“This is how it is with Mary: If you want to know who she is, you ask theologians; if you want to know how to love her, you have to ask the people. In turn, Mary loved Jesus with the heart of the people, as we read in the Magnificat. We should not even think, therefore, that ‘thinking with the church’ means only thinking with the hierarchy of the church.”
“Oh, my God, Real Housewives comes back tonight? Shut up. I’m coming over, and I’m bringing wine. I don’t care if you’re already in your pajamas. What do you think I’m wearing? A suit? We’ll both be in our jammies, it’ll be fine. Leaving now.”
“The first reform must be the attitude. The ministers of the Gospel must be people who can warm the hearts of the people, who walk through the dark night with them, who know how to dialogue and to descend themselves into their people’s night, into the darkness, but without getting lost. The people of God want pastors, not clergy acting like bureaucrats or government officials. The bishops, particularly, must be able to support the movements of God among their people with patience, so that no one is left behind. But they must also be able to accompany the flock that has a flair for finding new paths.
“God, I love Toni Morrison too. I just had lunch with her and Pat Stewart last week.”
“Instead of being just a church that welcomes and receives by keeping the doors open, let us try also to be a church that finds new roads, that is able to step outside itself and go to those who do not attend Mass, to those who have quit or are indifferent. The ones who quit sometimes do it for reasons that, if properly understood and assessed, can lead to a return. But that takes audacity and courage.”
“All Catholics, both practicing and non-practicing, are welcome to use my Netflix account. The username is Pontifex and the password is Chrysostom407. You know what? Non-Catholics can use it, too. All are welcome.”
“During the return flight from Rio de Janeiro I said that if a homosexual person is of good will and is in search of God, I am no one to judge. By saying this, I said what the catechism says. Religion has the right to express its opinion in the service of the people, but God in creation has set us free: it is not possible to interfere spiritually in the life of a person.
A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person. “A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person. Here we enter into the mystery of the human being.”
“Oh, my God, I love Sherlock, but I’m also getting super into Elementary these days. Lucy Liu has really won me over as Watson.”
“We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that. But when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context. The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.”
“Go ahead and have one, I’ve got a whole new pack in my glove compartment. I mean, I’m trying to quit, but…[ineffable gesture] you know.”
“Yes, in this quest to seek and find God in all things there is still an area of uncertainty. There must be. If a person says that he met God with total certainty and is not touched by a margin of uncertainty, then this is not good. For me, this is an important key. If one has the answers to all the questions—that is the proof that God is not with him.”
“You’ve probably already seen this, but just in case you haven’t, I thought I’d send you a link: http://mentakingup2muchspaceonthetrain.tumblr.com/. Ahhhh so true!”
“The woman is essential for the church. Mary, a woman, is more important than the bishops. I say this because we must not confuse the function with the dignity. We must therefore investigate further the role of women in the church. We have to work harder to develop a profound theology of the woman. Only by making this step will it be possible to better reflect on their function within the church. The feminine genius is needed wherever we make important decisions. The challenge today is this: to think about the specific place of women also in those places where the authority of the church is exercised for various areas of the church.”
“Hey, I know it’s your birthday next week, so I went ahead and reserved us a room at that karaoke place you like. I hope that’s okay :)…Girl, yes, of course I got you birthday weed. How can you even ask that?? Okay, shut up, I’m on my way over and we’re getting lunch. Your brown-bag sandwiches are making me saaaad.”
Tags: birthday weed, catholicism, interviews, love this lil dude, netflix, pope francis, the pope
Pretty good Pope, honestly. I give him four Anima Christis out of five.
He says all the right things, except when he’s saying that he does believe that women should never be ordained, and that the Church teaching that homosexual acts are a sin is indeed correct, and and and…
I mean, yay for wanting to focus on helping the poor, and yay for not wanting to actively persecute people, but is it wrong to want better? To get more than a few platitudes about “no, of course we don’t hate you! I mean, we totally think that what you’re doing is a sin, but we don’t need to make a whole big thing of it. And yeah, we’ve relegated nuns to second-class status, and that’s bad, and we should probably do something about that, but that thing absolutely should not be ordaining women.”
I would love to be able to go back to the Church. And I would love to be able to actually enthuse about Pope Francis, because he genuinely seems to want to help people and to make the Church better. I do think he really will help the poor, because that’s a thing he can do without contravening any Church teachings, and I think that’s awesome. But I don’t think he’ll do much else, and it’s weird to see him praised as progressive on women’s issues and homosexuality when he keeps reiterating that he’s actually not.
The Church is a really big ship. Really big ships can’t turn on a dime. The Church should be doing better, yes. But I think it’s unrealistic to expect any Pope to just unilaterally set new policies on these (very important, crucial, mandatory-for-me-too) things. But something is better than nothing. And anything’s better than Ratzinger. Not flock-to-the-Church better. But better.
Sure, but at some point you have to actually turn the wheel rather than just saying “yeah, I know we’re steering right into these rocks, and turning the wheel is probably a good idea, but the chart says that this is the course so I’m going to keep following the chart.”.
I don’t see any sign that he intends to quit following the chart. I see signs that he might like to, but none that he actually will.
And in response to your edit: It’s actually not unrealistic to expect any Pope to just unilaterally set new policies. The Catholic Church has a long history of Popes doing exactly that. Admittedly his hands may be a bit tied with regards to ordaining women, since that is apparently one of John Paul II’s “infallible” decisions, but still.
“This is how it is with Mary.” I like to imagine him flipping his pellegrina around to settle it, taking a sip of espresso, then raising both hands outwards and saying, “GIRL. You KNOW how it IS with MARY. Our Blessed Mother, the heart of the people! RIGHT? AM I RIGHT.” And then settling his chin in his hands and nodding vigorously at you as you talk.
Nobody writes fan fiction like you do.
That is praise from Caesar, madam. Thank you.
I wish this post were the exclusive, unedited email forward I’m going to get from my still-Catholic relatives today.
“So I brought wine, but I think I accidentally turned it into the blood of Christ?”
Totally beside the point, of course, but I love that Tumblr. So much.
Totally beside the point, of course, but I love that Tumblr. So much.
I think it is incredibly sad that Pope Francis is a decent human being and we all find that amazing. Acting in a kind and loving way. People don’t know what to make of that.
So in the eventual film made about his life, can he be played by Stanley Tucci? Maybe I’m wrong. But I’m kind of feeling it.