Opinion of Pope Francis

[Antonio the Sixth]

PACHAMAMA

[Antonio the Sixth]

Guilty of 'moderate heroism'. But also apparent with the internal plots against him, that whoever follows him is likely to be a complete ghoul.

The future of the Church is ultra conservative and reactionary. Enjoy this brief respite.

He's already appointed a majority of the Cardinals who will elect his successor.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Guilty of 'moderate heroism'. But also apparent with the internal plots against him, that whoever follows him is likely to be a complete ghoul.

The future of the Church is ultra conservative and reactionary. Enjoy this brief respite.

He's already appointed a majority of the Cardinals who will elect his successor.

It's worth being concerned--very much so--that the pendulum will swing back on LGBT issues/women's status in Church governance structures/etc. once the Catholic center of gravity within the Global South shifts from Latin America to Africa. But the Africans are largely united behind Francis on things like economics, the environment, ecumenism, etc. It's probable that the future of European and North American Catholicism is on those subjects bound to be well to the right of the worldwide baseline. Real fun.

ETA: What I'm concerned about in the moment, rather than for the future, is the personality-driven sorting of politically engaged Catholics into "pro" or "anti" the current Pope. I don't think this is a healthy mindset, and I'm saying this as someone who writes for a pro-Francis website.

It's worth remembering that American Catholicism is also becoming less and less White. It's going to be hard for AmCon-style Catholicism to maintain its cultural pull once the vast majority of Catholics are Hispanic.

Agreed entirely otherwise.

[Antonio the Sixth]

He's a liberal pundit.  Something of a counterpoint to Franklin Graham these days.

Viewing the head of a major world religion with its political center in Europe and its demographic center in South America, through the lens of US political divides, really is peak US-centrism.

The truth is, Francis doesn't give a sh*t about Americans and their silly obsessions with parochial issues. That's probably why Americans dislike him so much even as the rest of the world loves him. They hate that he shows them how unimportant they are in the grand scheme of things.