Pope Francis: naive humanist bully

my objection to the Pope is that he sows confusion.

Mercy means letting remarried people receive the sacraments.

But this ignores Jesus' saying divorce is forbidden, and ignoring Paul's instructions that those living in a sinful state should not receive the sacrament, and ignores the holiness of the sacrament, making it into merely a feel good symbol to affirm everyone's ego.

(ironically, it is the stoic atheist Jordan Peterson who is preaching against divorce and for responsibility. Ha. When the shepherds fail to warn the sheep, God finds the least likely person to send his story: and yes he can use an atheist: Balaam's ass, anyone?)

but the Pope's political stances are over my head: I tend to be sympathetic, but always feel something is off with his thinking, especially when he calls ordinary people names and tells us we are sinners if we don't agree with him on a complicated issue that has often has little to do with Catholic moral teaching. (air conditioning is a sin? nonsense. you can have my aircon remote when you pry it from my cold dead hand).

Maureen Malarkey has a subtle essay that explains the subtle problem:  fake humanism.

she starts by quoting Daniel Mahoney:

first, Mahoney notes what I feel is the big problem: sowing moral confusion under the guise of mercy:

With winks and nods, he (Pope Francis) challenges the age-old Catholic teaching that there are intrinsic evils that cannot be countenanced by a faithful Christian or any person of good will. In a thousand ways, he sows confusion in the Church and the world.

but then he goes on to the naive politics of the Pope:

His views on politics are summary, to say the least, and partake of . . . inordinate egalitarianism.

Pope Francis has displayed indulgence toward left-wing tyrannies that are viciously anti-Catholic to boot. .... He has spoken respectfully about Communism, the murderous scourge of the twentieth century....

Mahoney then goes on to the root of the Pope's problem: The reality of evil.

...in a recent book of interviews with a French social scientist, Pope Francis declares that “no war is just” and that one “always wins with peace.” He has obviously not considered “the peace of the grave” . . . . By seemingly siding with peace at any price, he prevents statesmen, Christian statesmen, from carrying out their responsibilities to justice and the common good.

ah but what about "love your neighbor"? Malarkay adds:

To love them is first to know them. And the knowing does not absolve them from their intentions nor exempt them from the consequences of their acts. Neither does it disburden us from protecting those in our care. In this context, to love is to wish ultimate good, not damnation, to the enemy. It is a love that has nothing sentimental or emotionally tender about it.

yes, evil is real.The pope is a humanist, (I'm okay you're okay, who am I to judge) not a Christian (we are all sinners which is why we need both forgiveness and need to forgive others).

as a doctor, I treat them the best I can, as a Christian I would try to convert them, but I would not say "who am I to judge" and wink at their sins.

Untethered from a biblical sensibility, Francis forgets that history began east of Eden, in that place where Cain slew his brother Abel. Cain’s act of fraternal enmity insures that, pace Baudelaire, there is no such thing as the race of Abel. Righteous Abel died childless. It is the race of Cain that fills the world. From within the dogma of Original Sin emerges realization that we are Cain’s progeny, not Abel’s.

again, ironically it is not the Pope but the stoic of youtube who reminds us of this.

who wudda thot?