Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Francis

Father Michael Engh, the president of my university, writes, "Along with Jesuits and colleagues around the world, we celebrate the election of Cardinal Jorge Maria Bergoglio as Pope Francis I. As a man committed to social justice, he shares the ideals of our own institution."

With due respect, his ideals are not consistently the ones to which I hope my own institution aspires. Setting aside the controversies over his relationship with the Argentine junta, we have this:

"In recent years, Cardinal Bergoglio has clashed with the Argentine government, particularly former President Néstor Kirchner and his successor and widow, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, about issues like gay marriage, abortion and the adoption of children by gay couples. In 2010, he described a government-supported law to legalize marriage and adoption by same-sex couples as 'a war against God' and 'a maneuver by the devil.'"

Committed to social justice? Justice for whom? No more tolerance of intolerance and bigotry.

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