Pope Francis on 60 Minutes this Sunday

A latest article within the Nationwide Catholic Reporter (a mildly progressive lay-run Catholic newspaper) reported that Pope Francis clearly worries about America. The U.S. church has ‘a really sturdy reactionary perspective,’ he advised a bunch of Jesuits final 12 months. ‘Being backward-looking is ineffective.’*

Pope Francis is being interviewed by an American girl journalist on 60 Minutes this Sunday. Will probably be fascinating to see how he addresses the American church’s “very sturdy reactionary perspective.” Some ecclesial fur is likely to be flying. 

It’s no secret why the Pope himself can complain that the American church seems “backward-looking” and “ineffective.” The 2 popes earlier than him, reigning for 34 years, went out of their strategy to elevate the affect of Opus Dei and its fascist founder Escriva for whom they modified the principles to hurry by means of the quickest canonization in historical past. 

In addition they picked younger bishops who have been from the fascist wing of the church—one among whom, an Opus Dei member, was elected head of the American Catholic Bishops group. Such prelates are out of tune with Pope Francis.

The earlier Vatican’s opposition to Archbishop (now Saint) Oscar Romero is effectively documented, and naturally they made it a precedence to dismantle liberation theology and base communities all through South America. They “killed theology” in Europe, a European theologian advised me, and silenced over 108 theologians worldwide (myself included) whom I title in my ebook, The Pope’s Conflict. They changed it with a sentimental theology of which the converse facet is, as Carl Jung observes, all the time violence.

Tremendous-right Catholics with their super-right wealthy capitalist monetary supporters, such because the founding father of Domino’s Pizza, are out of synch with the present pope additionally. Busy sponsoring occasions like a $1000-a-plate-dinner at Mar-a-Lago referred to as “Catholic Prayer for Trump,” they’re keen as beavers to embrace Donald Trump, together with conspiracy theories. As with politics, faith too is commonly primed to “Comply with the cash.” 

Talking of “following the cash,” Opus Dei activist Leonardo Leo, who handpicked our six far-right supreme courtroom judges who dismantled Roe v Wade, is now a billionaire himself. Leo is seen smoking cigars with Clarence Thomas and his billionaire Texan sugar daddy in a portray on the latter’s mansion. 

Leo and his chosen six seem utterly unbothered by the dire outcomes of 12-year-old rape victims being forbidden aid; ladies with troublesome pregnancies being denied medical consideration; and politicians as an alternative of medical doctors making choices about ladies’s our bodies.  

To be continued

* Sullivan, Tim, “‘A step again in time’: America’s Catholic Church sees an immense shift towards the outdated methods.” AP Information, Might 1, 2024

Banner picture: Pope Francis. Drawing by Bogdan Solomenco. Wikimedia Commons.

Queries for Contemplation

Do you acknowledge parts of fascism from yesterday’s DM creeping in to institutionalized faith?  Which parts are most pronounced?  How do you see wholesome spirituality resisting such tendencies?

Advisable Studying

The Pope’s Conflict presents a provocative have a look at three a long time of corruption within the Catholic Church, specializing in Josef Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. The ultimate part within the ebook focuses on birthing a very catholic Christianity.
“This ebook needs to be learn by all people, not just for its ferocious braveness, but in addition for its imaginative and prescient for what must be saved from the harmful forces that threaten genuine Christianity.” ~ Andrew Harvey, creator of The Hope.
“Within the gripping The Pope’s Conflict, Matthew Fox takes an unwavering have a look at the layers of corruption within the Catholic Church, holding ethical fact towards energy.”   — Jason Berry, creator of Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Energy within the Papacy of John Paul II

A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Consciousness with Social Justice

In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the which means and follow of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the longer term that guarantees private, social, and world therapeutic, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, main the best way towards a gentler and extra ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate exercise.
“Nicely value our deepest consideration…Places compassion into its correct focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Reworking Evil in Soul and Society

Visionary theologian and best-selling creator Matthew Fox presents a brand new theology of evil that basically modifications the normal notion of excellent and evil and factors the best way to a extra enlightened remedy of ourselves, each other, and all of nature. In evaluating the Jap custom of the 7 chakras to the Western custom of the 7 capital sins, Fox permits us to suppose creatively about our capability for private and institutional evil and what we will do about them. 
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a greater imaginative and prescient and depth of notion far past the grasp of anyone single science.  A breath-taking evaluation.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, creator of Quantum Theology: Religious Implications of the New Physics