{"id":16766,"date":"2013-10-02T06:00:44","date_gmt":"2013-10-02T10:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=16766"},"modified":"2013-10-01T20:01:12","modified_gmt":"2013-10-02T00:01:12","slug":"is-the-pope-catholic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/10\/is-the-pope-catholic\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the Pope Catholic?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Pope Francis has done another interview:<\/p>\n

Pope Francis cranked up his charm offensive on the world outside the Vatican on Tuesday, saying in the second widely shared media interview in two weeks that each person \u201cmust choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them\u201d and calling efforts to convert people to Christianity \u201csolemn nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Vatican\u2019s head seemed intent on distancing himself from its power, saying church leaders \u201chave often been narcissists\u201d and \u201cclericalism should not have anything to do with Christianity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interview with atheist Italian journalist Eugenio Scalfari set off another round of debate about what the pope meant: Was he saying that people can make up their own minds, even if they disagree with church teachings? Or was this self-described \u201cson of the church\u201d just using casual language to describe classic church teaching about how people need to come to Catholic doctrine of their free will?<\/p>\n

\n

A top official with the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, took the unprecedented step of rebuking Francis, writing that the pope\u2019s interview was \u201ca theological wreck\u201d and that Francis was dabbling dangerously in relativism.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat these interviews seem continually to do is what evangelical theologian Carl Henry warned Protestants of in the 20th century, of severing the love of God from the holiness of God,\u201d wrote the Rev. Russell Moore, a dean of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and head of the convention\u2019s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. \u201cWe must speak with tenderness and gentleness, but with an authoritative word from God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some conservative Catholics were also taken aback by the interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy e-mail is filled with notes from people who need to be talked off the ledge,\u201d wrote the Rev. John Zuhlsdorf, author of one of the more popular blogs for Catholic conservatives. . . .<\/p>\n

The interview was wide-ranging, including the pope\u2019s story of a Communist friend he had as a young man (who was later tortured and killed by the Argentine military), a few movie recommendations as well as a mystical experience he had the night he was picked to be pope.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy head was completely empty and I was seized by a great anxiety. To make it go away and relax I closed my eyes and made every thought disappear, even the thought of refusing to accept the position, as the liturgical procedure allows,\u201d he said. \u201cI closed my eyes and I no longer had any anxiety or emotion. At a certain point I was filled with a great light.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the parts of the interview that will be pored over are theological \u2014 the uncomplicated, unqualified language Francis uses to speak about faith. In this interview, as in the one two weeks ago by a group of Jesuit publications, connection to God doesn\u2019t seem to depend much on church hierarchy.<\/p>\n

Asked if there is a single vision of good, and who decides, Francis says:<\/p>\n

\u201cEach of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is good .\u2009.\u2009. Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he feels touched by grace, Francis tells the atheist reporter that the holy quality \u201cis the amount of light in our souls, not knowledge nor reason. Even you, without knowing it, could be touched by grace.\u201d<\/p>\n

via Pope Francis stirs debate yet again with interview with an atheist Italian journalist \u2013 The Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here<\/a> is the complete interview.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Francis has done another interview: Pope Francis cranked up his charm offensive on the world outside the Vatican on Tuesday, saying in the second widely shared media interview in two weeks that each person \u201cmust choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them\u201d and calling efforts to convert people to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,47],"tags":[228,2481,1919],"class_list":["post-16766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-theology","tag-atheism","tag-pope-francis","tag-roman-catholicism"],"yoast_head":"\nIs the Pope Catholic?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pope Francis has done another interview: Pope Francis cranked up his charm offensive on the world outside the Vatican on Tuesday, saying in the second\" \/>\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\/geneveith\/2013\/10\/is-the-pope-catholic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is the Pope Catholic?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pope Francis has done another interview: Pope Francis cranked up his charm offensive on the world outside the Vatican on Tuesday, saying in the second\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/10\/is-the-pope-catholic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-02T10:00:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-10-02T00:01:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/10\/is-the-pope-catholic\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/10\/is-the-pope-catholic\/\",\"name\":\"Is the Pope Catholic?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-02T10:00:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-10-02T00:01:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Pope Francis has done another interview: Pope Francis cranked up his charm offensive on the world outside the Vatican on Tuesday, saying in the second\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/10\/is-the-pope-catholic\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/10\/is-the-pope-catholic\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/10\/is-the-pope-catholic\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is the Pope Catholic?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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