American Right-wing Catholics, these days, seem more concerned with appearing appropriately conservative in the eyes of fellow citizens than they are with following the Spirit of the Gospels. They seem to be laboring under the same myopithy which handicaps many of their conservative Protestant neighbors. Neighbors who are taught by their own religious and political leaders that jingoism and xenophobia are the same thing as dogma. Relying heavily on the Old Testament, the new Jesus they they teach says to use any means neccessary to coerce others to conform to their morality, religion or belief. The new Jesus says that America is so great we needn't even live by the Gospel we are trying to bomb or beat into others. How this equates to our current condition as Catholics is seen in the last federal election. Many Catholics had little issue with supporting a president who stands for literally almost everything we are taught to stand against by Christ in the Gospels. The Pope however, whose life has been lived in the humble service of God's children (but who has made the mistake of disagreeing with Catholic America's president) deserves public censuring. Our pope, who teaches love, mercy and the healing power of the Sacraments is officially criticized. Apparrently, Pope Francis standing up for adulterers (through divorce, and despite how faithful they are to their present "legal" spouse and children) is far, far less forgivable than, say, instigating nuclear and civil wars, speaking in favor of torture, racism, separatism, oh and blasphame, to literally only name a few. Maybe Pope Francis does interpret the teachings too liberally, but i, like him, will safely err on the side of too much love rather than too little. And as for keeping up with Evangelical Protestants, be warned: if they ever get the 1950's-Maytag-ad of a society that they're striving for, they well turn on Catholics too. We are, after all, still "pagan" Catholics. #popefrancis #peace #love #trump #catholic #whosesideareyouonboy #conservativechristians #conservativecatholics







