I’m not a real big fan of the Roman Catholic Church, but even I’m a bit intrigued by the new pope, Jorge Bergoglio.
During his career Bergoglio has admitted that priestly celibacy is not a matter of faith, decried the practice of denying baptism to children born out of wedlock, vigorously campaigned for the rights of the poor and lambasted the hording of wealth. He lived an impressively modest life for a man so powerful. Until his election he kept a small apartment instead of living in the cardinal’s mansion, rode the bus to work and insisted on cooking his own food.
In his short time as leader of the largest religious organization in the world he’s done several things that are decidedly un-popish. He refuses to ride around in the Popemobile, insisting on shaking hands and kissing babies. He openly called on the world’s organized criminals (particularly those of Italian descent) to stop wrecking people’s lives. He continues to staunchly oppose the practice of moving pedophile priests instead of firing them. When he was an Archbishop, Bergoglio ordered all cases of child abuse to be directly reported to the police, eschewing the traditional Catholic model of handling all such cases internally.
Oh, and he said that atheists can be good people, just as good as any christian.
Stew on that a minute.
