He's been branded as a progressive reformer, pushing the Church's stances on issues of social and environmental justice. He makes free market conservatives uncomfortable because he has increasingly and repeatedly focused a lens of the cruelties of capitalism, the failures of the market, the market forces' sheer indifference to destruction and suffering. He said weapons manufacturers couldn't in good conscience call themselves Christians. He released an encyclical scolding the Global North for reaping the benefits of massive environmental destruction whose impacts have primarily been experienced by the Global South. He called Western materialism modern idol worship.
Seriously - this guy is calling everyone's nonsense and reminding everyone where the real heart of Christian values resides. The most telling indicator of the truth and righteousness of the Pope's perspective, I think is the fact that his detractors have no substantive response to his arguments; read through the published reactions, and all you'll find is right-wing ad hominem, branding the pope a Marxist or liberation theologist (as if that were a bad thing), or describing his opinions as "too far beyond the pale" to merit serious consideration.
These are the strategies of indefensibly selfish, privileged beneficiaries of the Status Quo trying discredit the most respected person in the world pointing people eyes to the real human costs of leading thoughtless, materialistic, selfish lives.
The icing on the cake for this visit? Pope Francis is entering the United States from Cuba, choosing both to visit that nation before the United States, and to enter from a country that has brought many undocumented immigrants to the shores of America.
So tell me, good Christian people of the world, when you step beyond the libel and name-calling, what exactly is the theological or moral issue with Francis' arguments?
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