September 22, 2013 6:41 AM

So maybe there's hope for the Catholic Church after all?

[I] could be won over by Pope Francis under the following conditions:
a.) a truth and reconciliation commission for all those caught up in the pedophile abuse scandal
b.) all those involved in the cover up are defrocked and turned over to national or state authorities if statute of limitations are still in effect
c.) all women who were enslaved by the church in Ireland are compensated and apologized to and finally
d.) formal apologies and compensation for the victims of the pedophilia scandal.
If Francis wants to be the greatest Pope ever, and he has a shot, the pedophile scandal must be dealt with full and openly. No more sexual abuse of boys and no more enslavement of girls in the Catholic Church, ever.

If you’ve hung ‘round WWJD for any length of time, it will come as no surprise that I’m no fan of the Catholic Church. The idea that Catholics need a supreme and divine leader who acts as some sort of interlocutor with God runs counter to pretty much everything Christianity stands for…at least IMHO. When you consider the historical corruption of the Vatican and the venality of the Church as a whole, I find it difficult to respect a power-hungry institution rooted firmly in intolerance and blind obedience. After hundreds of years of sclerotic leadership, the Vatican (and through it the Church as a whole) has become far less about the teachings of Jesus Christ than aggregating wealth and political control.

I mean no disrespect to Catholics (with the exception of Bill Donohue), but the Church historically has been as much about Christianity as Jeffrey Dahmer was about vegetarianism.

Now that I’ve shoveled a cubic yard of dirt on the Church, I’d be remiss (and certain unfair) if I whiffed on expressing my surprise at the interview given by Pope Francis earlier this past week. While I’d find it exceedingly difficult to characterize Francis as a “flaming liberal,” there’s little doubt that by comparison to what preceded him, it’s close to the truth.

While by no means repudiating the Church’s traditional stances on homosexuality, same-sex marriage, contraception, and abortion, Francis seems to be trying to nudge the Church away from its 12th-century traditional authoritarianism, intolerance, and inflexibility. After generation upon generation of inflexible, dogmatic, ultra-conservative leadership, it’s refreshing to see that the leader of the Church can be truly Christ-like in how he interprets the Church’s (and his) place in the world. Francis is the first Pope in my lifetime who doesn’t wield his flavor of Christianity as a bludgeon with which to coerce the faithful.

There are so many good things the Catholic Church could be doing to demonstrate it truly cares about the teachings of Jesus Christ. Perhaps Pope Francis is trying to nudge it in that direction. Instead of the Church’s historical fixation on authoritarianism and issues regarding various aspects of sexuality, Francis may honestly be trying to put the focus back where it should be. Before I go all wobbly, though, I’m going to reserve judgment. Talk to me again where the Church decides to become completely transparent about its pedophile priest problem and decides to treat women as equals. Perhaps then I can be convinced that the Catholic Church is a changed institution. After hundreds of years of venality and corruption, it’s going to take more than one reasonable Pope and a few months to convince me that things have changed. But I’m certainly going to be watching with interest to see where the Pope goes next.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on September 22, 2013 6:41 AM.

Some kind words of advice for our friends on the Rabid Religious Right was the previous entry in this blog.

The "sign from God" might not be what you're looking for is the next entry in this blog.

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