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| (Photo by Wolfgang Poguntke) |
Philip Pullella of Reuters
recently reported that - unlike his professorial predecessor – Pope Francis "has always been a pastor."
What this means is that Francis knows what it's like to be in the trenches - and is bent upon keeping his papal ears down low to the ground. As one cardinal explained, "…this new pope 'plays for the same team but kicks the ball in an entirely different direction.'"
That direction is towards the pews, which has earned Francis the nickname "People's Pope." If his recent "Mass for 3 million on Copacabana Beach" is any indication of things to come, this approach is "spot on" (as the people would say).
Author Paul Vallely stated that this new (and ancient) approach is all about "putting people before dogma." It
involves the delicate balance of "changing perceptions, without moving on substance."
As even Opus Dei conservative Father John Paul Wauck pointed out, Francis has thus far managed to skillfully present a "colloquial paraphrase of the Catholic Catechism…"
And people round the world are listening…
Resources
http://wwrn.org/articles/40373/?place=vatican
Copyright August 6, 2013 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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