{"id":41988,"date":"2018-05-26T07:56:24","date_gmt":"2018-05-26T12:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=41988"},"modified":"2018-05-26T09:47:30","modified_gmt":"2018-05-26T14:47:30","slug":"pope-francis-cunning-long-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/26\/pope-francis-cunning-long-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis’ cunning long game – UPDATED<\/b>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Damon Linker is one of the most astute commentators there is on church and society. He writes about “Pope Francis’ cunning long game<\/a>” in\u00a0The Week:<\/em><\/p>\n

If Pope Francis were a straightforward reformer, he would seek to change church doctrine regardless of the potentially dire consequences for church unity. But Francis is well aware of the limits of his power and the danger of pushing too far too fast. So he has set out on a different, and distinctive, path. \u2026<\/p>\n

Instead of acting as an expositor of these core teachings of the church, the pope selectively diverges from them in his actions and statements without deigning to change the teachings themselves. The implicit message is the same in every case: The pope himself thinks it’s possible to be a member of the church in good standing while failing to abide by all of the institution’s rules. \u2026<\/p>\n

I think the pope’s strategy for a longer game displays greater psychological acuity \u2014 and Machiavellian cunning. Francis may be betting that once the church stops preaching those doctrines that conflict most severely with modern moral norms, the number of people who uphold and revere them will decline rapidly (within a generation or two). Once that has happened, officially changing the doctrine will be much easier and much less likely to provoke a schism (or at least a major one) than it is in the present.<\/p>\n

That’s the great advantage of pursuing a strategy of stealth reform: The seed planted now with a minimum of conflict bears fruits in the future with even less.<\/p>\n

It’s never been more obvious that this is precisely what Pope Francis has in mind.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

OTOH, Andrew Sullivan offers a clarification on an essential point, suggesting that Pope Francis isn’t actually changing anything in this particular case. He writes<\/a> (scroll down):<\/p>\n

The idea that Francis\u2019s love for a gay man\u00a0as a gay man<\/em>\u00a0somehow rips apart the fabric of the church and implies that Francis is guilty of heresy is absurd. Francis is blessing an identity, not an act. But if the inclination always leads to an immoral act, isn\u2019t the inclination itself sinful? The answer to that is no. Because being gay is not only or even mainly about sexual acts. It is also the only way some human beings can express exclusive\u00a0love<\/em>\u00a0for another person. The reduction of gay people to what we do with our genitals is un-Christian.<\/p>\n

… And that is all the Pope is saying to another human being. God made you the way you are, and loves you for it, and wants you to be happy as yourself. … It is so strange to me how so many nonbelievers can see in this Pope\u2019s interaction with others the spirit of Jesus, and how so many of the most devout seem terrified by it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think Sullivan is probably right on this particular point. But Linker’s larger point would still hold: Francis is playing a “cunning long game” to change the Catholic church in significant ways.\u00a0Read\u00a0Linker’s whole column\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Damon Linker is one of the most astute commentators there is on church and society. He writes about “Pope Francis’ cunning long game” in\u00a0The Week: If Pope Francis were a straightforward reformer, he would seek to change church doctrine regardless of the potentially dire consequences for church unity. But Francis is well aware of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3116,2224],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-new-ws","category-pope-francis"],"yoast_head":"\nPope Francis' cunning long game - UPDATED - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/26\/pope-francis-cunning-long-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Francis' cunning long game - UPDATED - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Damon Linker is one of the most astute commentators there is on church and society. 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