Theo Hobson in The Guardian asks Why be a liberal Catholic when you could be an Anglican?
Nick Baines gave a lecture on Faith in the Media: Society, Faith and Ethics at De Montfort University, Leicester, on 14 March 2013.
Gavin Drake writes that The Church of England is a tortoise compared to Rome’s hare.
Peter Stanford writes in The Telegraph about Pope Francis I: a new broom sweeps into the Vatican.
In The Guardian Margaret Hebblethwaite writes about The Pope Francis I know.
Robert Mickens writes in The Tablet about A house that needs putting in order.
Re The Pope and the new broom motif, the new Pope, whomever it was to be and we now know its Francis, was elevated from a small and fairly homogeneous group. Individuality can matter, although I think we often put too much emphasis on that, and less on context–historical, social, and ecclesiastical. Vatican II, for example, was called by John 23rd, but the times in which it took place, and it was overseen by two Popes, were perhaps the more significant factor. The bigger issue is grounded in the papacy as institution–one within a larger and more complex institution still.… Read more »
“Not so much a broom as a feather duster perhaps?” Certainly the pope who wears the black shoes won’t be bringing back the ostrich feather fans – nor the triple tiara or the sedia gestatoria.
Margaret Hebblethwaite’s article – based on actual experience of conversation with the future Pope Francis – gives a good account of the circumstances surrounding the intrigue of Church v. State goings-on in Argentina. I guess if I was a cleric in that regime I would want to protect my colleagues from the rigours of prospective torture by the state. However, Jorge Bergoglio, despite his exalted status is fully human – created in the divine Image and Likeness, yes, but fully human. He has made mistakes. He may even make more. In his new status as Pontifex Maximus he will, of… Read more »
The new Pope does indeed seems like a truly holy person, and the emphasis on the poor is important and welcome. These are matters of personal traits. However, what will be telling, and it may take some time to tell, is what he will be able to do with regards to issues like the child abuse scourge, or the Vatican Bank scandal. In the matter of criminal child abuse, will the priorities shift clearly in terms of the harm done to child victims? Issues like these move us beyond the cult of personality, adoring this pope and disparaging that one,… Read more »
Theo Hobson’s question is one that has puzzled me for many years: why be a liberal Catholic when you can simply be an Anglican? His answer may be right, that Catholicism strives to subject all of culture to itself, where Anglicanism is content to be merely part of culture. But I have heard another answer from Catholics whom I have questioned about this: for Catholics, the Church is their family, and however much you may be at war with your family, you simply can’t resign from it! You just go to Christmas dinner and endure it. You just go to… Read more »