Priorities of the Pope

Hi there! Welcome to I’m So Glad My Suffering Amuses You, a blog that wants to make the world a better place but that’s really too much trouble and so never mind. I’m Dave-El, the Pope of the Internet.

 

Pope Francis was pontiff rocking in the house yesterday where he addressed a joint session of Congress on such trivial matters as keeping the planet from boiling in its own sweat and being helpful to people who need help. Didn’t say a word about homosexuals or abortion and we all know that baby aborting gays are the true threat to the American way of life. That and Mexican Muslims. God help us if they ever join forces. 

 

How fucked up is the world when then liberal left are going nutsy coo-coo over Pope Francis while the radical right looks at him with the contempt they reserve for tofu, hummus, rice cakes and Jon Stewart? 

 

The thing is the Pope is not the hemp wearing hippy liberal the far right makes him out to be or the far left wants him to be. When it comes to homosexuals and the reproductive rights of women, Francis has made it clear he’s not overturning the official position of the church. Officially, the Vatican is “No” to gays and “Yes” to women… popping out lots and lots of babies.

 

But what the Pope has done is move such issues from the front burner to…well, not to the back burner but placed them in Tupperware (sanctified Tupperware, of course) and put them on a shelf in the Pope Pantry.  The positions of the Catholic Church on homosexuality as well as abortion and contraception are still there, their freshness locked in for the next Pope to pop ‘em out and reheat ‘em for a snack.

 

But Pope Francis thinks there are other issues more worthy of his time and energies  as well as the time and energy of the Church and her followers. Stuff like making sure people have access to food, clean water and medicine. Also shelter, shelter is nice. And schools. People knowing stuff is a good thing.

 

You know what else is good for people to have? A planet. Pope Francis thinks people are fucking up the climate. Although I’m reasonably sure he probably isn’t using the word “fucking” but I’m sure he  has a comparable word in Latin that sounds all religious-like. The Pope thinks human activity is the cause of climate change and God likes the climate the way it was, thank you very much. He put lot of work into it.

 

Well, conservatives are hearing all this from the BMOC (Big Man Of Christianity) and they’re thinking, “What’s all this shit? What about the gays? What about the female women of the opposite sex not popping out babies like they’re supposed to? Climate change? Leave that shit to the scientists! Who we don’t listen to either!”

 

Pope Francis, a college graduate with a degree in science, has an uphill battle trying to save the poor and the planet we all walk upon. How can being in favor of being kind to those in need and being true to our responsibility towards the world God made be points of controversy?

 

I’m tempted to blame all this on the toxic culture created by Fox News but Jesus had to deal with this same crap 2,000 years ago. But Rupert Murdoch is a very, very, very, very old man so maybe Fox News was around back then.

 

The constant drumbeat over the last 2 decades has only gotten louder and stronger from the political far right that the poor are leeches and all men are created equal as long as they are literally men and have the right skin color, the right religion and have an overwhelming desire to only have sex with women who have no say in the matter. This is the same political far right that is so firmly aligned with conservative Christians. And then the Pope, sitting at the pinnacle of the Catholic Christian hierarchy, dares to say, “I have different priorities.” How dare he?

 

Christianity has taken a lot of lumps lately, much of which is self-inflicted. But at the center of this faith, at its most pure and unblemished core, is the fundamental lesson that God so loved the world.

 

God so loved the world!

Not just your part of the world. Not just your neighborhood. Not just people who look like you. And act like you. God so loved the world! And Pope Francis has the temerity to act like that's his mission also, as much as one man can do, to love the world. All of it. 

 

Like I said earlier, Pope Francis is not going to make everyone happy. He’s kind of sticking with the company line on gays and women. Maybe in his heart, he’s not content with that status quo but there’s only so much one man, even the Pope, can do without a considerable passage of time. Or maybe he’s totally down with those things as they are. Who knows? The important thing is he’s trying to change the conversation. He’s trying to re-focus the world’s priorities to protect the world that God gave and all the people made in His image. So if you have a Bible on your night stand and a regular spot in a pew on Sunday morning and you think the Pope’s got his priorities messed up, then maybe it’s time to reconsider your priorities.

 

Everyone, be good to one another.