Charles Pierce admires this Pope
better not post any more pieces by Charlie. He's a hypocrite and has kind words for a bigot
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There are echoes of these words in what Pope Francis has been saying since he was elected to the papacy. There is an argument to be made that the best thing a pope can do—in fact, that the only truly holy thing a pope can do—is put a human face on a gigantic institution encrusted with comic-opera medieval grandeur and shot through with connivance and deceit. As Garry Wills points out (often), there is no pope in the Gospels. Jesus did not make priests, let alone found a church. He would not understand in any way the proud triumphalism that so many people find an essential part of their attraction to the church. He would not have understood the desire to cover up crimes against children—in fact, in Matthew 18:6, he was rather specific about punishing people who commit crimes against children—but I think he would have understood a pope who went out and found himself a deal on a good used car.
In all things, and especially in judging a pope, we should keep in mind Saint James’ cautionary words about faith without works being dead. But, fifty years on now, even the mildest expression of a common humanity is an echo of that evening in Rome, when a roundfaced old man came out under the moon, and gave glory to the night.
Read more: Pope Francis as Quiet Revolutionary - Esquire
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