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I'm convinced that it is, and just like a President can't single handedly enact his programs and desired legislation, a Pope can't change doctrine. He is simply shifting the rhetoric and emphasis and once that becomes entrenched in people's thinking the doctrine can be quietly tempered or reversed a couple of generations from now when no one much cares or notices.
I recall reading that even when the church enacted the requirement for celibacy for priests it was often ignored until some Pope who really wanted to enforce it came along, with the result we have today. This Pope is headed in the other direction on a number of other issues, setting the stage for what passes for real change in Catholicism.
Some of my fellow unbelievers object rather strenuously to the Pope speaking to Congress on the basis that it violates separation of church and state (certainly had the Pope tried this in Kennedy's day ... given that Kennedy's electability was questioned because of his Catholicism and fears of undue Vatican influence on US policy ... it would not have been allowed). They also note that whatever patina of niceness his personality provides he has not publicly denounced church doctrine on birth control, abortion, etc., nor properly cleaned house, in their view, of pedophiles.
I do not share these purist / idealist views of the Catholic church or the Pope; I'm more of a pragmatist. I don't care if someone addressing Congress just happens to be theist / religious, as it is but one voice among many; and besides, if he addresses it as respectfully and cogently as he did ... and all but rebuking their small minded response to immigration from Central and South America ... and even doing so for the right reasons (compassion for the vulnerable) ... I see no reason to get my knickers in a twist and hold out for the Pope to suddenly become an ultra left wing unbeliever and materialist.
I must be bloody cynical. I see pretty much everything the flat -nosed bastard does as a publicity stunt to try to save a disintegrating cult.
With the greatest respect to practicing Catholics, of course.
I will disagree with you based on his nature during his pre Pope days. I think he has changed direction of the thinking at the Vatican and has made it easier for the more liberal faction of the RCC to become more prominent again. His predessor was taking the church in the opposite direction.
The scandals made it easier for the cardinals to choose a moderate for the reason you gave but I think his message is what he thinks not what he thinks others want to hear.
I must be bloody cynical. I see pretty much everything the flat -nosed bastard does as a publicity stunt to try to save a disintegrating cult.
With the greatest respect to practicing Catholics, of course.
Your cynicism is understandable. Your use of the "flat-nosed bastard" slur is not!!
Like all businesses, the Catholic Church must adapt to changing consumer tastes in order to survive. The present pope is smart enough to realize that times and attitudes are changing. If the church wants to keep the money flowing in, it will need to tell people what they want to hear.
I will disagree with you based on his nature during his pre Pope days. I think he has changed direction of the thinking at the Vatican and has made it easier for the more liberal faction of the RCC to become more prominent again. His predessor was taking the church in the opposite direction.
The scandals made it easier for the cardinals to choose a moderate for the reason you gave but I think his message is what he thinks not what he thinks others want to hear.
Much of what passes for "change at the Vatican" is lipstick on a pig but I believe based on what I've seen so far that Pope Francis has the courage of his own convictions. Why he doesn't apply his morality outside the Church? Well he feels he has a calling. To hear a boyhood friend tell of it, he just decided around the age of 13 that this is what he was going to do with his life. Now he has an entire life story arc invested in it, and he still is the eternal optimist and thinks he'd be throwing that investment away if he left the Church.
It's hard to argue with the fact that he's in a better place to influence the Church than anyone else at the moment.
I just hope his successor doesn't undo it all. I have little doubt that the college of cardinals got more than they bargained for with Francis, and may overcompensate with the next one.
It is ironic, of course, that Francis is staying at a church facility in Philadelphia that, according to CNN last night, was "forced" to sell a palatial mansion on the grounds 3 years ago for "financial reasons". Francis is presiding over an organization in decline, much of it self-inflicted, some of it just the inexorable advance of secularism and higher education. The only hope for his moderate policies is that enough of the church will see continuing the failed policies he's easing out, are not an option anymore.
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I must be bloody cynical. I see pretty much everything the flat -nosed bastard does as a publicity stunt to try to save a disintegrating cult. 
