Pope Francis, since his ascension to papacy in 2013, has made his first trip ever to the U.S., arriving at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday where he was greeted by the President Obama, Vice President Biden and their families. The pope came to the U.S. to discuss several issues, the top issues being climate change, the refugee situation, and rising income gaps between the rich and poor. I don’t know a lot about Pope Francis, mostly because I’m not Catholic, but according to some of my family members who are, he seems to be different than the popes of the past.
Pope Francis, upon his ascension to papacy, has been dubbed by many as “the people’s pope,” and has a high approval rating among American Catholics compared to former popes. The question is: what is so different about Pope Francis?
Pope Francis has devoted a lot of his time to improving the conditions of the poor and preventing climate change. Those are two of the top three issues that he’s discussing in particular during his stay in the U.S., with the refugee situation being another issue at the top of his list.
That’s surprised a lot of people, particularly conservative Catholics, is his lack of focus on issues such as abortion, marriage and sexuality, which are hot topics discussed by numerous other nations and organizations. He’s chosen instead to keep the majority of the church’s focus on poverty, income inequality and climate change. Not to say Pope Francis doesn’t have opinions about these issues; he just wants the church to focus on issues he thinks are the direst.
I actually admire Pope Francis and what he’s doing in the Catholic Church. Though I don’t agree with everything he says, I will say that he is a breath of fresh air in the midst of this grimy world. He stresses loving the Lord and loving others. He wants the Catholic Church to be more pastoral versus doctrinal. He’s shifting the focus more onto the people than onto the rules. I don’t mind loving the people as long as we don’t ignore the scriptures.
Pope Francis has been getting a lot of flack about his seemingly “relaxed” stances on sexuality, marriage, and abortion, but I don’t think a lot of people are listening clearly to what he’s saying. While I’m hesitant to wholeheartedly agree with him on several issues, his call to love others despite their “sins” is a good one; it’s the call that Jesus gave to us.
We are to love others even if they live lifestyles or do things that don’t align with the Christian teachings. We shouldn’t ignore the scriptures and dismiss a sinful lifestyle, but neither should we declare our hatred for those who do have these lifestyles. We are called to love, not to judge, and lead others to Christ.
How about the issues that Pope Francis came to talk about: climate change and poverty. Pope Francis has an unprecedented focus on climate change, putting it as one of the top issues of the church. He believes that we, humankind, are at fault for neglecting to care for the earth. He’s even issued a 184-page encyclical, which is a letter from the pope sent to all Roman Catholic bishops, on the topic. Safe to say, Pope Francis loves the environment.
While environmental issues don’t get as much publicity in the U.S. as other places, we shouldn’t ignore the fact that we do hurt the environment. Pope Francis does have a point. We literally treat the earth as our landfill, and we excuse filling the air with pollutants as a consequence for our capitalist ventures.
It is important to take care of the earth; however, I don’t like how he seems to be putting more focus on the environment than eradicating poverty. I don’t mind doing things to help out the earth, but given the choice of helping a person or a tree, I’m going to choose the person any day.
Poverty is an issue that should take precedence over most others, and Pope Francis has stressed the importance of helping the poor. He believes capitalism to be the main culprit, which has earned him more than a few glares from proud Americans. Capitalism is a problem, you say? Come on, Pope Francis, how do you think we got to be the greatest country in the world?
Honestly, poverty is something that will never be eradicated as long as we live in an imperfect world, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try. Greed is a huge problem, and can result from any capitalistic venture, good or bad. Maybe forgoing the newest iPhone in favor of donating money to provide the bare essentials for the poor in your city wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Besides, Apple comes out with a new iPhone every year; you’re never going to have the “new” one anyway.
Even though I’m not Catholic, I still believe that the pope has an important role in today’s world. There are approximately 1.2 billion Catholics in the world, and for the rest of the world, the pope is the face of Christianity. In other words, he’s a pretty important guy even if we don’t see his immediate impact on our daily lives.
While I don’t agree with everything he says, I know that Pope Francis has a lot of good ideas for making the world a better place. All I can say is welcome to America, Pope Francis. I hope you enjoy your stay.
