tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post8198271775652238748..comments2023-09-23T11:16:00.352+02:00Comments on The Franco-American Flophouse has moved: Habemus PapamVictoria FERAUGEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16319699673885400472noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-69070480429795432102013-03-17T08:31:08.181+01:002013-03-17T08:31:08.181+01:00@anonymous, Thank you from the bottom of my heart...@anonymous, Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your comment. I love all the comments on this blog and I deeply appreciate them but sometimes I get worried that most agree with me. That's not good. Good Lord. I can be wrong just like anybody else. Thank you for the challenge. My Mom sent me one too concerning some remarks the pope made about women during the Argentinian presidential election. All things worth pointing out. <br /><br />When someone you want to like, admire and support does something, or is accused of doing something nefarious, how do you react to that? At what point do you withdraw your support/change your mind?<br /><br />I went through this with Obama. I was a passionate supporter during the first election and then slowly it changed. It was a lot of things including, I must admit, the fact that my ox was being gored. But it was the drone attacks and the attempt to justify the killing of American citizens living abroad that made me decide that I was looking at a Bush bis.<br /><br />But it took years for me to come to that conclusion and I tried to evaluate the evidence and the context before changing my mind. I would do no less for the new pope. <br /><br />Victoria FERAUGEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16319699673885400472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-41079604159298504862013-03-16T13:30:17.472+01:002013-03-16T13:30:17.472+01:00The blog and comments seem oblivious to the fact t...The blog and comments seem oblivious to the fact that this pope will not budge on the "social" issues, that JP 2 was also concerned about the poor but punished those who favored liberation theology (Mother Teresa was the great hypocrite and exploiter of the poor) and that Bergoglio's role during the "dirty war" was not so different from that of the larger church in Argentina, which once again was the supporter of the dictators. It's worth viewing:<br /><br />www.democracynow.org/2013/3/14/pope_francis_first_latin_american_<br />jesuit?autostart=true<br /><br />www.democracynow.org/2013/3/14/pope_francis_junta_past_argentine_<br />journalist?autostart=true<br /><br />www.democracynow.org/2013/3/14/a_social_conservative_pope_francis<br />_led?autostart=true<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-71804956761241598492013-03-15T18:24:46.407+01:002013-03-15T18:24:46.407+01:00@Julia, It just might. I know that I am being so...@Julia, It just might. I know that I am being solicited almost weekly at my local church to sign petitions and demonstrate against the "mariage pour tous" law here in France. I'm not comfortable with this on several levels because for me marriage as a civil (and secular) institution is not the same (for me anyway) as the religious marriage held in a church. Quite honestly, for me only the latter really counted and the one in the mayor's office was just an administrative thing.<br /><br />I also have high hopes that Pope Francis will finally put together a decent response to the sex scandal crisis. In this review of a book that he wrote when he was an cardinal, he took a "zero tolerance" point of view (he thought priests should be removed immediately if they are proven to be a danger to children. He was also very critical of how the church managed the entire matter. It was not OK, he said, to hide it or simply move priests around and the like.<br /><br />http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/15/pope-francis-book-radical-progressiveVictoria FERAUGEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16319699673885400472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-57068378637610037782013-03-15T18:06:25.655+01:002013-03-15T18:06:25.655+01:00I am disappointed that this might add fuel to the ...I am disappointed that this might add fuel to the anti-gay-marriage lobbies. I have seen and experienced child abuse, and the loving gay couples and parents I know are far from that -- the other end of the spectrum, in fact. I wish for a pope would TRULY speak up for children's needs, and not for their beliefs about children's needs! Children need loving parents, a healthy earth, food, critical education, but not bias and discrimination, not increased instability from the lack of rights for their parents... Oh, sigh, don't get me started.<br /><br />At least he will probably do a better job helping heal the wounds of the sex abuse scandal. Now THAT, for example, was and is abuse...<br />Julia Gandrud (aka JuliaLikesFrogs)https://www.blogger.com/profile/09599474074805067799noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-46073606545086738822013-03-15T15:13:46.559+01:002013-03-15T15:13:46.559+01:00@Andrew, I agree and would you believe that my par...@Andrew, I agree and would you believe that my parish priest addressed the subject directly in today's Mass?<br />He said that just as God is a mystery so to a certain extent is every man and woman. He asked that we not be too quick too judge. That sounds wise to me.<br /><br />There's another example however that has really bothered me ever since 911 and that is the American Catholic church's response to government-sponsored torture. Church teaching on this is crystal clear - it's not allowed EVER under any circumstances. Did leaders in the Church speak out? Yes, they did and you can see it in a study guide that was put out by the bishops.But did they really do EVERYTHING possible to try and stop it? No, they didn't. Perhaps they too are working behind the scenes and within the system. Perhaps the political climate and public opinion were so much against this message (and still is) that it wouldn't have done any good anyway and led to all kinds of problems for the local churches. <br /><br />Still, it bothers me. I don't have any answers here. Best I can do is to take father's words today to heart and try very hard not to judge. Victoria FERAUGEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16319699673885400472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-36287214856556031542013-03-15T11:41:06.132+01:002013-03-15T11:41:06.132+01:00As someone who lived in Argentina just after the &...As someone who lived in Argentina just after the 'dirty war', what was striking to me was just how conservative the Argentine church was, and just how implicated it was with the military government. It is unclear to me how much the new Pope did behind the scenes - but compared to the church in Brazil and Chile, for example, the Argentine church was not a force for justice during this period.<br /><br />None of this detracts from his social concerns and humbleness, and we all have some passages from our past that do not look so good these days, but it is the one somewhat sour note.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com