I love Pope Francis, but than I love Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I & II, Pope Benedect XVI, now Emeritus.The Church is for all time, it’s past, present and future rest with the Holy Spirit. Terms like “progressive” and “conservative” don’t suit it well. People have terms and positions, the Church has Christ authority and is a mystery of His love, with a commission to preach His gospel as given, calling all people to repentance and Christ’s covenant love. It embraces real people, with real problems, selfishness, willful pride and unruly passions. It looks to grace, not vocabulary, changing mores, and labels, to help us bear our crosses in union with Jesus who was and is a sign of contradiction, and a stumbling block. The Father wants more than the lowest common denominator for us, while we want short cuts. Jesus want more than simple humanity, great as it is, for us. He is lifting us to supernatural Love. “Saved” will spare us Hell. “Holy” will allow us to live, and love in Heaven for all eternity. Pope Francis wants this for all God’s children.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi has strongly criticised an article on Pope Francis that appears in the latest edition of Rolling Stone magazine.
Although he acknowledged that the Holy Father’s appearance on the publication’s front cover shows a diverse interest in the Pope, the Jesuit spokesman denounced the article’s negative portrayal of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s pontificate, saying the piece disqualifies itself as serious journalism.
“Unfortunately, the article disqualifies itself, falling into the usual mistake of a superficial journalism, which in order to highlight the positive aspects of Pope Francis, thinks it should describe in a negative way the pontificate of Pope Benedict, and does so with a surprising crudeness,” Fr. Lombardi said in a statement.
In the piece titled “Pope Francis: The Times They Are A-Changin'”, author Mark Binelli calls Benedict’s papacy “disastrous” and goes so far as to attack the former pontiff’s appearance and character. He also describes Benedict’s acclaimed apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis as “wonky” but without explaining further.
Be Holy! 