Pope Francis has a to-do list as long as his cassock.The former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio will lead 1.2 billion Catholics and a church at a crossroads — wrestling with scandal after scandal, changing demographics and calls for liberalization.
Here are seven pressing challenges for the new pope:1. Cleaning house at the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI ordered that a report on church bureaucracy be shown to only two men — himself and his successor. After he gives it a read, Francis will have to address backbiting, corruption and cronyism inside the Vatican and increasing pressure to make its finances more open. Church analysts were watching closely to see whether cardinals would elect a Vatican insider protective of church secrecy. Instead they picked a man from halfway around the world.. Leading the church out of the sex abuse scandal. The crisis consumed Benedict’s papacy and threatened to overshadow the conclave, with abuse victims even calling for some cardinals to recuse themselves from the selection process. Victims’ groups still want the Vatican to disclose more about its role in failing to protect children. One such organization, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said it was grateful that Francis was not on its list of the worst choices for pope — but warned that very little about the crisis has been exposed in South America.3. Getting along with other faiths. Benedict caused a furor when, in 2006, he quoted an emperor who had characterized some teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as “evil and inhuman.” Benedict is credited with repairing rifts with Jews, however, and the new pope has also been praised for cultivating a strong relationship with Judaism. After Francis' election, the head of the World Jewish Congress praised him as someone “known for his open-mindedness.”
i'm not Catholic but can't help but wonder these things on his to do listhave been cultivated over centuries i'm sure this all didn't start 20 yrs. ago old habits hard to ignore, if there isas much backbiting and cronyism and corruption why should the status quo change.
it's existence implies it is acceptable to the majority or it would not be an issue.
4. Winning the West. Benedict couldn’t stop the decline of the church in its traditional stronghold of Europe. Meanwhile in the United States, a Pew study released Wednesday found that only 27 percent of the church’s members defined themselves as “strong” Catholics — a four-decade low.5. Should women be priests? And should priests marry? Francis will have to address growing debate within the church about the celibacy requirement for priests. A priest in Australia admitted last year that he had been married for a year and said “there are more like me.” Benedict also delivered a veiled rebuke to an Austrian priests’ group that wants the church to allow women to be ordained and to get rid of the celibacy requirement.
i don't envy him and his task, but i wonder of the 115 those that voted for him what were their politics are they for the status quo or are they more in tune with the changes in their world as well as the rest of us. i would think change has to come from within not from the new guy on the block. as a lone inspiration if there was respect for that kinda thing would it be where it is now?
