FRANCIS


I never even thought of it:  there has never been a Pope named Francis--till now.  Why not?  Well, Francis of Assisi was a threat to Roman Catholicism--almost as much a threat as Jesus was.

Fifty-odd years ago the power brokers in Rome elected the man who became John XXIII because
they needed somebody to take over--innocuously--until they could settle things among themselves.  He was old, a nobody, and was expected to spend a couple of quiet years as caretaker-pope, then die.  But John XXIII fooled them--and called Vatican II.  And some things changed--but not enough.

Now, the disgraced Benedict has resigned--abdicated--and Rome has suddenly had to elect a new pope.  And somehow they have elected a real theologian, a genuine Christian, a scholar, an honorable man!  And he has chosen the name Francis!

Benedict was a pseudo-intellectual, a mockery whose contribution to the world was a declaration that there were no cows in the stable where Jesus was born.

But the new pope is very much an intellectual.  He understands what Jesus stood for, what he taught.  And unless the Vatican mafia can poison him quickly he may reinvent Christianity, and save it from the last ten or twelve centuries of its disgrace.

Sell all the cathedrals!  Get rid of all the gold chalices and the fancy vestments!  Give the pope's ring to some starving children.  Sell the red shoes and the triple crown.  Open up the Vatican treasuries to feed and clothe the poor.  Turn all the Catholic churches into shelters for the homeless.

Maybe, with Francis as pope, Christianity will become respectable. 

Let's hope so.  Let's support Pope Francis!

                                                                                  BGH