Dear Editor, Reading from Michael Higgins’ Letter from America (IC, 14/11/13), it would seem that the religious far right conservatives across the Atlantic are not happy about Pope Francis.
They seem to see the Pope as some kind of ‘straw man’ who is not quite the equal of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.
In business circles a ‘straw man’ is someone who is regarded as not having a lot of material wealth, but pretends he has. The translation of that concept to the sphere of the Church is to imply that Pope Francis is engaged in some kind of pretence of having an insight into faith that in reality he does not possess.
Pope Francis is doing a great job in my view. In terms of his insightful faith, he is certainly no straw man. To link him to some kind of business fraudster ‘straw man’ is profoundly misguided.
As a Jesuit, his insight into Jesus makes us all reflect on the happiness Christ was guiding us to achieve. That is the greatest of all his achievements to date.
The far right in America would do well to reflect on the often miserable influence they exert on society, mostly due to their desire to control the Church, a control that can only take the Church away from Jesus Christ.
Yours etc.,
John O’Connell,
Derry,
Co. Derry.
