(2) had read Pope Francis' letter.
First, papal infallibility does not mean what Uygur seems to think it means. The pope is only infallible under very special circumstances: I.e., speaking ex cathedra -- "from the chair". The last time it happened was in 1950, and the time before was in 1864. Then, Pope Francis is actually saying nothing new. Both Jon Paul II and Benedict made similar statements about laissez faire capitalism.
In his Fox News opinion piece, "Pope Francis is the Catholic Church’s Obama – God help us", Adam Shaw says
Just like President Obama loved apologizing for America, Pope Francis likes to apologize for the Catholic Church, thinking that the Church is at its best when it is passive and not offending anyone’s sensibilities.
Well, Mr. Shaw is zero for two in the apology sweep. Obama did not apologize for the United States, and Francis did not apologize for the Catholic Church.
If you were to read the entire document, you will see that anyone who believes that Francis is suddenly going to start ordaining women or marrying gays is fooling him- or herself. It isn't going to happen.
What Francis has done is change the emphasis. Conservatives considered the Catholic Church an ally in their socially regressive cause, so long as they could ignore the Church's teachings on economics, war, and other inconvenient topics. But you can't ignore that this Pope himself has been clear about his desire to deemphasize those divisive social issues. He's started a dialogue with gay Catholic groups. He has said that if the church continues to obsess over divisive issues like abortion or homosexuality, "the church is likely to fall like a house of cards". Responding to criticism from an American bishop about his refusal to specifically address abortion, he said:
We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.
This is a Pope who prefers to focus on an economic message -- which should not be surprising for a man from South America. For a conservatives, this is a knife to the gut. They thought Catholics were their people. Now, it turns out it was a mirage.
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