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!
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
Religion is "compatible" with Marxism in the sense that a Marxist state need have no problem with citizens who practice their religions in peace without theocracy, like (I believe) happens in Cuba. Any religion, when mixed with politics or money, results in disaster. The Catholic Church has a problematic history precisely because it mixed with the State since Roman times. A communist society would provide a more healthy environment for legitimate, non theocratic religion to develop. Religion would not mess with the State, which is great. And maybe less people would have Faith, but those who do would be more reasonable and authentic. In fact, a Liberation Theology priest once told me that real Christianity is never the majority. In societies such as Medieval Europe (and even the USA and Brazil today) that discriminate against non-Christians, people have an incentive to be fake Christians. But we don't have to litigate that here, I just wanted to clarify what I meant.
Regarding Hexbear sometimes talking about religion: religion still affects politics, so it cannot be ignored.
I don't think this is true. The influence of religion in Cuba (and China for that matter) is small enough that trying to convert everyone to atheism is understandably very low on their government's list of priorities.
The whole point of religion is to assure you that your suffering in this life is okay because you'll be rewarded in some future life. It's antithetical to a materialist worldview, to establishing a dictatorship of the proletariat. Like, there's a reason all the great Marxist authors were atheists.
Please read a book.
Am I wrong? Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, all preach that doing certain things in this life will reward you, either by going to heaven or escaping the cycle or whatever. Christianity explicitly teaches that being persecuted is to be expected and good. Any good deeds done by organized religion are incidental and easily outweighed by their harm.
I'm always surprised by how many people are willing to go to bat for religion on a supposedly leftist website.