Reply #14: Western bourgeois notions of liberal and conservative [View All]

[imenja]

Americans conceive of political ideology in cultural terms rather than class. You think the Church is conservative because of positions on gay marriage, a celibate clergy, and ordination of women. You can be quite certain a Pope will not be elected who would advance what you consider liberal positions on those issues. There is, however, a very good chance that the next pope will maintain strong concerns for social justice--of a kind no liberal politician in this country would imagine articulating. For most people in the world, poverty is their primary concern. Those concerns are reflected in the views of most of many of Latin America's archbishops. Most are not liberals: they do not see the marketplace as the ultimate arbiter of what is right. Liberalism in it's origin is the political corollary to capitalism. In the US we imagine liberal somehow means leftist, but that is because the left in this country is so weak, so conservative, that they don't challenge capitalism, as leftists in many other parts of the world due.


So if what you want is an American style liberal, who advances modern cultural ideals yet has little concern for the tremendous poverty and injustice around the world, you will not see a man like that become Pope.