Pope’s Foot-Wash a Final Straw for Traditionalist Catholics

[Bucky]

7. TPM: Pope's Easter Homily on the role of women is "upsetting apple carts"

I'm sure I'll always disagree with him on some basic theological questions (well, with him and everyone else on Earth), but based on everything I read about him... I like this pope! He's like a Mentos version of Thomas Aquinas.

http://editors.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/03/pope_again_surprises_with_easter_homily.php

Pope Again Surprises With Easter Homily

The full text of Pope Francis’ Easter Homily has been translated into English. And it seems he’s continuing to upset apple carts. The theme is the role of women and change…

But at this point, something completely new and unexpected happens, something which upsets their hearts and their plans, something which will upset their whole life: they {[font color="#0000b0"]The women who discovered Jesus's body missing from his tomb after the Crucifixion[/font]} see the stone removed from before the tomb, they draw near and they do not find the Lord’s body. It is an event which leaves them perplexed, hesitant, full of questions: “What happened?”, “What is the meaning of all this?” (cf. Lk 24:4). Doesn’t the same thing also happen to us when something completely new occurs in our everyday life? We stop short, we don’t understand, we don’t know what to do. Newness often makes us fearful, including the newness which God brings us, the newness which God asks of us. We are like the Apostles in the Gospel: often we would prefer to hold on to our own security, to stand in front of a tomb, to think about someone who has died, someone who ultimately lives on only as a memory, like the great historical figures from the past. We are afraid of God’s surprises; we are afraid of God’s surprises! He always surprises us!

Dear brothers and sisters, let us not be closed to the newness that God wants to bring into our lives! Are we often weary, disheartened and sad? Do we feel weighed down by our sins? Do we think that we won’t be able to cope? Let us not close our hearts, let us not lose confidence, let us never give up: there are no situations which God cannot change, there is no sin which he cannot forgive if only we open ourselves to him.