The Peoples Pope: Pope Francis: The Peoples Pope

Pope Francis: The Peoples Pope The Catholic Church has a rocky history. From the Spanish Inquisition and the Crusades, to sex and money abuse scandals. The Church, with such a dark past, needed to have a beacon of light to bring it out of its dark history. 2013 marked a landmark in church history. It saw Pope Benedict XVI resign, the first Pope to do so since 1415. Following in the steps of this trend of new, the Church also saw its first South American Pope. Pope Francis has ushered in a new era of Catholic relations with topics that were seen as taboo. The Pope has set a new standard for his followers, pushing a more liberal agenda but still keeping the values of the Church relevant. With the Pope coming into the position in the age of technology,
In schools we are taught about evolution, but students whose religion went against that teaching didn't have to learn it. With climate change becoming a major issue, it's also becoming an issue of who is to blame. In the US, politicians are calling it a natural process done by God, and others calling it man made. The Pope, being the head of a religion with one billion people following, has been put in a situation that can bring light to this issue. Pope Francis is an advocator for the world's poor. His message on climate change reflects this. The Pope believes that the world's poor are going to face the consequences of the riches actions (Insua, 2017). In 2015, he published his Encyclical letter Laudato Si': On care for our Common Home. In it, he calls for action to protect the climate if not for the poor but for humanity. His holiness writes, "The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change." (Francis, 2015). He uses terms like common home and whole human family to bring a sense of oneness among his followers and the rest of the world. This appeal to all, makes an issue like climate change seem like a unified issue. Not an issue of partisan politics. This call to action puts many in a place to believe that climate change isn't a good thing for the
With women's rights covering many areas it is hard to pin point one sold message on. Two main issues are women becoming priests and abortion, and the Pope has been very vocal about both. His stance on abortion has been one of clarity. He does not speak about it much making it hard to really point his message on the subject. When he was asked about it he maneuvered around it by talking about how the Church should not obsess over this issue (Toffelsen, 2015). His message has been more about what he hasn't said rather than what he has said. His stance on women in the clergy is clearer. He still strongly believes that women cannot become priest (Willey, 2013). It is an interesting to see that stances after his remarks toward gay men in the Church. There seems to be no clear line to be drawn when it comes to his stances here. Maybe this is a way for him to still appeal to the core Catholics after his remarks about homosexuality, but it is not clear. One would hope with a track record like his, he would have a more clear