But Will didn't dare say that, again leaving the fundamental premises unchallenged. Does he even recognize it?

The direct evidence is what the pope has said himself about his goals, which Will has ignored. You don't have to try to infer his motive from the results. The closest Will comes is identifying that the pope "stands against modernity, rationality, science and, ultimately, the spontaneous creativity of open societies". He doesn't say why the pope and the Church do that. It is not just a matter of economic statistics.

The mystic, duty oriented, ascetic sense of life is right out of the biblical sacred text. Bizarre poetry and myths about muzzling an ox is irrelevant. Sacred text is not the starting point of rational thought.

We know that. This isn't a matter of political rights to have an "opinion". The mystical, ascetic, subservient religious sense of life is thoroughly corrupt to its roots. It's not a matter of competing sects and dynasties.

Thanks for the posting. Looks like the Pope is giving religion a bad name. ;-)

Not that many people here are going to care. But though Pope Francis probably got his spiel out of Populorum Progressio and a lot of other papal bulls, encyclicals, and excommunications, he did not get it out of the Bible. I could cite a lot of verses, beginning with not muzzling an ox when the ox is treading out grain, that flatly contradict Francis' sentiments.

Just have faith, my son (or daughter). Your reward will be in heaven. Of course, you'll need to die first.

Will's column will give the Pope the opportunity to label Will as evil, when with all of his outward beneficence his is the true evil.

As I stated, Will provided the DATA NEEDED to CONCLUDE the pope's motive. That conclusion would be in agreement with your statements.

But isn't that, when you get right down to it, the basis for the entire left agenda? He wants everyone living like good old St. Frank, except those sanctioned by the inhabitants of the Vatican. They get the fine clothes, art, and roast beef.

His latest encyclical includes a blending of the anti contraceptive, anti abortion dogma with viro 'sustainability' rhetoric. Fetuses, eggs, etc. are creatures of "God's Creation" which he insists we have a duty to "sustain".

You have a right to your opinion.

I try to tell my Catholic friends that once in a while, God sends them a corrupt, venal, or destructively ignorant Pope to remind them their faith is Christianity, not Papism. Pope John Paul II was the kind of courageous Vicar of Christ who inspired by daring to challenge the powerful, and was proud of the moral behavior the church promoted. Francis is at best delusional, making deals with totalitarian, soulless monsters, thinking he's doing good, when he only extends the existence of many in hell on Earth.

It's not plagiarism, just a repetition of Church dogma of anti-reason, anti-life on earth present from the beginning. He gives his predecessors lot's of credit. He's even extolling St. Francis of Assisi. His latest Encyclical only repeated the same evil couched in the rhetoric of the modern Anti Industrial Revolution viros, who are attracted to his ideology.

It's much worse than popes not being "infallible" and much worse than the record of only the "bad popes". It's all bad because of its foundation in mystic faith in the supernatural, duty to sacrifice, and a subservient life of asceticism -- all repeated in the Pope's latest Encyclical and which the current popular commentary, including Will's, is ignoring.

But doesn't George Will overlook a solution that
Pope Francis might possibly propose? A slowing
of population growth?--Oh, that's right, the Church
forbids its members the use of contraceptives. (Ex-
cept abstinence, including in marriage). (See
"Humanae Vitae" by Pope Paul VI).

Will didn't say anything about the pope's motive to return to the 16th century. He tries to pin the results on his going along with the viro agenda, as if the pope wanted an improved life but was subverting his own goals for prosperity. He doesn't want prosperity. Will completely missed the fact that the pope denounced the entire Industrial Revolution because of its success over the last few hundred years. He wants everyone living like St. Francis of Assisi groveling in mystic subservience and asceticism.

I was baptized as an infant into the Catholic Church. Then came the childhood indoctrination.
As a young man I read a book called The Bad Popes. These are extreme examples but I've come to think that a pope is just a man as fallible as others.
Having re-read the rules of this board (and I did need that refreshment), I'm not going to get into what I believe now.
Let's just say I'm no longer a Catholic, though I did once get into an online argument with a Catholic who claimed I'd forever be a Catholic for being baptized that way.
Dude made me think of Italians never being able to the freaking Mafia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bad...

It is the pope's greatest pleasure as is 0's to see the world back in poverty. Mr. Will certainly makes excellent points but these two fools with the help of governments are in fact at this time turning the clock back so those already living in poverty will have many more joining them as has already occurred.

Pope Francis reminds me--does he remind anyone else here?--of Pope Paul VI. Does anyone remember Rand's specific criticism of the papal encyclical Populorum Progressio? Paul VI would almost accuse Francis of plagiarism.

He has obviously thrown in with the mystics of science--those who lay claim to a secret knowledge, or a secret understanding, that no person, not trained in the sciences, could ever hope to achieve. Then again, remember where Francis came from: the Jesuit order. As mystical an order as the RCC has--dedicated to mysticism in science.

Someone will have to provide a dictionary for the Pontiff so he'll understand what George Will is talking about. Then again, maybe not. His Holiness will no doubt not be amused. Nope. Not at all.

Will provides all the data needed to conclude that the pope's motive is to return the world to the 16th century when the church had a near captive near-starving audience.

Good article. Thanks for posting it.