is a traditionalist.
Luckily, the Cardinals did not shirk their duty, and voted in short order to nominate former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina as the new leader of the Catholic World. Our friends at Godfather Politics found some excellent quotes from His Holiness, which will please conservatives, and drive those of a lax moral viewpoint absolutely crazy 🙂
Godfather Politics
“Let’s not be naive, we’re not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God.”
“We should commit ourselves to ‘eucharistic coherence,’ that is, we should be conscious that people cannot receive holy communion and at the same time act or speak against the commandments, in particular when abortions, euthanasia, and other serious crimes against life and family are facilitated. This responsibility applies particularly to legislators, governors, and health professionals.”
Take THAT, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Joseph Kennedy III, and many of the leaders of the Democratic Party!!
On euthanizing the elderly, Bergoglio wrote,
“Today, elderly people are discarded when, in reality, they are the seat of wisdom of the society. The right to life means allowing people to live and not killing, allowing them to grow, to eat, to be educated, to be healed, and to be permitted to die with dignity.”
I LIKE this guy already 🙂
Political trivia: Like many Republican candidates for the top job, Cardinal Bergoglio was rumored to have been the runner up in the last conclave; UNLIKE many republican candidates for the top job, he was willing and able to ‘Carpe Diem’ when his turn came.
Update – One of the Reasons I was so pleased for the elevation of Josef Ratzinger to Pope Benedict was his well-known disdain for “Liberation Theology”, Black or otherwise, IE the kind of ‘christianity’ taught to Obama by his mentor Jeremiah Wright.
Well, although Liberation Theology was the ‘Latin Plague’ for the last few decades, with many priests becoming effectively socialists, it is clear that Cardinal Bergoglio did not partake of the Kool-Aid, and indeed was a sworn enemy of the populist-statist Kirchner administrations (Husband followed by wife) in Argentina.
Washington Times on the man:
Known until Wednesday as Jorge Bergoglio, the 76-year-old is known as a humble man who denied himself the luxuries that previous Buenos Aires cardinals enjoyed. He came close to becoming pope last time, reportedly gaining the second-highest vote total in several rounds of voting before he bowed out of the running in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.
New Yorker on his opposition to Liberation Theology:
Bergoglio was a staunch opponent of liberation theology (an attempt to mesh the Christian Gospel with left-wing politics). In Argentina, where traditional attitudes are changing much as in Europe, he clashed with the Argentine government on the issue of adoption by gay couples, a practice that he denounced as evil.
From The Makinac Center:
Cardinal Bergoglio, however, abjured liberation theology as well as Argentina’s military dictatorship. He reserved his efforts for helping the poor and disenfranchised.
The Acton Institute’s Rev. Robert A. Sirico said, in a statement:
“Pope Francis is a man of great spirituality who is known for his commitment to doctrinal orthodoxy as well as for his simplicity of life.”
“Like Benedict XVI, he combines concern for the poor with an insistence that it’s not the Church’s responsibility to be a political actor or to prescribe precise solutions to economic problems. In that regard, he’s a model for all Catholic bishops and clergy throughout the world.”
