A few of the 115 Cardinals who voted to elevate Bergolio to the papacy on March 13, 2013, [1] probably have voter's remorse. In December 2014, the pope "used the opportunity of his end-of-year Christmas greeting to excoriate cardinals, bishops and priests for committing the 'terrorism of gossip,' upholding the 'pathology of power' and acting like 'lords of the manor' -- superior to everyone and everything.'" [2] This is one of those rare instances this blogger stands with the pope whom he does not trust or like very much.
The degree of dislike this blogger has for the the pope pales in comparison to some of those who are going against his edicts. For example, "[t]he head of the Roman Catholic Church in Philadelphia is closing the door opened by Pope Francis to letting civilly remarried Catholics receive Communion, saying the faithful in his archdiocese can only do so if they abstain from sex and live as 'brother and sister.'" [3] How many divorced Catholic couples who enter into a second marriage plan to have a platonic relationship with one another as siblings in the privacy of their home? What if they engaged in sex, would it be considered as incest? These are not questions that need to be discussed since "Archbishop Charles Chaput, who is known for strongly emphasizing strict adherence to Catholic doctrine, [had already] issued a new set of pastoral guidelines for clergy and other leaders in the archdiocese that went into effect July 1, [2016]." [4]
Chaput is not the only one going against the pope's wishes. Parish priests are also not keen on doing everything the pope wants either. How many of them had chosen a Sunday to stand in front of their congregants Mass after Mass to apologize to gays on behalf of the Catholic church? [5] And what exactly should they be apologizing for? In order for a blanket apology to be appropriate, the pope must believe that all gays think and behave alike, all desiring gay marriage, gay adoption and gay surrogacy and that all gays are being mistreated in the same way by the Catholic church. That is just not the case.
This blogger does not think that the Catholic church is persecuting gays. On the contrary, gays are embraced by the Catholic church and some have become part of the clergy. Therefore, there is no need for the Catholic church to issue a blanket apology to gays. However, if the pope wants to change the Catholic position on homosexual sex, then that is a different matter. An apology would not help. It would be far simpler for the pope to say the obvious, that a sin is a sin, that no sin is gender-specific or sexual orientation-specific, and that a sexual sin committed by heterosexuals is no different than the same sin committed by homosexuals. He has yet to make such a statement.
Some of the ideas advanced by this Argentinian pope were not so well thought out and laid out and hence they are not being carried out by his subordinates. His latest appointment of Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago "to the influential Congregation for Bishops" effective today, July 7, 2016, [6] would probably not help heal the deep divisions within the Catholic church.
So where is God in the midst of a church that is splitting apart? In the center, as always, looking for purity of heart and purity of love in those who serve God and neighbor with humility.
[1] https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=when+was+francis+elected+pope
[2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-pope-francis-has-to-say-to-ultraconservatives-in-the-church_us_577d3abae4b0a629c1ab805c
[4] Ibid.
[5] http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-pope-gay-apology-20160626-snap-story.html
[6] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-blase-cupich-bishop-advisory-panel-20160707-story.html
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