Francis has both Reactionaries & Liberals on clenched toes to see which way he will actually go

I'm a lapsed Catholic, am a secular humanist and maybe/maybe-not agnostic. But the indoctrination machine that the Church honed is SO powerful that a Lapsed can identify with the post-HenryVIII English generations that nostalgically yearned for "the Olde religion."

And parallel to the FALSE consensus after the U.S. election 2012, to the effect that the Rethug party needed to recast itself to adopt Dem party planks, uh no: Parties developed to represent a point of view and their answer is NOT to adopt policies of another party's point of view. So, the Church cannot be expected to adopt pro-women, pro-married-priests, pro-Gay policies. Parties/ churches/ philosophies that are no longer viable need to go extinct or settle for a tiny niche, not become SOMETHING ELSE than what they are.

I must be old since whenever I mention John XXIII, NOBODY knows who he was and automatically think I’m mistakenly referring to the JP2 dude. So this article made me have a WHIFF of hope for reform from this Francis, but the proof is in the pudding. There is a warning sentence in this article: (paraphrase: ) What Liberals forget by crowing over his tradition-busting is that he is MAKING HIMSELF POPULAR with these GESTURES and that this POPULARITY will make it hard to overcome WHEN (if?!1) HE SLAMS the reforms DOWN and REASSERTS THE WINGNUT POLICIES. In American politics it's called "capital" (to spend).

So I DUSTED off the John XXIII medals, but did not take them out to POLISH them. Yet.

Meanwhile, doesn't it sound like this dude's clenched/curled toes are screaming, "Just, EWWwwww!1"?



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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pope-francis-female-foot-wash-upsets-traditionalists-article-1.1303260#ixzz2P2Y3ya1u

[font size=5]Pope Francis' female foot-wash outrages traditionalists[/font]

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has won over many hearts and minds with his simple style and focus on serving the world's poorest, but [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]he has devastated traditionalist[/FONT] Catholics who adored his predecessor, Benedict XVI, for restoring much of the traditional pomp to the papacy.

Francis' decision to [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]disregard church law[/FONT] and wash the feet of two girls — a Serbian Muslim and an Italian Catholic — during a Holy Thursday ritual has become something of [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]the final straw[/FONT], evidence that Francis has little or [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]no interest in[/FONT] one of the key priorities of [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]Benedict's[/FONT] papacy: [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]reviving the pre[/FONT]-Vatican II traditions of the Catholic Church. ....


A like-minded commentator in Francis' native Argentina, Marcelo Gonzalez at International Catholic Panorama, [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]reacted to Francis' election with[/FONT] this phrase: [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]"The Horror.[/FONT]" Gonzalez's beef? While serving as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, the then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio's efforts to revive the old Latin Mass so dear to Benedict and traditionalists were "non-existent." ....



“Before liberals and traditionalists both have a spittle-flecked nutty, each for their own reasons, try to figure out what he is trying to do," Zuhlsdorf wrote in a conciliatory piece.

But, in characteristic form, he added: [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]"What liberals forget[/FONT] in their present crowing is that even [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]as Francis makes himself[/FONT] — and the church — [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]more popular[/FONT] by projecting (a) compassionate image, [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]he will[/FONT] simultaneously [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]make it harder for them to criticize him when he reaffirms the doctrinal points they want him to overturn[/FONT]." ....



The head of the society for South America, the Rev. Christian Bouchacourt, was less than generous in his assessment of Francis.

"He cultivates a militant humility, but can prove [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]humiliating for the church[/FONT]," Bouchacourt said in a recent article, criticizing the "dilapidated" state of the clergy in Buenos Aires and the "disaster" of its seminary. "With him, we risk to see once again the Masses of Paul VI's pontificate, a far cry from Benedict XVI's efforts to restore to their honor the worthy liturgical ceremonies.”

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