Pope Francis, the Bouncer

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/antheabutler/7429/pope_francis__the_bouncer/

December 9, 2013 11:01am
Post by ANTHEA BUTLER

Every week, something new comes out about Pope Francis that gives us hints about who he is. The most recent revelation comes after comments he made at a working class church San Cirillo Allessandro, on the outskirts of Rome on the first Sunday of Advent.

According to L’Osservatore Romano, the Pope told parishioners he had once been a bouncer, but that his work later in life teaching psychology and literature taught him how to get people back into the church.

No surprise then, that Pope Francis is punching high and low at his internal and external detractors. Like a young Mohammed Ali, he is floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee when it comes to bringing the church back to its core message. And it is working.

The Pope’s latest statement, Evangelii Gaudium, is a papal exhortation designed to promote evangelism in the Catholic Church. Most media outlets are not emphasizing the evangelism element, but are paying close attention to the pope’s criticism of the current economic system as “unjust at its very root,” and the Social Darwinism that pervades our societies.

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