COLUMN: A psuedo-Catholic on Pope Francis
I haven't been to a Catholic mass with any sort of enthusiasm (besides the potlucks afterward) in at least seven years.
However, I believe Pope Francis is the best thing to happen to Catholicism, and religion as a whole, in eons.
Most major religions have a tendency to be against gay rights and the idea of abortion, and many have constant political machinations within the organizations – so, when I was younger, I became jaded about Catholicism and organized religion in general.
For every church mission trip I saw, there were at least three stories of abuse by priests or stories of intolerance. Then Pope Francis came along, making me think that some genuine good could come out of religion.
His papacy is less than a year old. The Argentina-born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a.k.a. Pope Francis, TIME Magazine's 2013 "Person of the Year" and a one-time nightclub bouncer, has helped scores of people since becoming a priest in 1969.
He's made statements emphasizing helping the poor, especially in developing countries. He's displayed incredible compassion when blessing a disfigured man suffering from neurofibromatosis in early November. He has replaced more conservative cardinals with increasingly moderate officials. He appears to be highly charismatic, compassionate and humble.
He seems to be doing what religious leaders should ideally be doing: Helping people because it's the right thing to do. It might be signaling a change in how the Catholic church operates.
David Smith, a Central Michigan University professor whose focus is on modern religious thought, said he appreciates the change.
"I think it's very refreshing," Smith said of Francis' effect on the church. "Francis seems to be coming from a very different kind of place. I just see him as reversing certain trends and tendencies that have been underway for a while, but reversing them in a way that there's a lot of precedent for."
I have, for the most part, liked Francis and many of his actions as Pope.
He made me consider that maybe I hadn't been entirely fair in how I viewed Catholicism and organized religion.
Perhaps, while I don't agree with most religious-based views on social issues and still believe that many religious figures have less-than-righteous intentions, there is more good in some religion than I thought – and that's pretty huge for a guy who had dismissed all organized religion for the better part of a decade.
I still think there's a long way to go before I fully trust any religious organization, but Pope Francis has at least helped make me somewhat open to the idea.
