Well I have been wondering if the Pope Francis will have
something to say to the U.S. bishops gathering at their conference in Baltimore
and today I learn that he has sent an envoy to the conference to convey his
wishes as to how he wants them to behave and act.
As you remember, the U.S. Conference of Bishops is made up
of some pretty conservative characters who have been screaming and I do mean
screaming about their opposition to abortion, gay marriage and contraception
something Pope Francis has told them to stop obsessing about.
Now we have some definitive instruction from the pope to
U.S. bishops.
1.
Live simply. The pope, as you know, lives in the
Vatican hotel and not the Vatican palace and drives his own compact car and
carries his own luggage.
2.
Make Roman Catholics more welcome in church.
3.
Bishops should be more in-tune with the people.
4.
Bishops should be more pastoral.
5.
Do not follow a particular ideology.
Well what do all of this mean…?
Ideology is defined as a systematic body of concepts
especially about human life or culture. The bishops think they know what the
hell is the right way to live on this earth and the people on this earth and
their ideas how to live be damned (abortion, gay marriage, contraception).
What Pope Francis is telling them (or at least I think this
is what he is telling them) is that they (the bishops) do not know specifically
how people should live and act and therefore the bishops need to get in-tune
with society and learn from the people about the reality of life on this
planet; priests do not lead a normal life.
Bishops need to be more pastoral according to the pope and
this refers to pastors as shepherds taking care of their flock and the best way
to do that is to be as one with their flock; catering to the needs of the flock.
At present, the bishops stand in front of the flock and order them around; that
is not tending.
As far as living simply; well that may be harder to do for
these spoiled and pampered princes of the church; they enjoy the good life and
have for quite some time.
The pope is the CEO of the company and it should be his way
or no way but if they refuse; can he fire them?
Bishops appointed by John Paul and Benedict are staunch
conservatives like they were; Francis has no one of like mind to support him or
does he?
This is truly a historic time for the papacy, the Vatican
and the Catholic faith…I am quite excited about the prospects.
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