It's Sunday

Pope Francis has said he wants "a poor Church, for the poor", giving his clearest indication yet that he wants a more austere Catholic Church.

The pope made his comments in an audience with journalists on Saturday, explaining why he chose to take the name Francis, after St Francis of Assisi, a symbol of peace, austerity and poverty.

  alJazeera

Suddenly, it all becomes clearer.

Needing to rid themselves of the intense scrutiny over the child abuse scandals in which they are awash, the “Clan of the Red Beanie” (Charlie Pierce trademark) had Pope Ratzo, who was intricately tied to the scandal, step down. In his place, they positioned the image of St. Francis of Assisi to create a portrait of the church as benevolent protector of the poor, for some good press. But the important part of that deal was (is) that the new Pope Good Press be so old that his time will be long enough to garner good press, but short enough to go back to business as usual without having invested much church treasure in payment therefor.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

And, in case you're wondering, the fact that St. Francis is also from Argentina is a big part of that same great deal of wasting only a few years appearing to be what lay people think the Catholic Church ought to be.

Oct 21 2004 (IPS) - For the Catholic church hierarchy in the Vatican, Latin America has changed from the “Continent of Hope” to the continent of concern, as followers are leaving the church in such large numbers that it could lead to the collapse of Catholicism within a decade and a half.

Although Latin America is still home to almost half of the 1.07 billion Catholics in the world today, numerous studies indicate that their numbers are declining throughout the region.

[...]

In Brazil, where there are more Catholics than in any other country in the world – roughly 100 million, out of a total population of close to 180 million – close to half a million followers are leaving the Catholic church every year.

Something similar is happening in Mexico, the country with the second largest number of Catholics. Roughly 88 percent of its 102 million inhabitants today identify themselves as Catholics, revealing a decline of almost 10 percent compared to the mid-20th century.

In Colombia, only two out of every three people profess themselves Catholics today, when almost the entire population was Catholic in the 1950s.

The phenomenon is particularly marked in Guatemala, where almost one-third of the country’s 12 million inhabitants have left the Catholic church.

[...]

“People feel alienated by a church that condemns divorce and is not willing to listen, an authoritarian church that opposes the use of condoms, and isn’t willing to adapt to the times and the real needs of people,” said [Elio Masferrer, chairman of the Latin American Religious Studies Association].

  IPS News

Also, Latin America is particularly notable for people cherishing children.