To me the Church is just a giant evil transnational corporation operating on a dreary business model, one that nurtures debilitating guilt feelings in its followers and then offers to make them go away temporarily in exchange for donations. I realize the Church does some nice things with the money it raises and that other people have a different opinion, but this is my experience…
Meanwhile Francis chugs along as the head of one of the most socially regressive organizations on earth, doing nothing to take on the Church’s indefensible stances on things like birth control, gay rights, discrimination against women, celibacy and countless other issues. He claims the moral authority to reform global capitalism, but he’s somehow not ready to tell teenagers it’s okay to masturbate, which seems bizarre.
People have such impassioned political fights over the pope because everyone wants the endorsement of the guy closest to God. But what if he’s not closer to God, and is just a guy in a funny hat? Doesn’t that make all this fuss and controversy ridiculous? It seems strange that it’s the year 2015, and we still can’t say that out loud.
—Matt Taibbi
Why Do We Care Whose Side the Pope Is On?
Not a fan of Taibbi but he is not wrong here, the Pope is talking a good game. However where is the evidence anything has really changed?
I do think that Francis is changing things in the church. But it is mostly administrative — which is nonetheless really important and very much involves the sexual abuse cover-up. It also does matter what he focused on. He and John Paul II agreed on most things, but Francis talks about poverty and the environment, whereas John Paul II thought it really important to lecture Africans about not using condoms. But having said that, I think Taibbi is right to point out that this is still the Catholic Church and it is an evil institution.