RedTracker

While Pope Francis woos the world — and I agree he’s a breath of fresh air — let’s keep certain facts in mind:

1. The last time AOC wrote about then archbishop, now Cardinal Raymond Burke, he was accusing Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley with being under the influence os Satan, “the father of lies.” The reason was Cardinal O’Malley’s decision to not only permit Senator Ted Kennedy to be buried with a Catholic mass, but also to preside over it. 

Cardinal Burke took the opportunity on Dec. 12 to publicly disagree with Pope Francis about the commitment of the American bishops to stand firm on talking publicly and negatively about gay marriage, abortion and other social issues.Rejecting the pope’s statements that social issues are too front and center in church dialogue, Cardinal Burke said “But we can never talk enough about that.”

Pope Francis responded on Monday in a major shakeup of the Congregation for Bishops. Francis removed Burke, replacing him with another American, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, DC.

NPR writes that Rocco Palmo, author of the “definitive Vatican blog Whispers in the Loggia, called the move

2. The best way to understand Pope Francis is through his own words and a trusted source. America magazine, a Catholic publication, interviewed Francis earlier this fall in an article titled A Big Heart Open to God.

When asked about the role of women in the church, Pope Francis answers that it’s necessary “to broaden the opportunities for a stronger presence of women in the church”, referring to the reality that the role of women is often inspired by an ideology of ‘machismo’. “Mary, a woman, is more important than the bishops,” says Francis.  “We have to work harder to develop a profound theology of the woman. Only by making this step will it be possible to better reflect on their function within the church. The feminine genius is needed wherever we make important decisions. The challenge today is this: to think about the specific place of women also in those places where the authority of the church is exercised for various areas of the church.”

Pope Francis celebrated his 77th birthday yesterday and was interviewed today by ABC Good Morning America, broadcasting from the Vatican.

3. In late November, Pope Francis issued an 84-page document called an apostolic exhortation. In marketing and branding speak, the document can be considered an official platform for his papacy. The document created a major stir in American Republican politics, with Pope Francis attacking the “idolatry of money’ while pleading with politicians to guarantee citizens “dignified work, education and healthcare.”