What has happened to Pope Francis? When he was first installed as the pope, many people had concerns about whether he would be too conservative, but then, something almost magical occurred: Francis made it clear he would be “the new, cool pope.” At least, that is how it seemed. One after the other, his statements won praise from progressives, the LGBT community and many human rights activists around the world. He said he wanted to help the poor and he actually put his money where his mouth was, donating gifts he had received to feed the hungry.
Francis indicated that the Catholic Church should not focus so much on stripping gay people of their civil rights. Rather, he said, he wanted to turn the attention back to the things with which Jesus was actually concerned: the downtrodden, the needy, the suffering. When he famously said, essentially, “leave the gays alone,” a cheer went up from gay rights leaders and liberals, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, began falling in love with Pope Francis.
He strengthened this love when he stated that women should play a bigger role in the church. Even though he stopped short of saying he would advocate for female priests, women all over the globe celebrated Francis’ sentiments. After all, even beggars are happy for any crumbs someone throws at them.
Recently, Pope Francis came out in strong support of science when he suggested that the Big Bang and evolution were true. He seemed to indicate that religion and science did not have to be at odds with one another.
This guy was beginning to look like a secular hero, a women’s rights champion and a gay advocate. Things were going swell as the waves of love and yes, even adoration for the pope swelled ever higher, rolling and growing into a tsumani of liberal delight.
And then it all came crashing down.
What has happened to Pope Francis? Just a few days ago, he shocked the world when he denigrated free speech by indicating that faith and religion cannot be criticized. He revealed himself to have a thug mentality when he stated he would punch someone if they insulted his mother. In uncovering this mindset, he attempted to justify the murders of the 12 people killed in the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris on Jan. 7. He suggested that they should have expected it, that they had it coming. As journalist Polly Toynbee points out for The Guardian, “Pope Francis is using the wife-beater’s defense.” Suddenly, the glorious new, cool, groovy pope has become a beer-chugging, ham-fisted guy sitting in a beat up old recliner screaming “go fix me a turkey pot pie, Bitch!”
If that were not bad enough, now Pope Francis has come out against the LGBT community, saying that same-sex marriage will degrade the family. It will not. It does not, and there are plenty of studies that prove the success of children raised by gay parents and the overall strength of the family unit in gay households.
What a huge disappointment. What happened to his previous “live and let live” approach, his progressive stance that seemed as though it could possibly propel the Catholic Church to into modern times?
What has happened to Pope Francis? Has he been a victim of a scenario such as the one played out in Invasion of the Body Snatchers? What in tarnation is going on around here? Give us our new, cool pope back, and for goodness sake, take off the wife beater; shirt, attitude and otherwise.
