{"id":10828,"date":"2013-03-13T17:09:02","date_gmt":"2013-03-13T23:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?p=10828"},"modified":"2014-12-29T20:01:28","modified_gmt":"2014-12-30T03:01:28","slug":"pope-francis-i-takes-the-bus-supports-the-poor-a-stalwart-battler-for-life-traditional-marriage-and-evangelization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2013\/03\/pope-francis-i-takes-the-bus-supports-the-poor-a-stalwart-battler-for-life-traditional-marriage-and-evangelization\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis I: Takes the Bus, Supports the Poor, A Stalwart Battler for Life, Traditional Marriage and Evangelization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our new Holy Father chose to live in a simple apartment rather than the archbishop\u2019s palace when he was Cardinal Bergoglio. He also cooked his own meals and took a bus to work instead of using his chauffeured limousine.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This son of a railway worker has four brothers and sisters. He wanted to be a chemist and has a degree in chemistry. But God intervened in this plan and he entered the Society of Jesus instead. He is an intellectual who studied theology in Germany and who defended the poor in Argentina\u2019s economic crises of a few years ago.<\/p>\n

During the military junta in Argentina, Father Bergoglio worked in the position he had then as head of a seminary to oppose the so-called \u201cliberation theology\u201d and insist on what an article for the National Catholic Reporter called a more traditional reading of Ignatian spirituality, mandating that Jesuits continue to staff parishes and act as chaplains rather than moving into \u2018base communities\u2019 and political activism.<\/em><\/p>\n

He is unwavering in his support of traditional Catholic teaching on abortion, same-sex marriage and contraception<\/strong>. At the same time, he has dealt compassionately with victims of HIV-AIDS, going so far as to visit a hospice and kiss and wash the feet of AIDS patients. In September 2012, he accused priests who refuse to baptize children born out of wedlock of a form of \u201crigorous and hypocritical neo-clericalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are a few comments Pope Francis I has made:<\/strong><\/p>\n