The New Pope Wants Less Talk About Sexual Sins



Pope Leo said he wanted the Catholic Church to focus more on poverty and peace and less on sexual sins. Can his denomination handle this? 

Leo's strategy is, as many know, is the same as his predecessor, Pope Francis. Francis canned high ranking Bishops who railed too much against abortion and gays. Now Leo has sent out the word clergy are not to make big public fusses over gay marriage, birth control and abortion.

This will not detour the right-wing branches of the denomination. They will be conferring and scheming about how to again get the denomination to talk about and rebuke their favorite sins. 

For entertainment recently I've been reading various accounts of what happened during the confab last year that elected Leo. At the time there was lots of publicity about prayers and singing that guided the choice of Leo. Since then, columnists have interviewed many participants in an effort the piece together how Leo was the winner.

One of the most despicable clergy in recent decades was Biship Tim Dolan. He was too old to vote on the new pope but was allowed to attend. I assumed at the time Dolan would be trying to maneuver in a far right pope. There was some publicity at the time of Dolan's "wisdom and peace-making skills." Those who are now remembering the confab say he was pushing anti-abortion anti-gay candidates.

Those talking about the confab in Rome said the conservatives arrived full of optimism the office of pope would return to the Pope Benedict era of rock-ribbed conservatism. How could God not return us there after the liberal Pope Francis refused to properly rail against sexual sin?

Conservatives went home devastated. How could God have failed us when we prayed so much?  An economist's explanation is that time is money. If you are going to pray a lot you need a salary to pay for food and a roof over your head. Leo was chosen to keep the cash flow so paid staff could pray on company time. God likes economics.  

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