The LuLac Edition #3727, March 13th, 2018

POPE FRANCIS @ 5 YEARS 

(Photos: Time, Zimbio.com)

Today marks the 5 year anniversary of Pope Francis. It was in the afternoon on the 13th when Jorge Mario Bergoglio succeeded Pope Benedict who served for seven years. At the five year mark, Francis is remembered for a frenetic series of departures from Papal protocol that Benedict was trying to re-establish after the long reign of Pope John Paul II.
Francis proved to be a new kind of Pope, one whose blunt talk over theology and mercy over morals were done in many minds to make the church a more welcoming place for those who have felt excluded.
His now famous airborne comment “Who am I to judge?” about a gay priest as the turning point that disaffected Catholics had longed for and were unsure they would ever see.
Francis’ also tiptoed into what some believe to be a cautious opening to allow Catholics who remarry outside the church to receive Communion as his single most revolutionary step. It was contained in a footnote to his 2016 document “The Joy of Love.”
That stated, Francis faces criticism for both the merciful causes he has championed and the ones he has neglected. With women and sex abuse topping the latter list, a consensus view is forming that history’s first Latin American pope is perhaps a victim of unrealistic expectations. Others say it is his own culture. 
Those who hoped for a revolution regarding the marital status of Priests or women becoming Priests were disappointed. 
What people don’t recognize is that in addition to being the spiritual leader of the church, the Pope is also the manager of that sprawling enterprise. He has reformed some of the entrenched curia officers but has to walk a fine line to make sure he can still govern what is the most calcified bureaucracy in the history of the world.
The excitement of Francis’ papacy has not changed church attendance in many ways here in the states. The Pew Research Center found that while Francis still enjoys a consistently high 84 percent favorability ratings among U.S. Catholics, but an increasing number on the political right believe him to be “too liberal” and naive. Despite all the talk of “the Francis effect” bringing Catholics back to church, Pew found no evidence of a rise in self-proclaimed Catholics or Mass-goers.
My personal opinion is that a Pope doesn’t make you go to church, the individual’s faith and determination are the keys to that aspect of Catholicism.
Francis told Time Magazine once that he didn’t expect to have a long papacy. He mused that he might even step down just as his predecessor Bendict did.
Tradition tells us that the position of Pope is held until death, but Benedict, who is still alive,  changed that.
In the interview, Francis said he did not dislike being Pope, but said one thing in particular does bug him. “The one thing that I would like is to go out, without anyone recognizing me, and go to a pizzeria to eat pizza,” Francis said.
Well as he enters still another year on the Papal throne, we hope that sometime, if he comes to America again, he can escape and get a slice. Next time in America Your Holiness,  visit LuLac land and we’ll get you all the pizza you want! (LuLac, Time Magazine)