dagblog - Comments for "Pope Francis from Argentina"

makes me feel less weird.

EmmaZahn — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 14:29:09 +0000

In reply to Yes he definitely is! It's

makes me feel less weird.

Hey!

Seems like an interesting

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 06:11:25 +0000

In reply to Pope Francis from Argentina

Seems like an interesting character.

Wasn't a fan of John Paul II, and this last one just seemed non-existent.

Article & comments think maybe this one has more potential than I expected.

Yes he definitely is! It's

artappraiser — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 05:15:03 +0000

In reply to The guy turns out to be very

Yes he definitely is! It's just that simple for me: interesting character gaining power. Glad you appreciate me sharing what I've found, it's nice to know someone like you is interested as well, makes me feel less weird.

The guy turns out to be very

moat — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 23:09:40 +0000

In reply to Truth is he has been a

The guy turns out to be very interesting. Thanks for linking to all the articles you have during the last few weeks.

Truth is he has been a

artappraiser — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 07:47:04 +0000

In reply to Pope Francis from Argentina

Truth is he has been a politician willing to horse trade and make deals; verrry interesting article:

On Gay Unions, a Pragmatist Before He Was a Pope
By Simon Romero and Emily Schmall, New York Times, March 19/20, 2013

By suggesting in 2010 that the church in Argentina support civil unions for gay couples, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio revealed himself to be a deal maker willing to compromise.

One of several interesting things there is that the majority of other bishops were more adamantly conservative/ideological than him and that he did try to convince them to make a more pragmatic choice. Now it will be interesting to see what he does with much greater power to, er, "convince" to take a pragmatic choice on issues.

An excerpt:

In the end, though, a majority of the bishops voted to overrule him, his only such loss in his six-year tenure as head of Argentina’s bishops’ conference. But throughout the contentious political debate, he acted as both the public face of the opposition to the law and as a bridge-builder, sometimes reaching out to his critics.

“He listened to my views with a great deal of respect,” said Marcelo Márquez, a gay rights leader and theologian who wrote a tough letter to Cardinal Bergoglio and, to his surprise, received a call from him less than an hour after it was delivered. “He told me that homosexuals need to have recognized rights and that he supported civil unions, but not same-sex marriage.”

Mr. Márquez said he went on to meet twice with Cardinal Bergoglio, telling him of his plan to marry his partner and discussing theology.

Emma, found evidence you

artappraiser — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 03:33:15 +0000

In reply to Just read Wikipedia on

Emma, found evidence you initially heard right on Comunione e Liberazione and the pope, in the following Guardian backgrounder piece by 5 reporters. (I highly recommend the whole thing, it is an excellent article overall, describes the Jesuit culture clearly but with nuance, and also his rather unusual relationship with the order, that he is not a "standard issue" Jesuit and that includes his involvment with Comunione and other things.)

Pope Francis: a man of joy and humility, or harsh and unbending?
Conflicting accounts of the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio's character have emerged since his election
By Sam Jones, Uki Goni and Jonathan Watts in Buenos Aires, John Hooper in Rome and Andrew Brown, The Guardian, 15 March 2013

[....] Eight years ago, before the last conclave, the Jesuits' official spokesman, José María de Vera, characterised the cardinal as a priest who "doesn't identify himself as a 100% Jesuit". De Vera also told the Argentinian journalist Sebastián Lacunza: "He has said that there are some things in the order that he likes and others that he doesn't." The estrangement, he said, began to grow following the allegations made by the kidnapped priests. "He has had no relations with the order since the problems of the two priests – Yorio and Jalics – who went missing," said De Vera. Asked whether he believed the pair's allegations, he replied: "Of course. One of them is alive, and he lives in Germany, I believe."

It has not gone unnoticed that Bergoglio allowed it to be known that he chose his papal name to honour St Francis of Assisi rather than the Jesuit saint Francis Xavier. The distancing has gone hand in hand with the tightening of a new bond with the conservative Communion and Liberation movement (CL), which was founded by an Italian priest, the late Father Luigi Giussani.

Before the Conclave, the National Catholic Reporter published a profile of the then cardinal Bergoglio in which it noted he had spoken at CL's annual gathering in the Italian coastal resort of Rimini and presented Giussani's books at literary fairs in Argentina. This was certainly unusual behaviour for the member of an order whose relations with CL are, at best, cool.

Some, however, claim the gap between Francis and his order is narrowing and that the past disagreements can equally be explained by a simple clash of personalities [.....]

Pope Francis' run-in with

artappraiser — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 21:15:08 +0000

In reply to Pope Francis from Argentina

Pope Francis' run-in with Benedict XVI over the Prophet Mohammed
By Alasdair Baverstock, The Telegraph, 15 Mar 2013

In 2005, then Pope Benedict, while quoting from an obscure medieval text, declared that the Prophet Mohammed, founder of the Islamic faith, was "evil and inhuman", enraging the Muslim population and causing attacks on churches throughout the world before an apology was issued.

Reacting within days to the statements, speaking through a spokesman to Newsweek Argentina, then Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio declared his "unhappiness" with the statements, made at the University of Regensburg in Germany, and encouraged many of his subordinates with the Church to do the same.

"Pope Benedict's statement don't reflect my own opinions", the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires declared. "These statements will serve to destroy in 20 seconds the careful construction of a relationship with Islam that Pope John Paul II built over the last twenty years".

The Vatican reacted quickly, removing one subordinate, Joaquín Piña the Archbishop of Puerto Iguazú from his post within four days of his making similar statements to the Argentine national media, sending a clear statement to Cardinal Bergoglio that he would be next should he choose to persist.

Reacting to the threats from Rome, Cardinal Bergoglio cancelled his plans to fly to Rome, choosing to boycott the second synod that Pope Benedict had called during his tenure as pontif [.....]

The Latest News From Tiber

EmmaZahn — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 19:12:54 +0000

In reply to Pope Francis from Argentina

The Latest News From Tiber Beat

Guess the squeeing at NRO was beginning to grate Kevin Drum.

Also, I suspect the

artappraiser — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 19:10:40 +0000

In reply to Thanks. This short Al Jazeera

Also, I suspect the following, which I just saw now on Google News (and note my bold):

Vatican denies Dirty War allegations against Pope
BBC News, March 15, 2013

The Vatican has denied that Pope Francis failed to speak out against human rights abuses during military rule in his native Argentina.

"There has never been a credible, concrete accusation against him," said Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, adding he had never been charged [...]

may be his direct doing--may be his direct orders to address it immediately---

I suspect that because I noted this with great interest yesterday, again, my bold:

Analysis sidebar by David Willey, BBC News, Rome, March 14

[....] the fact that the new Pope will meet the media before anyone else at a special audience on Saturday morning shows a vivid awareness that prayer may not be enough to deal with the situation facing the Catholic Church at this critical moment in its long history.

Francis is a Jesuit, a member of perhaps the most powerful and experienced religious order of the Catholic Church. The Jesuits are expert communicators and it is significant that one of the first people summoned to meet the new Pope this morning was Father Federico Lombardi, head of Vatican Radio (run for many years by the Jesuits) and the Vatican Press Office.

Under Pope Benedict, Father Lombardi was a mere functionary who had no direct access to the Pope. He could not pick up the phone and talk things through quickly - he just received orders from the Vatican Secretariat of State. That has now changed overnight.

Looks like we may have the first papacy with a Public Relations "war room."

Thanks. This short Al Jazeera

artappraiser — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 18:23:56 +0000

In reply to AA, Just saw this article in

Thanks. This short Al Jazeera news clip I just watched is interesting in that context,

Much is being said about the new pope's work with the poor in his native Argentina. But what do those who have benefited from his work think of him?

Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo went to the slums of Buenos Aires to find out.

because among others, the reporter talks to one of the "Mothers of the Plaza," apparently out in their weekly protest. Here's a transcript of that part, with what the mother said in quotes and bold:

...and some have questioned his role during Argentina's military dictatorship of the 1970's and 80's. At the time Bergolio was a leader of the Jesuit order, and like other Catholic figures in Argentina, he has been criticized for not speaking out against the junta.

Nair Amoedo 's daughter was killed back in the 1970's and since then she's been marching to demand justice. "We were Catholics that were need of the church, but they were not there for us because they sided with the torturers and those who killed our children. But Bergolio has a chance to change that, he's the pope of the poor."

Sounds either like she does not know of the worst accusations against him on this--which I would find hard to believe because she's been protesting for a long time and associates with others that do, too--or she does not believe them, and thinks he is basically a man "of the poor" who could not speak out about the complicity, but she hopes now he can because he is pope? In any case, no screaming from her about his complicity....