Progressive Pope Not Buying Into Virgin Mary Miracles
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Pope Francis is a straight up kind of guy. He believes in climate change and man made global warming. While not actually a supporter of gay marriage he doesn’t crusade against it. He has also taken a number of proactive steps toward preventing church cover-ups of pedophile priests. The pope has also said that animals have souls and can go to heaven just like people. Finally, he’s not a big fan of miracles.
(Newser) Dealing with things like the liquefaction of dried saint’s blood is all in a day’s work for Pope Francis, but he doesn’t sound convinced by some alleged apparitions in a Bosnian village.
More than 30 million pilgrims have visited Medjugorje since children first reported seeing the Virgin Mary appear there in 1981. The Vatican has investigated and is expected to rule soon on whether the sightings are authentic—and Francis has hinted the answer will be no Reuters reports.
During his daily Mass yesterday, he criticized those “who always need novelty in their Christian identity” and wondered, “Where are those visionaries who tell us today about the letter the Madonna will send at 4pm?”
Seeking out seers and visions “isn’t Christian identity,” he said, per the AP. “God’s last word is called Jesus and nothing more.” Some of the six people who were children when they first reported sightings of the Virgin Mary say she still appears regularly and shares secrets with them, Reuters notes.
One of the six spends a lot of time in Alabama and says she often has her visions “in a field in Shelby County,” according to AL.com.
A Vatican spokesman admits Francis was probably talking about Medjugorje in his homily, the AP reports, but stresses that the mention was not an “official pronouncement” on the matter.
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Yeah, I think the Pope is on his way to becoming an atheist! One day he’ll likely join “The Clergy Project” and admit religion is one big money making, power seeking, controlling institution. i.e. bullshit at its stinkiest.
What a stupid remark.
How can the truth be stupid?
That would certainly be a day to celebrate Rick.
“All roads lead to Rome.”
However, there’s little agreement on what or where “Rome” really is.
I have found the teachings of the Jesus myth, whether there was a historical individual who uttered and lived them or not, to be the best way of dealing with myself and other humans, and the world, that I have found. Pope Francis apparently agrees. Whether he develops a belief, as I did, that the Risen Christ mythos was an embellishment to help Jesus’ followers compete with the other mystery religions in that era is not important to me.
He is a good pope primarily because he’s a good man. Like New Age says though he still has a long way to go.
I think he’s the best thing to come along in the Catholic Church for a long, long time. (Nun’s on a Bus is pretty high up there, as well.) He’s coming closer to really taking seriously the message of Jesus the social reformer than any pope I am aware of. May he live long, and may his food taster-if they still have those also live long.
Now, if he would only embrace marriage equality, allow priests to marry, again (They did for 100’s of years in the early church.), decree that transubstantiation is a silly over interpretation of a wonderful metaphor, acknowledge that Mary didn’t have to keep her legs crossed and remain virginal for the rest of her life (Poor Joseph!), and acknowledge that the Bishop of Rome did not speak with Divine Authority under any circumstances, I would really be impressed. But by that time he’d also be an Episcopalian!
He has also said he believes he will not be Pope for a very long tenure. Maybe he’s had a vision.