BREAKING: White smoke from the Vatican!

http://www.theonion.com/articles/focus-who-is,31657/

While I know squat about this guy, the fact that he's a Latin American Jesuit may potentially point to a commitment to social justice. That might be nice.

I think gul laid it out pretty well. Anyone who expected anything better than this is an idiot.

Every single one of those men hold views on abortion and homosexuality that most of us disagree with.

Many/most would continue down the path of JPII and Benedict in maintaining a focus on those social issues to the detriment of other issues.

Hopefully Francis will put the focus on social justice issues giving some breathing room for alternative stances to develop on the social issues.

The Anglican Church agrees!

That should unite Latin America.

If nothing else, the increased revenue from pilgrimage sites will boost the economy. And the increased attention of the rest of the world should shine a better light on some of those dictatorships.

Lord I hope not.

I get so damn tired about people ranting about social justice and fairness.

Tried reading the Gospels again huh? I'm sure one day you'll be able to stomach them.

Goddamn that Jesus, right?

When did Jesus talk about redistribution of wealth and government welfare?

You're the worst Christian ever.

Whoever was first shall be last. Blessed be the weak.

Who the hell was talking about government welfare? Is that all you think about when people talk about social justice and charity?

Damn, Dayton, if you were the sole representative of faith, everyone else would be an atheist.

I thought it was "blessed be the MEEK"

When I hear "social justice" I'm inclined to believe it refers to redistribution of wealth and using government power to promote the welfare of the lower classes of society.

If the church wants to help people on their own, then great for them.

You are not a christian, you are a poser. Jesus would kick you in the balls, if he were real.

Who said anything about taxes, dumb-ass?

According to Luke, blessed are the poor and woe unto the rich.

But fuck social justice, right Dayton? Who gives a shit what Jesus would do? Let's go calculate how many thousands of Iranians it would be acceptable to kill so that you can take their stuff.

So you assume, and base your answers off of those assumptions. If "social justice" makes you think "government handout", then the problem is with you, and not with the people trying to bring equality to others.

What is so great about equality in this world?

When did Jesus mandate that?

I'm writing down a number. You do the same and we'll compare notes.

I haven't read through this thread completely, so I apologize if I'm repeating anything. I've only had time to read two articles and glance at Pope Franky's Wikipedia page, I haven't really been keeping up with the latest news today.

Forbin's comment about an ex-Nazi being followed by an Argentinian was . Made even funnier because he's an Italian-Argentinian who studied in Germany.

Of course he's going to have medieval views on homosexuality, abortion, and contraception--I'm not really shocked by that. Nor am I really shocked that they elected another old white dude.

I was surprised to see that he views extreme poverty and extreme economic inequality as human rights violations. From Wikipedia:

My irony meter exploded after reading this . I guess the fact that he is part of an organization that has thrived on unjust economic structures and was recently led by a person who fled from justice and helped others flee from justice was lost on him.

Every day, I am more and more convinced that you're an anti-theist trying to push people away from God.

Given that the Church's finances are pretty shitty right now, perhaps they picked him in order to have someone who knows how to slash expenses.

Your troll fu is almost as transparent as Skrain Dukunt's, Dayton. It's remarkable how appropriate your smilie is.

"Social justice" is too vague a term. All justice is social.

Whether I'm for it or against depends on what it means. If it means making reasonable efforts to eliminate/alleviate poverty, I could be for it. If it's code for any kind of socialism, I'm definitely against it.

Given that both of you evaded the question I posed as to when did Jesus mandate assistance for the poor I assume you cannot find it.

Even more so, when did Jesus insist on the powers of earthly government
being used to elevate the fortunes of the poor?

Please. The church has been about the Benjamins since its inception. You can't reform something that was f'ed up to begin with.

Just stop, you're embarrassing yourself.

You're the one who's confused about how the Catholic church collects its revenues. In this thread, you're only slightly less befuddled than Dayton.

How about three Bible verses where Jesus directs his followers to support govt. benefits for poor people.

Surely, there are three gospels, you can get three verses out of that...