By Clifford Jackson, Larchmont
The Catholic Church has been here for more than 2000 years. Starting with Constantine the first Roman Catholic emperor during the third and fourth centuries. It has a history of violence and subjugation that is one of the main reasons why there are 1.4 billion Catholics , many that are people of color.
Constantine started a period of conquering and subjugation after his conversion to Christianity in 312 AD that continued with the Iberian Peninsula empires of Spain and Portugal where the Catholic Church sanctioned the conquering of Africa and Latin/Indigenous America. That is the reason why, and the corporate media as well as academic institutions will never talk about this, there is such an allegiance by people of color around the world to the Catholic Church.
Centuries of enslavement and the colonial relationship of the west to the so-called third world solidified this allegiance. There have been popes that have gone to war in order to foist Christianity on other lands as well take Jerusalem as the crusades demonstrated. The “ Doctrine of Discovery “ promulgated by the Catholic Church in the 15th century also opened the flood gates of violence and domination of indigenous peoples by the Catholic Church.
This history is important in order to understand how we have arrived here , and to see that people like St Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis are more an exception as far as the true meaning of Jesus of Nazareth in the Catholic Church.
Pope Francis was a modern day St Francis of Assisi. His very basic lifestyle that rejected all of the Amenities if you will that a high ranking Catholic prelate let alone the Pope would normally assume spoke volumes to the real meaning of Jesus of Nazareth.
As Malcolm X said in a speech in May of 1962 “ They accused Jesus of sedition because he was with the prostitutes the despised the leopors and if Jesus was here today he would be with the so called American Negro”.
This is what St Francis of Assisi epitomized when he established his Franciscan order of brothers who begged for resources in order to feed and serve the poor. Which also led to an order of mendicant sisters who did the same thing.
This is the legacy of Pope Francis. He contradicted the perverted Christianity in this society which demonizes the poor and calls them lazy. He also articulated the real meaning of Jesus of Nazareth when he said “ the LGBTQ Community are also gods children and that we should not be afraid of sharing immigrants and the poor with the world community “.
One of your frequent contributors from Yonkers, with her searing Archie Bunker way of thinking does not understand that. The perverted Christianity that this person reflects is quite common especially in this country.
In this country you are defined as a better person based upon your asset base. That is something that no one reading this can deny.
Pope Francis was the exact opposite because his papacy stressed serving the poor and the infirmed. His theme was no different than what the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Mohatmas K Ghandi and Malcolm X died fighting for.
There are many Catholics who understand this. Unfortunately, there are many more that don’t. Where their very material lifestyle and their contempt for the poor make their Catholicism a categorical fraud. I certainly was exposed to this hypocrisy working for 40 years on Wall Street.
Pope Francis died the way he lived. His homegoing was set in a very basic coffin without an elaborate marker detailing who he was. Jorge Mario Bergoglio not only talked the talk but, more importantly, walked the walk of his faith. The United States, especially today, with its incessant decadence and hypocrisy, could learn a lot from this Amazing grace called Pope Francis.
