Pope who is he

In he was ordained priest and in he became officially part of the Society of Jesus. In the following decade, appointed to important positions, he could travel to Spain and Germany to complete further studies, until he was nominated bishop under Pope John Paul II in He became cardinal nine years later, in During this lapse of time he mantained his pastoral activities in is land while covering important roles within the Church institutions.

During conclave, following the death of John Paul II, he had resulted as the second most voted candidate to the papacy after the newly elected pope Joseph Ratzinger. After the resignation of Benedict XVI, at the beginning of , a less than twentysix hour long conclave named Jorge Mario Bergoglio as pope. But Church historian Massimo Faggioli says the pope needs to tread carefully — the future of Catholicism is at stake. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said the Catholic Church needs to be more transparent about abuse scandals.

He and the pope also criticized a lack of coherent EU immigration policy with regard to refugees. The pontiff has pleaded countries to offer migrants rescued from the Mediterranean safe disembarkation at ports, alternatives to detention, and access to asylum.

On a farewell visit to Italy, the outgoing German chancellor spoke to the pontiff about climate change and the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy. Pope Francis spoke of "sadness and pain" over the sexual abuse of children by the French Catholic clergy, which was revealed this week in a devastating report. Authorities in Missouri have proceeded to execute a man who its claimed was intellectually disabled.

Ernest Lee Johnson murdered three people in a robbery in The senior cleric was accused of protecting priests suspected of sexual abuse. Archbishop Stefan Hesse was on leave after being accused of neglecting his duty in a report on sexual abuse at the diocese of Cologne. Pope Francis meets with Roma in a notorious housing project on day three of his Central Europe trip.

The visit comes after he met with Holocaust survivors in Bratislava Monday. Pope Francis met Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose right-wing, anti-immigrant policies clash with Francis' call for countries to welcome refugees. Francis then called for less division in Slovakia.

Pope Francis cited Angela Merkel's greatness before echoing her feelings about the situation in Afghanistan. The Pope's unscripted comments were hailed as his " strongest statement yet " on the sex abuse crisis.

Francis said the he is aware of the "personal and moral damage Francis told America Magazine in August that he thinks it's "necessary to broaden the opportunities for a stronger presence of women in the church.

When Pope Francis washed the feet of two women during his Maundy Thursday trip to a youth prison in Rome, he set the tone for a papal shift in attitudes toward women.

A letter from the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments explicitly said that only " chosen men " were to have their feet washed during this ceremony.

This wasn't the first time Francis washed women's feet: in , then-Bergoglio made headlines for washing the feet of a pregnant woman. On the topic of women's ordination to the priesthood, Francis has said the question is "not open to discussion," since it was settled under Pope John Paul II. Though Francis hasn't changed Church doctrine regarding LGBT issues, he has assumed a more loving, tolerant posture towards gay people than some of his predecessors.

He said in a July interview , "If a person is gay and seeks the Lord and has good will, well who am I to judge them? The Catechism of the Catholic Church While this statement has not yet resulted in any reforms at the doctrinal level, its power should not be overlooked. Prior to his papacy, in Argentina, Bergoglio called gay marriage " a destructive attack on God's plan.

In an interview with Corriere della Sera , Francis affirmed Church teaching on marriage — "Marriage is between a man and a woman," he said — but also acknowledged the reality of the need that exists for secular states to "regulate economic aspects between persons, such as ensuring healthcare. In a speech last year , Francis spoke out against the "cult of money," which he described as a financial "imbalance" resulting from "the absolute autonomy of markets.

Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?

These and similar comments have earned Francis harsh criticism, most notably from Rush Limbaugh , who accused the Pope of sounding like a Marxist. Francis responded by saying that Marxism is "wrong," but he wasn't offended. He then reiterated his critique of "trickle-down economics. Since his appointment as Pope, Francis has "frequently shown concern for the environment," according to the National Catholic Register.

His choice of "Francis" for his papal name might signify his interests in environmentalism, as St. Francis — the patron saint of animals and ecology — is remembered for preaching to birds and caring for nature.

In his inaugural mass , Pope Francis implored Catholics to be protectors of "the beauty of the created world. On January 24, , Fr. Frederico Lombardi, Director of the Holy See Press Office, announced that Francis "has begun work on a draft text on the topic of ecology, which could become an encyclical. The forthcoming work, said Lombardi, would place particular emphasis on " human ecology " — the interrelationships of humans and their environments.

On May 2, , the Pontifical Academy of Sciences — which is an international scientific academy housed in the Vatican — kicked off a five-day conference titled Sustainable Humanity, Sustainable Nature: Our Responsibility.

Over 40 academics from various disciplines are expected to attend the conference, the theme of which is to explore the relationship of humanity and nature. Those involved will discuss various ways in which nature both satisfies and fails to satisfy human needs for food, health, and energy.

Francis has said his choice to downgrade his papal gear is the result of a "spiritual discernment that responds to a need that arises from looking at things. Francis has stated his desire to have " a church that is poor, and for the poor. And Francis has taken larger-scale steps toward financial restraint. Although the Catholic Church has often been accused of financial corruption throughout its history, the VatiLeaks scandal that broke in January took the accusations to a new level.

Much of that money is managed in the Instituo per le Opere di Religione IOR , commonly called the Vatican Bank, which is known as the most secret bank in the world. Francis has made some big changes to the IOR. First, he fired the bank's longtime director. Then, he replaced four of the five board members overseeing the bank. But despite speculation that Francis was going to close it down, the Vatican announced in April that the IOR would remain open.

Francis later accepted the Bishop's formal resignation on March 26, As Francis has made clear, he considers himself a "son of the Church. One comment Francis made in an interview for America is important here. He said that although "many think changes and reforms can take place in a short period of time," he cautions that that "real, effective change" takes time. So while he hasn't made any doctrinal changes yet, the shifts in tone he has made may actually be his way of laying the groundwork for later changes.

At the same time, it's important to note that a strict dichotomy between style and substance isn't clear within Catholic theology. It's possible to communicate the substance of the Gospel through subtle gestures and words.

Though Francis' gestures — washing women's feet, kissing a disfigured man — are unaccompanied by commentary, there is a theological depth to them shouldn't go unnoticed. Rush Limbaugh doesn't care for Francis' critique of the global economy, which the Pope called an "economy of exclusion and inequality. Langone told Cardinal Timothy Dolan that Francis needs to "be careful about generalities.

There is also a more traditional segment of the Church that is extremely critical of Francis. Charles Caput, Archbishop of Philadelphia, said he was " disappointed " that Francis hasn't spoken much about abortion. Francis confirmed this and other behind-the-scenes criticism when he said he was " reprimanded " for not talking enough about gay marriage, abortion, and contraception. Some traditional Catholics are also attached to the the idea of conducting Church services in Latin.

They see Francis' less formal style as a threat to the the Latin liturgy — the words and rituals customarily used for public worship services. Francis isn't opposed to traditional liturgy — it's just not the priority of his papacy. According to a February Pew poll , more than 8 in 10 Catholics have a "favorable view" of Francis. These findings echo a similar poll conducted in October Taking as its starting point the experience of the poor, this new theology interpreted Scripture through the lens of poverty.

In , a meeting of the Second Latin American Bishops Conference at Medellin, Colombia proved pivotal to the increasing momentum of the movement. After the conference, the bishops published a collection of documents — Justice , Peace , and Poverty — that outlined for the first time the major themes of Liberation Theology. One of the most important concepts institutionalized at Medellin was the phrase " the preferential option for the poor ," which is the belief that the commandments of God and Jesus give preference to society's poorest members.

Several years later, a Peruvian priest named Gustavo Gutierrez wrote a book called A Theology of Liberation , expounding on themes from Medellin. Though it's never been condemned by the Church, liberation theology has remained a fringe movement.

Ratzinger's main objection was that some theologies in the movement were utilizing Marxist class analysis, which is a philosophy Catholicism rejects. There was also a concern in Rome that certain priests were advocating violence - they weren't. Some of them, though, were sympathetic to certain movements that sought to overthrow the power structures of the ruling elite. Rome also felt that liberation theology put too much emphasis on sin as a social condition, and too little emphasis on sin as an individual spiritual state.