I’m not sure what to do with the new Pope, but I’m hopeful

Obligatory disclosure: I’m an atheist, but this doesn’t mean I belonged to a church and left. I was never part of this just witnessed it. I’ve had sixteen years Catholic education and picked up a certificate in Catholic Studies along the way from a Jesuit institution. I’m all about the drama and politics and the Jesuits. Those guys [shakes head, turns into head nod] motherf*cking rockstars.

I liked Pope John Paul II. My Irish Catholic father and Catholic Sister aunt tell stories about how much Pope John Paul II changed things. Also, interestingly Pope John Paul II was supposed to be a temporary fix after a quick turnover due to the death. My dad saw a lot of Popes: Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II then Benedict XVI and now Francis.

Let’s start with what we already know: first Pope from outside of Europe in at least a millennium, he’s from Latin America, and he a Jesuit.

What we don’t know? His involvement with the Argentinian dictatorship and the disappearance of two Jesuit priests, and how the Jesuit teachings will influence the church.

Argentina’s Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was elected Pope on Wednesday, and he chose the name Francis after St. Francis of Assisi. [Aside, St. Francis was a friar (never ordained a priest) who was moved to live with the poor after casting off his fortune and fighting a war; he amassed a following and created the Franciscan order. He’s the patron saint of animals and the environment. He was also the first person recorded with the stigmata.]

Cardinal Bergoglio is not the brand of Jesuit I’m familiar with. You know the name taking, ass kicking, “I won’t say mass because of the last elected Pope and when they make me I’m going to have women give the homilies,” [drops mic, but doesn’t walk off until after he] started LGBT Allies on campus kind. Yeah, I know that priest. All the Jesuits I’ve known were liberation theologists, which means they believe and participate in a political movement which interprets the teachings of Jesus in relationship to a liberation from unjust economic, political, and social conditions. Bergoglio has a more conservative outlook, which isn’t surprising. The Cardinals have a history of electing old (76 years on this) white conservatives.

However, a few glasses of wine in last night, a self-described al a carte Catholic told me Bergoglio and Pope John Paul II were close. Well, I’ll be damned…probably for real though. So while Bergoglio has some obviously conservative beliefs, which comes from Mary Elizabeth William’s post for Salon, (anti-gay marriage  or as he calls it “a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God”, opposing access to contraception which he publicly disagreed with the President of Argentina Cristina Fernandez de Kichner, though he is open to it as a measure to prevent disease, opposition to abortion or “culture of death,” women’s roles in the church, though I haven’t seen anything specific on that last one yet), but he’s a Jesuit. The order is one of the most progressive forces in the Catholic Church, well them and the Mary Knolls (more bad-asses). These are the people doing poverty relief even after the US tells them it is time to leave a country. There have been Cardinals that didn’t want Jesuits too close to some Popes because of their influence and general belief structure. I’m pretty sure there is a hard-core physical included in joining the Jesuits because that’s how they roll.

Also, Bergoglio has been accused of complicity in a 1976 kidnapping of two priest during Argentina’s military regime, but he has firmly denied this. This is notable, but at this point I don’t know much more than just this accusation has happened.

But he’s a Jesuit. Their primary foundations include service to serve “the poor and vulnerable” and to seek out “justice wherever injustice exists.” You don’t go to the Jesuits for reproductive health, but you go to them for solidarity with the victims of oppression and the rescue missions (12 were recognized for their efforts to save Jews during the Holocaust). Not to mention the six killed in El Salvador in the 1989 because they were considered subversive and a threat to the military regime. In the US, the Jesuits are coming hard at guns. The Jesuit periodical “America” says “The  culture of violence in American has spawned a deadly syllogism: Guns solve problems; we have problems; therefore, we need guns…Is this really the kind of world we want to live in, a world in which lethal power can be unleashed at any moment at any corner, in any home, in any school?”

As a Catholic friend of mine pointed out on Facebook, Bergoglio embraces at least a few of the Jesuit teachings, which is a good sign: poverty, humility, and simplicity. He opted out of the archbishop’s palace and prefers a simple apartment in Buenos Aires, where he cooks his own meals and uses public transit.

In 2009, he was openly critical of the Argentinian government’s economic system, call it “immoral, illegitimate, and unjust” saying, “Rather than preventing that, it seems they have opted for making inequalities even greater. Human rights are not only violated by terrorism, repression or assignation but also by unfair economic structures that creates huge inequalities.”

Take a moment to imagine Catholic Rep. Paul Ryan’s face if his budget was mentioned specifically in an address given by Pope Francis.

Additionally, a man who holds the Jesuit teachings might lay off the scolding and investigating of religious women for their work against poverty and with health care. Maybe the Catholic Church will care a little less about changing the words in the Nicene Creed and a little more radical justice, which is good for everyone. 

All this said there is still a lot of concern, and of course one man in this position isn't going to fix everything. Which is a pretty poor metric to use anyway. I'm moving with slight optimism.