The New Tyranny

Pope Francis is proving to be a remarkable leader of the Catholic church. In the Evangelii Gaudium recently published he admonishes unquestioned faith in capitalism and the free market. Using exceptionally strong language he refers to an “idolatry of money” that will lead to a “new tyranny.” I think it is about time that this aspect of the Catholic faith be brought front and center. Perhaps now we will finally see the duplicity of those Catholics who claim to be pro-life with respect to abortion but remain steadfastly anti-life in their economic and social policies. In what would be a welcome bit of schadenfreude, perhaps the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops will recommend denying communion to any politicians who support economic policies that lead to the further exclusion, marginalization, and suffering of the majority of the world’s population. I for one suggest we start with Paul Ryan. After all, as Pope Francis notes, “an economy of exclusion and inequality … kills.”

The Couch Sags

My couch is broken and I couldn't be happier because my son uses it as an end zone and it is beautiful to watch him imagine players and plays and connect his imagined scenarios with a physical enactment, a sort of nascent and unforced drama, an endless series of one act plays, supernally creative play, going through cards and stickers with dates of birth, age, height, weight, college attended, position, playing statistics, and he riffs off every category imagining the battles and who ends up winning and why and I could watch him destroy my couch this way all day.

Piety and Politics

By now most people have seen the photo of Pope Francis kissing the pilgrim with neurofibromatosis in St. Peter's Square.  I am not sure what to make of this other than that the world seems to have an incredibly humble and pious man in what is probably the single most significant and powerful ecclesiastical office in the world.

Amy Davidson has a nice piece in the New Yorker about the picture, the moment, Pope Francis, and whether the Catholic Church is in the midst of change.  I think, however, that she misses the importance of moments like this.  Whether Pope Francis effects institutional change or not will be an important historical question some day, but the remarkable thing about this photo is the striking manner in which it seems to capture the essence of Francis as a man.  I didn't get the impression that this is theater.  Commentators seem to agree that this is a genuine moment and genuinely reflects who Pope Francis is.  If that is the case, then we should celebrate the man not because of his historical significance but instead because as the Vicar of Christ he actually lives as Christ commanded.