Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 3:53am

PopeWatch: The More Things Change

 

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An analysis of the 36 year old Bergoglio:

 

There was a split within his ranks over a South American movement called liberation theology, which called for battling poverty on two fronts: direct assistance to the poor, along with confronting systems of oppression, including unjust governments. A military coup was brewing in Argentina, which would be followed by the agonies of the country’s Dirty War.

And Bergoglio was finding his style of leadership rankled some of his fellow priests. Or as a senior church official, who didn’t want to be named for obvious reasons, told WNYC: “Bergoglio was kind of a jerk.”

Except the official used a stronger word than “jerk.” He then hastened to add some context. He explained that it takes more than 10 years to become a Jesuit priest and that, in 1973, Bergoglio had been a full-fledged Jesuit for a mere two years. It was then, at the relatively young age of 36, that he was thrust in charge of Argentina’s thousands of Jesuits.

It was Bergoglio’s first big leadership position and it didn’t always go smoothly.

By some accounts, he sometimes indulged in yelling at his subordinates. And Bergoglio alienated a faction within the Jesuits by criticizing liberation theology. He also drew criticism himself by choosing not to publicly condemn human rights violations in Argentina during the Dirty War, instead working behind the scenes to help free and save the lives of an unknown number of political detainees.

 

Go here to read the rest.  There is a fascinating continuity to the Pope’s life.  He has always been an authoritarian who deals with opposition or questioning poorly.  Where he has changed is in regard to politics and orthodoxy.  In order to explain his earliest failure in a Church leadership role to himself, he seems to have determined that it was the orthodoxy and the conservative politics he embraced, and not his abrasive personality.  Like most of us, the Pope is insufficiently self critical and like most converts he has a zeal for his newfound positions.

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Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Friday, December 2, AD 2016 4:52am

“Like most of us, the Pope is insufficiently self critical and like most converts he has a zeal for his newfound positions.”
.
The Pope isn’t supposed to be like most of us. To be qualified for his position, he is supposed to be better.

Philip
Philip
Friday, December 2, AD 2016 5:14am

@Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus

The more I read about PF, the more I believe that the fix was in. The lavender mafia influence within the conclave may have selected a flunkie for their agenda.
Holy Spirit? Hummm.

God wins. There’s nothing that corrupt clerics can do that will derail the designs of God. Regardless of the engineer, the train will safely pull into its destination.

pengiuns fan
pengiuns fan
Friday, December 2, AD 2016 5:56am

Argentina is a mess. The Jesuits are a mess. These were true 40 years ago and they are true now.
I think that the Roman Pontiff developed his disdain for Catholic tradition in part because Bishop Williamson was nearby and Williamson was very bombastic and off putting.
Don’t care. He has been a tool of Kasper and Marx and he lets Wuerl pick the American bishops.

ken
ken
Friday, December 2, AD 2016 6:34am

The title of the article makes me laugh. Are there still people who believe PF is humble? Answering the dubia would be a sign of humility.

Jay Anderson
Friday, December 2, AD 2016 11:53am

What do you mean? Why, Pope Humble the Merciful is chock full of much humble humility. In fact, more humble humility than ALL who came before, which uniquely qualifies him to show Moar MercyTM.
***
I know this because Pope Humble the Merciful told us that he was so humbly humble. And if the Pope says it, it MUST be true.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Friday, December 2, AD 2016 12:50pm

Yelling at subordinates in office settings is generally a sign you’re a lousy supervisor.

The Jesuit population in the United States was at it’s peak about 9,500 ca. 1965, at a time when there were just shy of 30 million observant Catholics in this country. Argentina had in 1973 a population of 25 million. As we speak, weekly mass attendance is low (optimists put it at 15% of the population in a country with hardly any protestants resident therein),or about 5 million people. I suppose it could have been a good deal higher in 1973; cannot help but notice that as we speak, there are only a couple thousand religious priests in all orders present in Argentina. (There are putatively 12,000 in the U.S.). I’m skeptical that there could have been a baseline of 2,000 Jesuits in 1973.

If you were going to ‘speak out’ against the Argentine military (rather than undertaking case work), you might have some curiousity about who would be in charge if the military were not. The answer, from 1943 to 1983, was always the Peronists.

The Christian Teacher
The Christian Teacher
Saturday, December 3, AD 2016 12:33am

I have the Black Book of Communism and have read it twice. I would have no problem killing people who tried to force Communism on the US.

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Saturday, December 3, AD 2016 4:12am

“…he seems to have determined that it was the orthodoxy and the conservative politics he embraced, and not his abrasive personality.”

Evidently the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius are not working too well for Pope Francis, especially when it comes to discernment. He is making a fool of himself for this failure and worse for his flock.

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