MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Francis arrives in Chile to a divided church with threats of violence and protests over abuses allegations
Pope Francis' trip to South America is supposed to be all about peace, unity and hope. But the pontiff could also be welcomed with protests, threats of violence and controversy over allegations of abuses by the Catholic Church. Argentina born Francis comes to his home continent for a two-country, six-city apostolic visit that starts in Chile this Monday and ends in Peru a week later. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesIt's fair to note that the current Holy Father will not be as received as Juan Pablo II. There are many Catholics here that are less than enthusiastic with some of his liberal policies and others that will criticize him for not being even more progressive. No matter what he says about the Mapuches will be met with skepticism by both sides. There are strong historical cases of sexual abuse that has not been appropriately handled which has still not been properly resolved...
Jan 15th, 2018 - 03:24 am - Link - Report abuse +3As for me, I will continue to practice what I call “relevant Catholicism” while I wait patiently for the Church and its doctrine to catch up to modern society. If it doesn’t happen in my lifetime, that’s all right – I’ll go to my grave knowing I stood up for what was practical and real. And if that makes me a Cafeteria Catholic, so be it.as for me
Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, said in 2012 when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires that Britain had “usurped” the disputed islands from Argentina. In 2011, he said the islands were “ours,” a view most Argentinians share. Seriously, have you heard of a territory being usurped in the 19th century? Neither have I.
Jan 15th, 2018 - 10:11 am - Link - Report abuse +1Falkland Islands – The Usurpation (1 pg): https://www.academia.edu/34838377/Falkland_Islands_The_Usurpation
PM = Disaster, President = disaster, Pope = disaster! WTF?
Jan 15th, 2018 - 12:05 pm - Link - Report abuse -1Giant Meteor.....?
Having a Latin Pope is not something new. In recent centuries pretty much all of them have been Latin with the exception of the German and the Pole. Now if the Cardinals were to appoint a South American Pope that would be truly amazing.
Jan 15th, 2018 - 02:02 pm - Link - Report abuse -1Previous popes visited countries and religious fervour was paramount. Now a pope who takes seriously the original teachings of the Church talking about social justice and wealth distribution meets with violent incidents and a lot of bad press.
Jan 16th, 2018 - 05:03 am - Link - Report abuse +1It appears a lot of people are okay with organized religion as long as it suports the status quo and does not come up with suspicious social theories such as - horror! - equality and justice for all.
Doesn't the current distrust of the Catholic church have more to do with the child abuse scandal, Enrique?
Jan 16th, 2018 - 10:11 am - Link - Report abuse 0Asking the Church to make a mea culpa about the child abuses and deal with it honestly is necessary. On the other hand, the current pope deserves support when he tries to steer the institution toward more advocacy for social justice.
Jan 16th, 2018 - 01:59 pm - Link - Report abuse +1In a recent pool only 12.50% of the argentinian answered that they would like to see Bergoglio visiting Argentina while 84% answered that they won't like to see him visiting the country. :)
Jan 16th, 2018 - 05:20 pm - Link - Report abuse -1@EM
Jan 16th, 2018 - 06:44 pm - Link - Report abuse +1I agree. Francis is refreshing compared to previous popes.
@pgerman
Seems surprising. Are Argentines not proud of their pope? It also seems odd to me that he hasn't been back yet, but maybe that's normal?
@ Brit Bob
Jan 18th, 2018 - 12:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Excellent piece, though the wording of the Argentine statement “ordered the handover of the settlement” could also be challenged, as Onslow's orders (apologies for not citing), stated that the settlers/settlement were not to be disturbed, and that in any case, Vernet had gained permission form Great Britain for the settlement to be at Port Louis.
The Argentines are always at pains to suggest that the settlement was disrupted by Great Britain but say little of the military UP administration that was asked to leave with a letter ending “ I am sir, your most obedient servant.”
Numerically (without the crew of HMS Tyne) the UPs land based force (even minus the mutineers chained in the Rapid) plus the Sarandi's British sailors must have been enough to resist if they really felt that strongly about challenging sovereignty. Perhaps they should have asked the convicts as they'd had practice with killing Mestivier.
Argentina usually decline to mention the disruption caused to the small community by Mestivier's murder or after the militia's departure when Rivero continued to show how Argentines are exceptionally good at 'disrupting peaceful settlements.'
However I appreciate that this piece deals with the legal factors associated with 1833 and not the particular semantics of the Argentine statements, but it is clear that most Argentine statements on 1833, usually of a general vague nature, can be easily challenged when the details are zoomed in on.
One day the pope should visit the Falklands and see his catholic flock out there as he is meant to be apolitical.
Interesting article, seems to back up my points on here hotly contested by some that Francis had good relations with Cristina and bad ones, for good political reasons, with Macri.
Jan 21st, 2018 - 09:59 am - Link - Report abuse 0Chicureo: “As for me, I will continue to practice what I call “relevant Catholicism” while I wait patiently for the Church and its doctrine to catch up to modern society. If it doesn’t happen in my lifetime, that’s all right – I’ll go to my grave knowing I stood up for what was practical and real. And if that makes me a Cafeteria Catholic, so be it.as for me”
Or even a Pope Francis Catholic =)
Enrique: “Previous popes visited countries and religious fervour was paramount. Now a pope who takes seriously the original teachings of the Church talking about social justice and wealth distribution meets with violent incidents and a lot of bad press.” Exactly
pgerman: “In a recent pool only 12.50% of the argentinian answered that they would like to see Bergoglio visiting Argentina while 84% answered that they won't like to see him visiting the country”
Sounds dodgy, such a high majority for anything is a bit of a red light for a poll, let alone for something so counterintuitive. Its like me saying I polled 7 lefties and 1 right winger and got 84 to 12 support for Cristina against Macri ;)
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