Sunday, January 4, 2015

Does The Pope Have A Problem With America?

So, with his latest snub of US cardinal candidates, we're sitting here wondering why it might be that Pope Francis seems to have a problem with America.
Sure, other Pope's have had their gripes with the USA. Mostly, they found us to be too secular, perhaps too hedonistic and seemingly too indulgent.
But this Pope's gripes seem to be more political in nature. In attitude and pronouncement he seems to be put off by our sheer power. Yes, he apparently finds us to be too powerful, politically, monetarily and militarily. We take too much, we use too much, we're too pushy, we don't share enough, we don't give back enough, we're too dominant. With frequent, very direct slaps at capitalism (even incorporating classic liberal lingo such as "trickle down economics") this appears to be the Pope's argument.
Could he really be about the business of trying to clip America's wings?
And, could it be that in making such an argument (and such a move) the Pope is somehow forgetting the good that America does -- not just for the rest of the world but for the Catholic Church as well? Could the Pope be forgetting the contributions of American Catholics to the Church itself, both monetarily and otherwise?
Could that possibly be?
Or could the Pope be aware of these things and just be choosing to ignore them?
Would he do that?
Maybe we'll have a better answer to these questions when the Pope comes to America next year and addresses us here in Philadelphia. Maybe we'll know then.
Or maybe he'll explain himself further before then.
In the meantime, we're left to wonder.

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