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Deli asked me about how I felt about the Pope's visit, so I thought I'd share.
I'm pretty excited about the Pope's visit, even though I'm Protestant and he's Catholic. He's spiritual and religious, but much more, too. He represents my southern South American generation, really. We went through so much dictatorship and PTSD in the 1970s and 1980s, a period called the Dirty War because our armies turned on us unarmed civilians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War
"The Dirty War (Spanish: Guerra Sucia), was a period of state terrorism from roughly 1974 to 1983, during which military and security forces hunted down and killed 30,000."
Then besides the killing, there was constant imprisonment, torture, arrests without trial, all of that. I graduated from high school in 1975, right into the teeth of it all, and got tortured that way.
But some have come out like Pope Francis in the end. It wasn't easy. Some of his fellow clergy were killed during that time. Archbishop Romero of El Salvador spoke out against the military in 1980 and was shot the next day in church at the altar when he raised the cup saying mass. Six Jesuits who worked with Romero were then killed, too, in 1989, for continuing his work speaking out against the military. One was a friend of mine, and I spoke at his memorial.
Pope Francis is not the only one who came out on top after all--torture survivor Pres. Michelle Bachelet of Chile's like that, torture survivor and 10 year political prisoner Pres. Mujica of Uruguay's like that. Sort of a bunch of South American Nelson Mandelas. Pres. Mujica is the reason I use Muji as my username.
This generation will die off, but it will be helpful to remember its life lessons, ya know? So that's what I see when I see Pope Francis in America. That spirit of recovery from PTSD that he brings from South America is the reason I go down there to be inspired again every year.
I'm pretty excited about the Pope's visit, even though I'm Protestant and he's Catholic. He's spiritual and religious, but much more, too. He represents my southern South American generation, really. We went through so much dictatorship and PTSD in the 1970s and 1980s, a period called the Dirty War because our armies turned on us unarmed civilians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War
"The Dirty War (Spanish: Guerra Sucia), was a period of state terrorism from roughly 1974 to 1983, during which military and security forces hunted down and killed 30,000."
Then besides the killing, there was constant imprisonment, torture, arrests without trial, all of that. I graduated from high school in 1975, right into the teeth of it all, and got tortured that way.
But some have come out like Pope Francis in the end. It wasn't easy. Some of his fellow clergy were killed during that time. Archbishop Romero of El Salvador spoke out against the military in 1980 and was shot the next day in church at the altar when he raised the cup saying mass. Six Jesuits who worked with Romero were then killed, too, in 1989, for continuing his work speaking out against the military. One was a friend of mine, and I spoke at his memorial.
Pope Francis is not the only one who came out on top after all--torture survivor Pres. Michelle Bachelet of Chile's like that, torture survivor and 10 year political prisoner Pres. Mujica of Uruguay's like that. Sort of a bunch of South American Nelson Mandelas. Pres. Mujica is the reason I use Muji as my username.
This generation will die off, but it will be helpful to remember its life lessons, ya know? So that's what I see when I see Pope Francis in America. That spirit of recovery from PTSD that he brings from South America is the reason I go down there to be inspired again every year.
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Hey All...I hope that you have a lovely, peaceful beginning of your weekI have a bunch of chores that need doing but may put them off til tomorrow and just hang out with my landlord/roomie todayWhat about you?...Anything special going on?Have a great day and take good care of you!!..Xo
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Once again I've had a fever today. I'm not going to the hospital because that's a huge waste of time but I did schedule a dr appointment for Wednesday afternoon.
I like his talk.
Let's see if the Church does the walk.
In the meantime, I am inspired greatly by Gandhi without being Hindu, Mother Teresa without being a nun, and by Muji without being a guy, so I think it's safe to say;-) Inspiration is wonderful to our souls, no matter its source or ours.:-)
But. . .
I don't need to agree with, or even understand The President of The United states to be a loyal citizen. I take the Pope, the theatrics of the office and his support network in the same spirit.
The canonization of Junipero Serra is an affront to anyone who believes in human rights and human dignity. The endemic people of my country are not vermin and they should be shown respect. This canonization ritual is the opposite of showing them respect.
I didn't write this post for the purpose of offending anyone, I just could not keep silent on something this important.
As for misogyny, one reason I did not dedicate my life to the Church was finding out I couldn't be a Jesuit. They were held up as the best of the best---and I, a girl, was told no way. Uh-huh.
I admire the current pope's talk. Here's hoping it leads to some *walk*.... And if not, that it inspires us all to be better than we have been.
When Pope Francis was chosen, we southern cone South Americans from the River Plate region (Argentina and Uruguay) didn't think of him as liberal, in fact. Back in the day as Argentina's archbishop he was timid in standing up to the powers that be. Not a collaborator with them, but timid.
When he became Pope he did a better job. So I guess the credit we're giving him now is by comparison, you know? Plus, I'm not Catholic, so there's that, so even when he inspires me it's still not with papal authority. We PROTESTants are a hard headed bunch. We've been protesting for what, 5 centuries now? Ha!
So thanks for making me think on it. I correct myself: a lot of what he's said and done inspires me. Because as you say, even with all the cool things he's done since becoming Pope, you're right that Serra's choice is odd, yes?
It is nice to hear my global south region's accent being broadcast all over the northern hemisphere for a change, whatever he's saying, I must admit. On the content, though, I stand corrected by what you say about Serra. Again, thanks for that. :-)
Many of us are deeply suspicious of this new soft sell of Catholicism. The Church has not budged on its core tenets regarding the sinfulness of contraception and all forms of abortion. Even the outreach to gay people is tainted with the insistence that any intimacy between gay partners is sin.
It wasn't that long ago that the Church taught that the soul enters the body of a child only when it reaches an age when it's capable of complex reasoning. Then suddenly in the aftermath of the suffragist movement, there appeared this series of edicts regarding reproduction. Now even a clump of undifferentiated cells is sacred.
Like they say on TV cop shows, I don't believe in coincidences.
I could rant for *ever* about that stuff, but truth is, I'm watching and hopefull His words inspire. His actions seem to be putting the thin edge of the wedge in the door to re-open it to the Excluded. So far. Reality? Dunno. He took over from Benedict, whotook over from JP2, who was possibly more ah, intractable... than all my Polish Catholic family combined, and that takes some doing.
I pray for a truly *universal* church again.
So those policies remain to be changed in the Catholic church as churches close to it have changed. It makes the lack of change stand out even more. The one thing I see about Francis that Leo pointed out is that Francis has changed the tone of his predecessors toward the LGBT community, toward divorce, even toward abortion.
News reports speak of a gathering internal backlash within the Catholic hierarchy to stop his changes from being about style to being about substantial policy change. I'm rooting for Francis to withstand the backlash from within if it comes. Would take courage to face that. Reminds me I'm glad I'm not Pope...
This works for the people who abused us, it works for politicians, and I think it applies to popes and churches too.
Francis has just canonized a major figure in the Inquisition. That's the deed I'm looking at in the news. Francisco Serra was the "Inquisitor" officially for the region around California. His biographers have stated that he embraced this mission with great enthusiasm and traveled widely in this capacity...as someone charged with rooting out those who practiced non-Christian religion.
sigh. . .
No doubt about it. Humans are vicious critters. Hard to have faith in any of them. Seems to me that all humans were nurtured in blood. Hope I get to be an inch worm in my next life.