Pope Francis and the Economy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A critical perspective from The American Catholic. Since most Catholics are decidedly left of center in their preferences, and since the media and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/pope-francis-and-the-economy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Francis and the Economy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A critical perspective from The American Catholic. 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{"id":1057,"date":"2016-01-19T08:04:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-19T08:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/pope-francis-and-the-economy.html"},"modified":"2016-01-19T08:04:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-19T08:04:00","slug":"pope-francis-and-the-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/pope-francis-and-the-economy.html","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis and the Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A critical perspective from The American Catholic<\/a>.\u00a0 Since most Catholics are decidedly left of center in their preferences, and since the media and popular culture all but love and adore the Pope, it\u2019s easy to forget that there are some out there who actually disagree with him.\u00a0 That\u2019s not new.\u00a0 The harshest critics of Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI were the Catholics I knew.\u00a0 I knew Protestant Fundamentalists who had better to say about Pope John Paul II than some Catholics.\u00a0 So criticism is nothing new. But then, those who disagreed with the popes had the backing of the media, a great number of Catholics, and the popular narrative as well.\u00a0 So it didn\u2019t come across quite so harshly.<\/p>\n

One of the problems with being a counter cultural traditionalist is that you are increasingly a small, squeaky voice among a chorus of opposite opinions.\u00a0 As such, you can stand out like a sore thumb.\u00a0 I used to say that\u2019s why Rush Limbaugh sounded so crass, and so harsh.\u00a0 Despite the fact that what he said was, in tone and style, seldom worse than you would see on a daytime talk show, or hear in an SNL skit, many were offended at his disrespect and hate speech.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because day time talk shows and SNL generally advanced more liberal views.\u00a0 As such, they were simply part of the overall chorus.\u00a0 A few voices among many.\u00a0 They blended in.<\/p>\n

But Limbaugh was an exception.\u00a0 He stood apart.\u00a0 He used the same tactics, tone, and humor against progressive assumptions.\u00a0 So it was a single, shrill voice out of harmony with the rest.\u00a0 Like laying down on a bed of nails versus laying down on a single nail.\u00a0 That one nail will hurt.\u00a0 A bed of nails?\u00a0 It can be done.<\/p>\n

So for those who hashed, trashed and all but dismissed the previous popes, you didn\u2019t have that feeling of \u2018wow, that was harsh.\u2019\u00a0 When you had rock stars burning their pictures and news casts all but chastising them and giving platforms to anti-Catholic and anti-Christian voices, what was a Catholic here or there who voiced the same concerns?<\/p>\n

But today, with pop culture and the media firmly behind Pope Francis, and the majority of Catholics who tend to the Left also behind him, hearing that voice of disagreement\u00a0is almost ear-splitting.\u00a0 And it gives those who are behind the Pope the ammunition to point and act as if some great and terrible sin has occurred because someone has failed to venerate and celebrate obedience to the pontiff.\u00a0 And yet, in many ways, the criticism I actually hear is far more respectful and balanced than I heard leveled at the previous popes.\u00a0 Not all mind you.\u00a0 But like this one, it\u2019s merely asking if Pope Francis is considering all of the economic factors in the world.\u00a0 One wonders.\u00a0 For even Democratic Socialist ground zero in Europe has its problems<\/a>.\u00a0 Does he know this?\u00a0 Does it matter?\u00a0 If criticizing previous popes was at least acceptable, then certainly asking questions like these about the current pope is no worse.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The preceding was what I thought needed to be said about those Catholics who are good Catholics who in good faith merely disagree with the Pope on certain issues; especially since all the rage has been a sudden wave of almost blind obedience and love of everything he does, or you don\u2019t love Jesus.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"