Is Pope Francis Really a Progressive Example?

[Tom Rinaldo]

70. That's not a quote from my post - it's a little bit misleading

Again, I do not consider Francis to be a progressive leader, I agreed with the break down of him on the issues presented in the OP.

Look, I'm not exactly a Vatican insider but from the little bit I know about the history of the Roman Catholic Church shows that Popes don't always get to say and do anything they want and expect that the Church will fall in behind them just because the Pope spoke and that is that. Popes have been exiled and killed. There have been dueling popes each claiming to head the Church, and schisms have happened that result in huge sections of the Catholic Church breaking away from the pope to go it on their own over disagreements on policy and theology. Like any organizational leaders, popes are wary about the effects of coming down too hard too fast on powerful factions inside their organizations.

This pope never suggested for an instant that the current Church doctrine on what is considered sinful in general and on a male priesthood were under review by him, to the extent that a pope has a say in it. Nor did he even suggest that he disagrees with all that long standing dogma. What he said (I think this is true) is that the Church had become imbalanced in its constant emphasis on sexual morality issues rather than on the core teachings of Christ. If he can succeed in getting the church to be less obsessed with sexual morality issues, to getting the number of sermons on those sharply reduced while expanding the number of sermons opposing economic oppression in general, it will be a useful shift in emphasis far as I can tell. Nothing more, nothing less.

I expect conservative, even reactionary, positions from the Roman Catholic Church on sexual and gender issues. Nothing really has changed there. What is changing is the promotion of a central message regarding compassion and fair treatment for the poor.