Claire Chartier, "La force du pape François, c'est le peuple" (L'Express, August 18, 2015), seems to suggest that the authority of the Pope comes from the people, rather than God. "A well-known American journalist has told me, "He's become our new Mandela," she quotes Andrea Riccardi as declaring.
Of course that's the half-inebriated secular European mainstream media, so who cares? Right?
But one reader, after reading Rorate's take on this, writes in to suggest that although the latter's article may be right, it may also be beside the point. The reader asks: "Does the POPE think his authority comes form God, and does he project that? I would argue he certainly does NOT convey that impression. How does he regard the pronouncements of his predecessors? Who could tell? If the sense he creates is as this piece says, that is the prominent point. The corrective.... well, again, why are we at a point where we need such a corrective?"
Ach, nicht schon wieder!
I don't think your reader actually understood our point and our tone.
ReplyDeleteNC, I think our reader was making a different point, a point beside your point. Thanks, PP
ReplyDeleteWhy are journalists "inebriated" by Francis? For the same reason that they were inebriated by John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II. And the same reason that they were quivering with delight over V2.
ReplyDeleteIn each case they were expecting the Catholic Church to undo itself. And in each case they were disappointed, because they wanted it to happen in one shuddering moment; but also encouraged, because with each teasing dance before the audience of secular wastrels a little more skin is revealed.