The Pope

I was thinking about the Pope this morning. Then I noticed my attitude towards him. A very dismissive, arrogant and unrespectable attitude.

How easy is it to have this towards a person I have never met, never will meet who lives 1000's kms away.

If I ever were put in a situation where I was sitting face to face with him, would my attitude be present in my speech and actions? Surely not, I would put on a mask and be the most dishonest person in the room (my heart attitude wouldn't match what's happening on the outside)

In fact, due to his age and position, I would be a fool to think that the man has no knowledge or wisdom that I could draw from.

No I'm not a catholic, not do I esteem him like catholics do but he Is another man who has experienced life, seen 100 times more than I have, spoken to far more and influenced more people than I ever have.

Here's 30 something year old me thinking I'm better than him because he carries the title The Pope.

What I fool I am.

No, you're just kind of normal.

Here's 30 something year old me thinking I'm better than him because he carries the title The Pope.

What I fool I am.

Hmmm... Breno....

I think that sometimes people want to examine their own heart,
and when they find it lacking (which every heart will do),
they sometimes, as a kind of backlash, give far too much credit to anyone they've had unkind thoughts toward...
people who's hearts are also lacking.

And in the midst of all this well intended self reflection...
we conflate many and varied disparate things which really have nothing to do with each other.

What kinds of disparate things might we conflate?

- The pope being older doesn't necessarily make him wiser... scripture talks about this.
- The pope being powerful and influential doesn't necessarily make him any more important to God than anyone else.
- The pope being powerful and influential doesn't necessarily make him any better than you or anyone else.
- The fact you might be able to "learn things" from another person does not necessarily make them a better Christian, and does not exempt them from all possible criticism.
- The fact someone is far away and you don't know them personally has nothing to do with your ability to fairly analyze their PUBLIC positions and their PUBLIC words.
- The fact that you should be civil and polite toward others has NOTHING to do with you ability or right to critique their political positions or doctrinal beliefs.


We simply conflate too many disparate things.

Yes, if you meet the Pope you should be polite.

But he's a public figure with public doctrinal positions, public political positions, public writings, and public speeches...
it's perfectly just to critique those, and have an opinion.