Pope Francis

OK, it seems we have a new Pope, a man of humble attributes who it is said would not live in the cardinal palace but stayed in a small home, preferred to cook his own meals and took the bus everyday so that the people could talk to him. It appears that he followed this tradition last night by taking the bus with all the other cardinals instead of his limo back to the hotel. Not that I know anything about the Pope or his background but it did strike me watching him emerge on the balcony last night that he was a humble man, who truly believes in his religion and not the trappings of his new position but in the value and power of prayer. He does however come with some baggage; he is anti-gay marriage and adoption of children by gay families. It is unlikely therefore that he will make any great changes to the world in terms of bringing about a greater acceptance of the world’s diversity. Last night I felt that somehow this man needs to repair the image and characteristics of the men already in the church. Some of these men have chosen to follow pathways that should see them in Love Hate as opposed to the church. And what of the introduction of women into the church as priests? As someone who really believes in the need for equality a part of me is shouting that the church needs this but with this Pope it is unlikely to happen. However, another part of me feels that this Pope’s job is to redeem the church, to clean it up and to repair the damage caused by some of its male members and that it simply should not be looking to women to come in and clean up their mess. As you might often tell a child “you made the mess, now you clean it”, so too should the Catholic Church clean up its own mess before it starts to reform it theological thinking. It’s ironic that this is my blog today as I have lost so much faith in the Catholic Church, to the point that I feel bitter about many but not all priests and that for a long time I have felt that the best way for me to live as a Catholic was to treat others as I would like to be treated and to live in a Christian way, praying on my own terms. Maybe this Pope will challenge me and my views – it remains to be seen.

On a related but lighter note, the innocence of children is beautiful. Last night I told my youngest son that as I was born on the feast day of St Francis of Assisi that the new Pope called me to ask if he could use by name. This was greeted by a weary question of “did he really mam, are you lying to me?” Preferring to use a little white lie I kept the pretence up and eventually was rewarded by “Dad did you hear that the new Pope rang mam”, his logical mind prevailed however when he returned home and asked me if he could check out the facts, “where is your phone mam? I want to check the numbers” he asked. Eventually I gave in and with his cheeky grin he looked around for our next victim – a child after my own heart!