Today TIME magazine named Pope Francis 2013's Person of the Year, and it's a good pick. Certainly a breath of fresh air coming from the Vatican, nice to see the Church in the news in a positive light again. Contrast that with last many years where they seemed to only make news whenever another parish had another child rape scandal.

Personally I liked his reaction to the "Bishop Deluxe" scandal in Germany where a bishop used $30 million of church funds to renovate his house. Called him to the carpet in Rome and sent him back home (later suspended) with his tail between his legs...on Coach.

It's interesting watching how the ideologies react to him. He's not changed the Church's positions on hot topics Gay Marriage and abortion, yet liberals like him. (A new ABC poll showed that he has 75% favorable ratings with American moderates and liberals.) In fact its kinda weird going online and seeing some of them defend him from the right-wingers. Certainly his mantra against poverty and global income inequality is part of the reason, but I think it's also that he's not a raging asshole in public about the culture war. Regardless of ideology, he's immensely likeable, admirable in his pursuits of reforming the Church, specifically in its image. Consider for the first time ever recently, he publicly opened the books for the controversial Vatican Bank.

Yet the right wing, at least in America...they really don't like him. Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and that right wing news media compare him to Obama (err WHAT?) and call him a Marxist (which he isn't) who should be ignored by "real" Catholics. Which is weird because just a few years ago I remember when that same lot chided American "Cafeteria Catholics" for going to Church but ignoring the edicts from Benedict XVI and his bishops.

Why do they hate him? I think at the heart of it subconciously, they're pissed that the new Pope more or less told them to calm the fuck down on the Culture War stuff, a deep contrast with the previous Pope (and for that matter, John Paul II.) Not surrendering or calling it quits as they seemed t have interpreted, but simply more like "Hey guys, there might be more important and bigger shit to worry about than about a bunch of homosexuals getting married, m'OK? Priorities people!" Geez no wonder Maggie Gallagher was pissed.

The irony missed by their knee-jerk overreaction to his concern for poor people is that he's probably their best chance of recapturing those millions of Catholics who wanted nothing to do with the Church after the child abuse scandals and the Culture War bullshit, but haven't become athetist. For all the talk allegedly about the numbers of "Non-believers" growing in America, I think as an agonostic (or atheist in denial?) myself its more likely that big chunk of those just simply don't want to be publicly associated with the right wing religious assholes who wasted away their moral authority while turning a blind eye to their own gross excesses. (This is especially true for the Catholic Church.)

With my Catholic background, I remember fondly growing up watching the the Christmas rituals at the Vatican (on tape delay), seeing all the pomp and circumstance year after year. As an adult, I quit doing that as a pathetic protest against the Church, specifically under the last Pontiff (even if John Paul II before him was unfortunately also part of the institutionalized problem, especially with the child rape scandals).

I think I'll return to that tradition again this year.