E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

Pope Francis , the first Latin American Pope, the first Jesuit Pope, the first Francis as Pope, was an inspired choice this evening.  At 76, he is unlikely to overstay his welcome.  As someone who has devoted decades to working with the poorest people of Argentina, he brings a message of humility, charity, and kindness.  He is, in person, mildly charismatic - gentle, intelligent, and capable.  He has started well.  For those against the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world, and its Church, however, even this miracle of sagacity - a choice made almost in heaven - is darkness in the light; some are already alluding to the Pope's past as linked to the Junta.  This is very nasty unproven stuff, a real smear campaign, and misses the point - the Church's move into the 21st century has started today, on the 13th of March, 2013, only 13 years late.  God bless Pope Francis.

Say what you will about the current Pope , but he has just done something that no other human being has done for 600 years - he has resigned as Pope.  The Papacy is an extraordinary seat of power to relinquish - he is the spiritual leader of a billion souls, invested with extraordinary duties and responsibilities.  The Petrine role is unique, and those who see the Church as power-mad and corrupt will be - or should be - taken aback by the Christlike abnegation of power.  By making way for a younger man (and, alas, it will be a man this time), he is doing the Church a great favour.  The Pope - my Pope - is not someone it is easy to agree with on a number of subjects - but on the need for less war, less capitalism, and more environmental sterwardship, he has spoken out wisely.  I wish him well; it would be unChr istian to do otherwise.

I had felt I had lost my faith over the summer.  Post-PhD lapse - or simply the intolerance of some aspects of the current Vatican policies - had exhausted my patience.  Then I went to Mass today in St John's Wood, and was surprised to discover the Year of Faith begins this coming Thursday, October 11.  A year to reflect on faith and faithlessness, on the vacillations of the spirit.  Now, I can't promise miracles, but I feel somewhat renewed today by this happy convergence of my own doubts and needs, and the official programme of the coming year.  Meanwhile, and just as importantly, Hans Kung , a dissenting priest, is raising vital concerns about the future directions of the Church.  There looks like a very enriching debate about renewal to be had in 2013.

I became a Catholic a year ago, and now that the summer is upon us again, this June 21, I find myself, much like the English weather, only partly sunny.  I have wavered this year - coming in and out like that politician's infamous spiritual radio; as discussed previously here, the numerous nuclear accidents, wars, cruelties, and destruction of the environment, have made it seem as if God is distant.  And, some of the positions of the Church are difficult.  Not least, celibacy, and also a lack of ordination for women.  Still, having a faith is a bedrock, even if one has to lie in (on?) it.  A hard bed, then, but one for some assurance.  Not that I am certain of Heaven.  I tend to think that Christianity is best in this world.  I wonder why it is that humans, godless or not, are so hell-bent on destroying the oceans; and battering themselves to hell. This disenchanted, secular, world, is clearly fallen.  I had hoped poetry would help rais...

As a Catholic based in Britain, I have mixed feelings about the Pope's official state visit this week.  Of course, he is the head of my Church, and I want him to be welcomed properly, as befits his role.  However, I cannot ignore the many (human) failings of the recent decades.  Too many issues have been badly handled.  I also am a more liberal Catholic than Pope Benedict , and therefore listen to some of his words with concern.  Nonetheless, the Catholic Faith is far more profound, and complex, than sex scandals, though terrible - and one Pope's position.  The Church has moved through two thousand years of history - the oldest surviving institution of Western civilisation - and those comedians and scientists like Fry  and Dawkins who seek to undermine it need to be sure they have something to put in its place. I think the Pope shows great courage and conviction coming to such a lion's den as Britain is for him at this time.  I fear things will...

It being Sunday, this story is particularly resonant - and also demanding of forgiveness.  But the news that a junior British civil servant in the Foreign Office prepared an official memo planning for the Pope's autumn visit - a memo distributed widely to politicians and officials, and called a serious brainstorming document - which recommended the Pope variously open an abortion clinic, and start a new brand of condoms - seems willfully disrespectful, even sacrilegious.  People who wish to suggest I take a chill pill, and see the humour of the document may miss the point: visiting world leaders shouldn't ever be treated to such official government mockery, no matter how ludicrous their beliefs may be.  When their beliefs are a religion practiced by more than 20% of the world, and by a significant minority of one's own nation, even less reason is given for such a Monty Python treatment.  Of course, in pubs and private, let the Protestant (and secular) people of Bri...