Why the announcement of a new Pope sparks contempt among some.

[Drunken Irishman]

53. I have no problem with people who are critical of the process and the Catholic Church.

I do have a problem when people dismiss it as a fairy tale and other demeaning terms. Tolerance is a staple in DU, but Christian intolerance is almost always universally accepted. This is the only group, outside Republicans, who posters can openly mock and show contempt for without ever getting into trouble. Hell, in many instances, you can't even do that with Muslims without offending those who turn around and trash the Christian and religious faith - as that bigotry isn't accepted, and shouldn't be accepted, but often is far more vocally criticized than some of the posts I've seen on DU the past few weeks.

To be sure, criticism and not believing are perfectly acceptable and I think it's healthy to have a debate. But often, those who believe are mocked as naive or stupid on here with no subsequent rebuke by the powers to be. Then they get angry when the Vatican or the Catholic Church says something that vilifies them.

It's kind of ironic, don't you think? Yeah.

One thing that is certain - DUers equate all of Catholicism with Rome and what the Vatican says and what priest do. But that isn't the case. A majority of Catholics voted for Obama. Our vice-president is Catholic. Our Secretary of State is Catholic. Either a plurality or a majority of American Catholics support gay marriage and almost universally support contraceptives. Catholic nuns came to Obama's defense in 2012 and took to the country to push a great deal of his agenda. The first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice is Catholic. They all share a progressive vision - even if it's not exactly shared by those in Rome. Still, as it was with all of us when Bush was our president, while he was our leader, as the Pope is to a billion Catholics, he doesn't necessarily speak for all of us and it's not fair to hold us to his words ... because they're not ours.

But that doesn't mean we can't be excited for the selection of a new pope. Yet DUers are quick to remind us that it's stupid, trivial, silly and ridiculous - the whole thing! They might believe that. But to a majority of Catholics, it's an important moment that does not happen often. This is only the second time since I've been born where a pope was selected and it is exciting. Of course, I don't expect anyone on DU to share in that excitement ... but it is telling how quick you all are to tell us everything that is wrong with the Catholic Church and the future pope and the selection process and everything else associated with my faith.

I'd also like to say that DUers have now essentially defined liberal and conservative, left-wing and right-wing on two issues - gay marriage and abortion. If you oppose both, you're a right-winger and the debate is to never to happen because it's absolutely set in stone. Which is ironic, considering these same people are quick to call our President a right-winger ... even though he supports gay marriage and abortion.

But if you expected the next Pope to come out in openly embrace gay marriage and abortion, you were absolutely fooling yourself. It was not going to happen - especially the abortion thing. The best thing we can hope for is that the pope is a progressive on other issues and focuses less on abortion and gay marriage than Benedict did. Even the most progressive priests and nuns oppose abortion. That's just the way it is and always will be. Most will oppose gay marriage - as our President did not even two years ago. The evolution of this is not as fast as it should be and it will be much slower for the Catholic Church. However, like I said, that doesn't make the next pope a right-winger.

Pope Francis the 1st has the ability to reshape the Catholic Church by using inclusive rhetoric and not focusing on gays and abortion and instead, focusing on fixing the Catholic Church. I think most DUers would agree that if this pope spent his papacy fighting poverty and globalization, with barely a mention of opposition to gay rights and abortion rights, which very well could be the case, though we don't know, then there would be improvement and something to grow on in the future. You know?

Maybe he's a clone of Benedict and certainly he has come out against gay marriage - but that's to be expected. It's not necessarily those personal views that matter, because we already knew they were baked into the cake no matter who walked on to the balcony, but rather how the pope chooses his message. If he's like Benedict, whose sole intention it seemed was to demonize the left and the gays, then sure, you are absolutely justified in calling him a right-winger because that is what will have consumed his papacy instead of focusing on pressing issues that do matter to most liberals and progressives.

Myself? I'm going to take a wait and see approach. I wasn't happy with Benedict's election, but I feel more optimistic with this one because I do have hope he can focus more on poverty, the environment, the sex abuse scandals and every other issue DUers might agree with this man on since he is a Jesuit and someone who is clearly an intellectual.

So, what I'm trying to say is that the best we could hope for was a pope who didn't make it his lifelong mission to attack gays and so-called abortionists and we still may have that. Does that mean you should accept or tolerate his positions on those two matters? Absolutely not. But it's entirely possible this pope readjusts the focal point of the Church away from those social issues and more toward healing the world. If this pope speaks openly, and accepting of all God's children, then I think he will prove to be a good pope and a decent human being - even if we have huge disagreements. I know some DUers will disagree, and that's fine, but the Church was not going to radically adjust with one election. If he can set the course for more tolerance, even if it doesn't change the Church's position on key issues, then he'll have done what I expect from a pope - a man who focuses on the more important issues than whether two men want to marry.