VATICAN CITY, April 21 (Reuters) - Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has died, the Vatican said in a video statement on Monday, ending an often turbulent reign marked by division and tension as he sought to overhaul the hidebound institution. He was 88, and had recently survived a serious bout of double pneumonia.
"Dear brothers and sisters, it is with profound sadness I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis," Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced on the Vatican's TV channel.
"At 7:35 this morning the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father."
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope on March 13, 2013, surprising many Church watchers who had seen the Argentine cleric, known for his concern for the poor, as an outsider.
He sought to project simplicity into the grand role and never took possession of the ornate papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace used by his predecessors, saying he preferred to live in a community setting for his "psychological health".
He inherited a Church that was under attack over a child sex abuse scandal and torn by infighting in the Vatican bureaucracy, and was elected with a clear mandate to restore order.
But as his papacy progressed, he faced fierce criticism from conservatives, who accused him of trashing cherished traditions. He also drew the ire of progressives, who felt he should have done much more to reshape the 2,000-year-old Church.
While he struggled with internal dissent, Francis became a global superstar, drawing huge crowds on his many foreign travels as he tirelessly promoted interfaith dialogue and peace, taking the side of the marginalised, such as migrants.
Unique in modern times, there were two men wearing white in the Vatican for much of Francis' rule, with his predecessor Benedict opting to continue to live in the Holy See after his shock resignation in 2013 had opened the way for a new pontiff.
Benedict, a hero of the conservative cause, died in December 2022, finally leaving Francis alone on the papal stage.
Francis appointed nearly 80% of the cardinal electors who will choose the next pope correct as of February 2025, increasing the possibility that his successor will continue his progressive policies, despite the strong pushback from traditionalists.
[ Please go to EDIT section below ]
Comrades, I am new to Marxism-Leninism and disappointed with the unproductive disrespect in this thread. Just as Russia could not be fixed in a few years, so the Catholic Church could not be fixed in twelve years. Just as anticommunist lunatics grossly exaggerate, decontextualize and lie about the errors of Stalin while downplaying the (awesome) achievements of the USSR, people here exaggerate and obsess about the limits of Pope Francis and the problems that still exist in the Church.
This is bad for class consciousness. Most of the working class is religious, and in the West that religion is Christianity. Here in Brazil, about 90% of the population is Christian and most are Catholic. One of the strongest right-wing disinformation is the narrative that "atheist elites want to take power and repress the Church" and you are handing over that debate on a silver platter.
Historical context! The Bolshevik disliked, even repressed, the Russian Orthodox Church because it was hard to discern where did the czarist State end and where did the Church begin. The Bolshevik may even have exaggerated, acting out of hatred -- just as the victims of Nazism sometimes acted out of (understandable) anti-German hatred, instead of focusing their indignation on Nazis (not all Germans).
But while Christianity is still gravely theocratic today, it is considerably less so than czarist Orthodox Church. Please focus your attacks on theocracy, not Christianity [or religion]. While anti-Christian sentiment was somewhat understandable during the Bolshevik revolution and the early years of the USSR, it is anachronic today.
This thread looks more like "new atheist" juvenile contrarianism than responsible communists who actually raise class consciousness to overthrow capitalism. You should know that New Atheism is terribly right wing, decidedly anticommunist, and cheerleads for mass murdering wars of aggression in the Middle East.
EDIT (please read)
I messed up. I misunderstood Hexbear, wrote a confusing comment, unintentionally offended you, then reacted badly to your angry replies, many of which misrepresented what I wanted to say. Now with hindsight, I ask you to read this:
I did not mean to accuse hexbearites of being bad like New Atheists. I wanted to use the antisocial behavior of New Atheists (fruitless anti-religious intolerance) as an anti-example. In my experience, leftists discern between “theocrat” and “religious comrade". I felt this thread was an outlier. But then I worded my comment in an confusing way, appearing to conflate you with New Atheists.
The accusation of loving war crimes in the Middle East is for foaming lunatic New Atheists like Sam Harris, not Hexbearites.
I meant that anti-religious bashing is easily misrepresented by right wing propaganda. I explicitly said that the “atheist elites” narrative is disinformation. Cubans practice their religions in peace, just not theocracy.
I did not mean all “true” Christians are Catholics or whatever.
I am a newbie and autistic (actual diagnosis). I care a lot for detail and took offense with misrepresentations. And I am still getting up to speed with the LGBT movement.
Today I realized this analogy. When Rede Globo (massive right-wing media corporation) sheds tears for "democracy", I wish them go pound sand. They supported the military dictatorship for decades, and still distort reality in favor of capitalism, NATO, and Israel. Becoming softer is not enough. I would forgive them if they actually switched sides.
So I can relate to trans people who look at the historical crimes of organized religion (such as the Catholic Church), and who suffer religious hate even today, saying they will only respect the Catholic Church if she actually switches sides. Malcom X said: stop sweet talking!
You’re not going to get this website to love this guy. Also new atheism may do that but nobody here is
Literally, like okay cool but a lot of this website is trans and many (like me) have religious trauma. Sorry if we're not fans of the Catholic Church lmao
I saw somebody calling celebrating this as “cynical” like no, you just don’t have the same sensitivity to his transphobia. The best leader of the pedophile queerphobes is still a leader of the pedophile queerphobes
yes! exactly this! Seeing people here say that shit is a good reminder that the only people that really reliably support trans people are other trans people
And I know some cis person is probably going to try to respond to this but like no just shut it, for once lol
Hexbear can throw a little shade at the institution that has had 2000 years to "fix it's problems" instead of being the supporting ideology for much of the west's exploiters during that time. I'm sure class consciousness won't be impacted by what 100 hexbearites say about this.
I literally can't think of a single issue the catholic church (as an institution) hasn't been wrong on in the last 1000 years. Francis himself supported Palestine and was generally at least willing to cite scripture about refugees. And for that I will concede that he is the least bad pope.
Yeah I'm not disagreeing thay Francis is the least bad pope. I'm okay if others want to pay respect to the man in their own way.
I was irked a little bit that someone tried to tone police us on how mean we, as a niche internet forum, are being to the Catholic Church. And then comparing it to New Atheists!? It was probably better for me to say nothing, but I did get irked that we should be respectful to that institution. I'm not going to go on some anti Catholic rant when talking to people irl when trying to convince people of the cause of communism. But on an online space like Hexbear where the main goal is shitposting, I think a little is okay
Overall, though, it was probably best I said nothing. My original comment was a little bit of a knee jerk
You wouldn't be getting any crap for me if you had posted ding dong the witch is dead. I think you are entirely right to shitpost.
Sorry not sorry, but I'm not going to have any respect for some old corpse who compared being trans with the dangers of fucking nuclear weapons. And comparing criticism of him to the worst aspects of New Atheism is very silly. I'm not a right wing anticommunist apologist for war crimes in West Asia just because I don't care for the guy.
I messed up. Please see the new and improved EDIT section of my original comment. I hope I did not burn all bridges with you hexbearites.
for fucking real, seeing people whine about how people shouldn't celebrate the Pope kicking the can is wiiiild
Also to say nothing of the fact that my experience of Christianity in my country is that it's relentlessly trying to kill me and people like me. If that wasn't the case, maybe I wouldn't have such a negative view of it. I'm sure people in other parts of the world have a different relationship to Christianity, but here it is used overwhelmingly as a vehicle for fascism.
I’m a Communist and Catholic, and while I appreciate the comment. It means absolutely nothing whether a niche communist forum celebrates or mourns the pope.
My guy, the bear site gestalt is not gonna respect Christianity until Jesus is wearing a technicolor dreamcoat in full drag.
Lmao is this a bit
Is this a joke post. "I'm new to the ideology but let me tell you why you all need to conform to my ideas. Also mocking a dead pope is the same as cheerleading genocide in the middle east if you think about it"
Now with hindsight, you have a point -- the part about me being new to the ideology and writing what I wrote. Please read the "EDIT" section part of the original comment. I admit I messed up in many ways.
Religion is generally not compatible with Marxism, given that it exists primarily to comfort people about their material conditions and encourages them that their next life is more important than the current one. The Catholic Church certainly isn't, they have been more cooperative with fascists than communists historically and only hinder class consciousness (not to mention being probably the world's largest institution of child abuse). It cannot be "fixed" anymore than capitalism can be fixed.
Frankly, this website shouldn't have a Christianity comm at all, but a majority of people here are Americans that don't read theory so
Lmao
Yes, let us all abandon our principals and prostrate ourselves toward the most backwards elements of society. You say you are new to Marxism Leninism, perhaps it is time to learn what opportunism is.
I messed up in many ways. Please see the new and improved EDIT section of my original comment. I hope I have not burned all bridges with you hexbearites.
Counterpoint:
While I appreciate your critique, I have to object to one thing: the Catholic Church is not Christianity as a whole. It is a political organization that represents the religion, but it is not omnipotent of the religion.
And as political organization, it has done a LOT of bad shit in its very, very long history.
Just as people point out that ISIS, Al-Qaeda, or even Saudi Arabia is not representative of all of Islam, neither is the Catholic Church, the Church of England, or any Christian organization at that.
It has also historically been used by the bourgeoisie, and the aristocracy before them, to legitimize and maintain their class dictatorship (as you already pointed out, Tsarist Russia is a very example of that but for the Orthodox Church), so it is not out of line to include religious organizations in critiques of Capitalism.
I believe most folks here are (rightfully) trashing the Church, not every single person who holds Christian beliefs.