Many from within the Vatican are very excited about Pope Francis. The former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio is the first Pope to use the name Francis. Why? And does it really matter? No, not for this opinion piece. But it does have a bit to do with the fact that they are calling him “The Reformer.”
The mainstream media were all a-buzz, saying, “Maybe this guy will get it,” and “maybe this guy will see the light, get in line with the rest of the world, and reform the Catholic Church to accept gay marriage, abortion and women priests.”
Why stop there? How about a stance on gender neutrality, transgender lifestyles and, as far as marriage goes, how about multiple spouses – two men and three women, or two women and three men and a dog? Where does it stop?
The Catholic Church is not a democracy and it’s not a republic. It’s a dictatorship, and the dictator – not the Pope, but God Himself – holds all of the cards. The Catholic Church believes the Bible contains the infallible word of God. It doesn’t matter what you believe.
Most theist religions believe their God has given them a manual and guidelines to live by. These are not up for debate or argument about changing. The Pope is not allowed to make changes to God’s word. He doesn’t get to decide that he doesn’t like the meaning of a scripture or commandment and just change it. The Pope simply makes sure that the “church organization and flock” have the information and resources needed to follow those existing rules.
If you don’t like what he (and the church) stand for, then get out of that religion and go on your way. Really. It’s just that simple. He has the right, as he did last week, to reiterate his stance against gay marriage and abortion. That’s what he is expected to do as leader of the Catholic Church.
Based on his actions in the past, “The Reformer” will work to clean up the day-to-day organizational running of the church, the finances, the chain of authority, discipline and so on. He did this in his locality as a cardinal, and there is a great expectation that he’ll do similarly as Pope. Time will tell.
Now, back to the mainstream, liberal media. They hear “reformer” and immediately think maybe Pope Francis will be taking a new look at these social-political issues and then bring the church into the 21st Century. The liberal stations were humming and cautiously optimistic. I could have saved them many hours of speculation. This really shows just how out of touch they are with the basic foundations of religion in general.
Do they really think they know better than God? Have they even tried to grasp what the Church stands for, what scripture means, or how important God and the Pope are to Catholics? Even Bible-thumping, non-gun-toting Democrats (who are also Catholics) understand this.
Commentators like Rachel Maddow and Chris Mathews said things like: “This Pope has the opportunity to bring great change to this Church.” Hello? Jesus already did that.
The Pope’s job is to make sure the flock he has been charged to oversee has what it needs to please God based on the words in His holy book. Period. That’s it.
So to all of you liberals out there who think you have the answers and want the Catholic Church to change, do what Martin Luther did. First you’ll have to look at and study scripture, but then maybe you can start your own religious order of the Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, Abortive, Left-wing, Socialist Situational Catholicism.
Let me know how that works out for you.
Joe Messina is host of The Real Side (TheRealSide.com), a nationally syndicated talk show that runs on AM-1220 KHTS radio and SCVTV [here]. He is also an elected member of the Hart School Board. His commentary publishes Mondays.
Politicizing the Pope | Commentary by Joe Messina
