Recently elected Pope Francis has taken a very different stance on many issues that have been in debate in the Church for a long time. He also focuses on different issues, reflecting his Jesuit origins by steering the church towards more missionary approach.
Pope Francis has launched a campaign towards helping the poor, even more so than previous popes. He has led this campaign in a different way than the strict “do good” tones of his predecessors. Pope Francis has chosen to lead by example. He tries to live simply, and direct attention away from himself and towards the needy people in the world.
His focus is on simple living, helping the poor, and children. Recently he has started a child abuse committee to investigate priests that have been accused of molesting children, as well as keep the Church up to date with abuse recovery programs. Pope Francis seems to love children, not rejecting any that come up to him, even in the middle of a speech. He has also done away with the Popemobile, preferring to be able to interact with people in the open air.
While Pope Francis does take a new stance on some issues, he is very traditional on others. On a lot of controversial topics such as abortion, death penalty, and gay rights, he says there is no room for argument He also says that even though the Church’s code on these things will not change, the Church has been too focused on people’s behaviour and not enough focused on other issues.
This is the part that is confusing for some people. Francis is fully against gay marriage, but when asked about a gay lobby in the Church, he denied it while at the same time saying, “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?” It is interesting that someone can be against gay marriage, but not judge them. This is a dangerous position to take, because it opens the Pope up to criticism on both sides of the conflict. Homosexuals will criticize him for being so conservative, while opponents of gay rights will accuse him of being too liberal.
Pope Francis is also making a few enemies in the Church itself. He is seeking to shift power away from the Vatican. This is in part to take the focus of the Church from money and towards spreading the Word through the world. This conflicts with people like Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, who like having money to spend on their houses.
The new Pope has stirred up reactions inside the Church with his background, focuses, and beliefs. He is trying to make a change, but going about it in a very different way, one that reflects his Jesuit backgrounds. He wants to refocus the Church onto the poor. Whether or not these different methods succeed remains to be seen.
-Corey