.  We--and by we I mean all humanity (although in particular women and people of color)--have been suffering through years of misogyny and the worst kinds of unnatural suppression in the name of enlightenment.  It started with the early Roman bishops who decided to create a "church" and it has morphed into different forms since that The First Council of Nicaea (325 AD).  This religion (and all subsequent ones that align with "christian" doctrine) has rejected the goddess and her earthly representations and is therefore inherently flawed.  This basic lack of balance has wrought unspeakable horrors and suffering upon the world, including a pigheadedness that will kill in the name of this imbalanced "male" god in order to prove righteousness and to silence opposition.  When it jumped into bed with with the fledgling mercantile class in the mid-16th century...well, things have been seriously lost ever since.

So.  Why I do I like this new pope?  Because he is shining a light on some of these things (christian hate, rampant greed, etc.) and, in turn, dismantling many of the largest hypocrisies of the church (like poor=inadequacy of the individual rather than a systemic failure).  To someone who considers herself a recovering catholic, having seen this hypocrisy of the institution she was raised in, I welcome anyone or anything that challenges these lies.  I see this in the first Franciscan pope who is incorporating liberation theology (long a South American catholic practice) into Roman catholicism.  And, c'mon, who doesn't like St. Francis of Assisi and his hippie ways?

Do I think his election as pope is a PR move by the vatican?  Probably.  I can't imagine that they'd do this if it weren't on the heels of the staggering number of children coming forward as adults in solidarity to name their priest-predators of sexual abuse.  The vatican needed a make-over.  They picked Francis.  Do I think he will make lasting change?  Maybe.  I do think his moves are in alignment with the wave of awareness washing over people in general.

So, go ahead and tease.  I'll laugh, too, since it really does seem out of character for me to say or do anything positive about the church.  But I support what I've seen so far...hey, change can come from the strangest of places sometimes...

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