Pope Francis

I think there might be too many long words for her to ever get as far as Jesus.

I see Pope Francis has upset the Calabrian Mafia, not that that's hard to do of course!

Loved this quote in the article:

“If Sarah Palin's this shocked by Pope Francis, she'll be catatonic when she finally gets round to reading about Jesus in the New Testament.”

I've seen one, he didn't look that bright!

Are moose really that thick?

That's a bit of an insult to moose MiceElf I've always been rather fond of them

Moose brain

Palin is breaking new ground in terms of what it means to be right wing.

Thats given me the best chuckle of the day.

He must be doing the right thing as Sarah Palin is .... "taken aback at his liberalism"!

Palin

I think there is much in the catholic church to modernise. Views on contraception.....gay issues....priests marrying. Francis seems more forward thinking and planted in the real world than previous popes! Yet the cogs of the vatican roll very slowly....

Doubt if a pope who drives an old Ford Focus will be wearing Prada BAnanas He really does seem to care about ordinary people and his comments about homosexuality must have shocked some of the Vatican.

Your "sort of Catholic" description reminds me of Germaine Greer saying "I may be an atheist - but I'm a Catholic atheist!"

I'm a sort of Catholic, bit on the lapsed side, but it still lurks there, I haven't totally cast it aside, but like a lot of us have a great deal of issues with many aspects.

I did read that Pope Francis might review the church's position on contraception, that would be a massive step in the right direction. Although I think it's fair to say that very few Catholics in the west take any notice of it anyway, hence the low birth rates in some of the traditional countries like Spain and Italy.

Hope he doesn't buy his shoes from Prada like his predecessor doesn't send out the right sort of message!

What a good post, MiceElf.

We'll have to see. Early days. Certainly marketing savvy but will he have the energy to really sort out that nest of n'ere do wells in the Vatican?

I would have expected nothing less of any pope. They cannot pick and choose who they wish to "bless." It all goes with the job.

Gracesmum, I agree with you, at last, the the Pope reflects what is happening in parishes and is setting an example of where the church should go.

His response to the scandals was zero tolerance 'When a priest abuses, you must never look away. You cannot be in a position of power and use it go destroy the life of another person'. And reflecting and developing that it seems that Francis is a skilful politician, (as he must be in that position), he has taken control of the Curia (the civil service) and is making it the servant of the church.

Ratzinger's best action was to resign. One Cardinal said 'Perhaps the Holy Spirit held off until the house was collapsing around our ears. God is good at writing straight with crooked lines'.

So yes, for those of us still sticking with the church, Francis is bright, compassionate, personally humble but determined light which we have been waiting for since the death of John XXIII.

DH is a Catholic and I am fairly well disposed to the church but the scandals of the last few years have made that quite difficult at times. So it is a pleasure and relief to see such a genuinely humble, intelligent and compassionate man at is head. He is absolutely what the Roman Catholic Church needed!

Yes I like Pope Francis - I have read some comments that he only blessed this man as a photo opportunity, but I would imagine anywhere he goes in public he will be followed by photographers - I think he is a genuinely compassionate man.

Nor am I a catholic but I think he's great. I'm warming to Justin Welby too. This is all getting scary!!

I like the new pope. He is just what the RC Church needs, IMO, and yes, I am RC.

I was moved. Imagine what that poor man's life must be like and how this must have comforted him. I am a (lapsed) Catholic.

I'm not a Catholic, but must say I have rather taken to Francis. So far he seems to be the breath of fresh air that the RC church badly needs.