Pope Francis, the first pontiff from South America, has spent a remarkable week in Brazil as part of world youth event for Roman Catholic young people. You may be aware that the influence of the Catholic church is waning in South America. A few decades ago 90% of the population was RC, now it hovers just over 50%. You wouldn't know this from the response of Brazilians during the past few days. An enthusiastic crowd estimated at three million gathered in Rio de Janeiro yesterday and today Francis will celebrate a huge mass on the normally hedonistic Copocabana beach.
There have been vocal detractors, alarmed at the 50 million dollars spent on his presence in the country, but this hasn't dampened the overall positive response. Francis has challenged political and church leaders to honour and support the poor, of whom there are many in Brazil. He has scolded priests for not moving out of their cloistered lives to address the needs of their parishioners. He visited a favela where the poorest of the poor live.
Yesterday the pope also called attention to care for the environment and specifically the Amazon basin. He offered that the Amazon should be treated as God's garden, not a resource to be plundered and exploited. Perhaps we need to lobby for a papal visit to Canada, where Francis could have a heart-to-heart with some of our politicians. Again, Francis seems determined to speak the truth of the gospel and to speak the message of his namesake.
Have you been following the papal visit, or are these the lazy hazy days of summer for you? Is it important for people to have this opportunity to respond to their faith leader or is this sort of expenditure unjustified in a country of great poverty and social need?
I realize that Catholics feel a visit from their pope is a very important occasion, and thus it justifies the costs - non - Christians, and atheists in particular, often point to the wealth of many churches and the expensive vestments of the leaders, etc, and point out the irony of the fact that the Son of Man was born into poverty, shared all things with his disciples, had no place to lay HIs head, etc - I hesitate to comment on another denomination's practices, but I would be dismayed if my own branch of the church put so much money and energy into a visit, while people are starving...in an age where electronic can send images instantly around the world, perhaps a cyberspace visit on a large screen, might suffice?
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