More admiration for Pope Francis

Anyone who has followed ShrinkRap over time knows how critical I was of Pope Benedict, especially when it came to his putting dogma and tradition, as well as papal opulence and pomp, above the real world and its needy people.

Did the College of Cardinals knows what they were doing when they chose his successor?  It's almost too good to be true -- but Francis has not faltered yet.   From refusing to ride in the pope-mobile or live in the papal apartments in the Vatican, to starting a process of cleaning up the corruption and mismanagement of the Vatican itself, to his thoughtful messages and candid interviews, he is little short of amazing in his departure from all that seemed wrong with his predecessor.

In his latest interview (with a Rome-based Jesuit journal) here's some of what he said, as reported on Huffington Post:

Pope Francis faulted the Roman Catholic church for focusing too much on gays, abortion and contraception, saying 'The church has sometimes locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules. . . .  We have to find a new balance, otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel . . . 


"'If one has the answers to all the questions, that is the proof that God is not with him. It means that he is a false prophet using religion for himself.  The great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt. You must leave room for the Lord, not for our certainties; we must be humble.' . . .


"In the interview, Francis does not come out in support of gay marriage, abortion rights or contraception, saying that church positions on those issues are 'clear,' but he added that 'the proclamation of the saving love of God comes before moral and religious imperatives. . . .

 Asked about what he thinks about the position of nuns in the church, he recalled the nuns who took care of him in the hospital when he lost most of one lung from infection in his early 20s:

"I am alive because of one of them. When I went through my lung disease at the hospital, the doctor gave me penicillin and streptomycin in certain doses. The sister who was on duty tripled my doses because she was daringly astute; she knew what to do because she was with ill people all day. The doctor, who really was a good one, lived in his laboratory;  the sister lived on the frontier and was in dialogue with it every day."

This seems like a clear parable of how he would have handled the crisis when the American nuns were rebuked by the Vatican for spending too much time in soup kitchens and helping the sick -- and not enough time protesting abortion and gay marriage.   The Vatican officials, "locked away in their laboratory" do not understand the people like the nuns who live and work directly with the people.

Before Francis was elected pope, I was advocating the (impossible) notion of turning the Vatican over to the nuns.   Now, it seems possible they and Pope Francis could work very well alongside each other.

I don't expect to be converting to Catholocism any time soon;  but I like and respect this man.

Ralph