# What sort of pope will Pope Francis be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 13, 2013, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845 "2013-03-13T19:43:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/21 "2013-03-13T22:24:19Z")
> [@Kepler1571](#): > > Even the recent “conservative” popes have looked like Jane Addams on the wealth gap with zero effect on the plutocracy, but it is still good to see this pope take the name Francis for symbolic value. One hopes that he will point out even more forcefully that the perpetuation of poverty in a rich world is the signature moral failing of our time. > [@astorian](#): > > On the other hand, since he’s a Jesuit, he may have been thinking of Francis Xavier. CNN says it was Assisi. And Francis was more about curing the sin of wealth than fixing the blessing of poverty. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/22 "2013-03-13T22:26:05Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > People are always shocked, SHOCKED, to find that the Pope is (gasp!) CATHOLIC! Well, [not](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_of_Alexandria_and_Patriarch_of_all_Africa) [every](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_and_Patriarch_of_Alexandria_and_All_Africa#Head_of_the_church) [Pope.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discordianism#Popes) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/23 "2013-03-13T22:28:34Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > How does one say in Latin: Meet the new pope, same as the old pope. _Avé! Bossa Nova! Similis Bossa Seneca!_ No, wait, that’s Latatian . . . ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/24 "2013-03-13T22:30:03Z")
> [@MoodIndigo1](#): > > I pretty much agree with what you say except regarding the Curia. He refused positions in the Curia and stayed away from the Vatican as much as he could. [Eh?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis#Cardinal) > [@](#): > > At the consistory of 21 February 2001, Archbishop Bergoglio was created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II with the title of cardinal-priest of San Roberto Bellarmino. As cardinal, Bergoglio was appointed to several administrative positions in the Roman Curia: > Member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments > Member of the Congregation for the Clergy. > Member of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life > Member of the Pontifical Council for the Family > Member of the Commission for Latin America ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/25 "2013-03-13T22:32:30Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > _Avé! Bossa Nova! Similis Bossa Seneca!_ No, wait, that’s Latatian . . . Fractured Latin: _Conocere papa novum; Papa anticus similaris est._ ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/26 "2013-03-13T22:33:17Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > There’ll be no changes on the hot-button issues like abortion, homosexuality and women priests… The two important issues are: 1. Contraception: there is a population explosion in the third world. 2. Marriage of priests: In a few decades there are going to be extremely few priests left in the United States. Does anyone see a change in these two issues? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/27 "2013-03-13T22:52:25Z")
_Ecce novum culus, vetus culus idem est_ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/28 "2013-03-13T22:55:24Z")
I wouldn’t be too surprised to see married priests within a decade or two. Mind you, I wouldn’t be surprised to not see them, either, but it could plausibly happen. Contraception, though, has gotten tied to abortion in a lot of peoples’ minds, so I’d expect less movement there (at least from the hierarchy; the people seem to have mostly made up their minds already). ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/29 "2013-03-13T23:30:10Z")
> [@For You](#): > > _Ecce novum culus, vetus culus idem est_ Posted on facebook. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/30 "2013-03-13T23:36:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I wouldn’t be too surprised to see married priests within a decade or two. Two, maybe. Not one. And even at two, I’d bet against it. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/31 "2013-03-13T23:52:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I wouldn’t be too surprised to see married priests within a decade or two. The present and recent past are easy to predict - the RCC already has married priests. Of course, they’re the ones who’ve converted from being Episcopalians. This Pope will be as worthless as the last coupla Popes. ---
**Author:** ![Kepler1571](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/db5fbb/32.png) [@Kepler1571](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kepler1571)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/32 "2013-03-13T23:54:15Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > The two important issues are: > > 1. Contraception: there is a population explosion in the third world. > 2. Marriage of priests: In a few decades there are going to be extremely few priests left in the United States. > > Does anyone see a change in these two issues? Definitely not 1. Businesses work to \*increase \*their install base. Probably not 2. Europe already has empty churches and the Vatican has done nothing. These are the two of the \*last \*three doctrinal changes that will be made (along with female clergy). Misogyny and sexual pathology are a profound, deeply rooted cancer in Roman Catholicism, going all the way back to the Church Fathers. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky_the_Wonder_Spirit)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/33 "2013-03-14T00:00:06Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > He’s just as conservative as the last pope, but hopefully he’s less tainted by the pedophilia scandal. Ratzinger’s crew was up to their necks in it. Latin America hasn’t had as much of an issue with it. … that we know of. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/34 "2013-03-14T00:33:27Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > Posted on facebook. I was using one of those translate things, it seems like the grammar is better as “… idem quod est”, but that screws up the nice meter. (Not sure why it gave me “culus” for “Pope”, but that is what I kept getting.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/35 "2013-03-14T00:38:01Z")
It’s Latin for Cthlulhu ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/36 "2013-03-14T01:34:35Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > The two important issues are: > > 1. Contraception: there is a population explosion in the third world. There isn’t apopulation explotion in Catholic-majority countries, they are all reducing their fertility rates. Also, undoing Humanae Vitae (the encyclical that formalized the church’s position on contraceptives) > [@](#): > > Similarly [to abortion] excluded is any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation—whether as an end or as a means. > Neither is it valid to argue, as a justification for sexual intercourse which is deliberately contraceptive, that a lesser evil is to be preferred to a greater one Undoing it would break the church, she could no longer teach anything. > [@](#): > > 1. Marriage of priests: In a few decades there are going to be extremely few priests left in the United States. > > Does anyone see a change in these two issues? Married permanent deacons are already an option that few are taking; if we had enough of them and good to boot, then married priesthood in the Latin rite would be a natural. ---
**Author:** ![Pacific420](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Pacific420](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pacific420)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/37 "2013-03-14T01:38:33Z")
I’m not catholic so the Pope doesn’t too much to me if at all. Unfair to Pope Benedict but to me he just looked sinister, unfair I know ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/38 "2013-03-14T01:53:01Z")
This new guy was/is a Jesuit, meaning he had some involvement in _education_, which tends to center on _young-ish males_, so keep clear of the fan, folks. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/39 "2013-03-14T01:59:35Z")
They asked him if he would be willing to become Pope, and he replied, “Let me be Frank…” ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845/40 "2013-03-14T01:59:54Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > Well, they got 2 out of my 3 wishes (Latin American and Jesuit). Maybe the next time they can get the third, and most wanted (liberation theology follower). OTOH, those who follow that are likely to NOT be in positions of power, due to the nature of their calling. But man, that would be so much cooler. Plus John Paul (remember him? the much beloved? the sweet, nice, let’s-make-him-a-saint-fast guy?) purged as much of the LT faction as he could and dead-ended those he couldn’t. This new one seems about as close as you could realistically have today, being by all signs much into the social gospel/economic justice aspect that has taken over from classic LT. > [@MandaJo](#): > > He chose FRANCIS . That is such a bold choice. Xavier notwhitstanding, the majority of the body of the faithful have one very particular Saint’s picture in their minds when they hear “Francis”… and indeed if so that is one bar set stupendously high. (BTW: The new Pope is Argentine AND Jesuit – Yow. If we thought those two bunches were insufferable before … 😉 OTOH the Jesuit part oughta get many a hack author’s creative juices flowing…) > [@NurseCarmen](#): > > He’s just as conservative as the last pope, but hopefully he’s less tainted by the pedophilia scandal. Ratzinger’s crew was up to their necks in it. Latin America hasn’t had as much of an issue with it. Like someone else said, “that we know of”, but it may indeed be that just bringing in someone who was not already up to his neck in it at least gives some room to move. But really, the man has barely had time to go to bed as Pope, and the next month will be taken up by his installation and the Easter festivities so I’d be surprised if it did not take months, before he provides any sign of what, if anything, he’s bringing that’s not more of the same. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-pope-will-pope-francis-be/652845.md?page=3)