 |
| Fall Beauty |
Pope Frances has just completed speaking to the United Nations. He addressed the U.S. Congress yesterday and has made other speeches as well.
I am tired of hearing how the Pope pushes a left wing agenda. He has articulated Catholic positions.
He asked the Bishops to seek to heal divisions and in leading by example, he wasn't divisive in his addresses or harsh or "in your face."
Because of this, many pundits and commentators are calling him a Marxist or the Anti-pope or other nonsensical things. He's the leader of the Catholic Church and advocates for life, in all stages; for the poor, for humane treatment of immigrants; for the abolition of the death penalty and for good stewardship of planet Earth.
His speech at the U.N. was more explicit in articulating Catholic positions than his speech to the U.S. Congress, but both managed to get his point across. Yes, some of those positions agree with the American political left. Some of them also agree with the American political right.
But, all of them are Catholic positions and I wish people would quit disparaging our Pontiff. His positions are very similar to those Christ might have taken were He to address such august bodies.
Yes, there were times when Christ railed against things He didn't like. The over-turning of the money changers tables in the temple comes to mind. But, more often than not, Christ was kind, loving and merciful. He showed His love by healing and feeding people, not by offending them.
There were many times when Christ could have taken offense, such as the time when he wasn't offered water to bathe his feet and a woman of ill-repute washed them with her tears and dried them with her hair. Did Christ get all huffy and puffy about it? No, He took the opportunity to teach Simon about God's love and mercy.
Our Pontiff is using his time in America to show a way past the ugly, partisan divide that has paralyzed our leaders and inflicted our daily lives with strife and tension. Is Pope Frances perfect? No. He doesn't claim to be. Instead he claims to be a sinner in need of forgiveness.
I keep thinking about Jesus and Simon Peter when He gave Him the keys to the Kingdom. Jesus knew Peter wasn't a perfect person and yet, He still trusted Peter to lead the young church. And that trust has accompanied each person who has been Pope for the history of the church.
In other words, Christ knows what He is doing. Through the Holy Spirit acting in, with and through the College of Cardinals, Christ selected another successor to Peter, upon whom He built His church and "the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it."
I can understand that some might not trust Pope Frances. I can understand that some might view the Pope's ideology through the lens of their own and find it wanting. But what I cannot understand is that Catholics of all stripes do not trust in Christ. After all, it's His Church and He has promised that it will endure. So, why not trust Him?
