Klaus Hart Brasilientexte

A CHURCH THAT IS OPEN TO THE WORLD

Pope Francis captivated the Brazilian people with his charm, his simplicity and his permanent smile, his care to stop the vehicle he was in to kiss a child, bless a sick person or one of the faithful.

The government’s failures during World Youth Day were innumerable: Francis’ car stuck in traffic on President Vargas avenue, failure on the Rio subway, lack of sufficient public transport to move the crowds, incompetence to foresee that rain would transform the field in Guaratiba into a sea of mud.

In spite of everything, the pope and the people were the highlights of the party. And he performed two miracles: he made President Dilma smile like a girl on her First Communion day and made Brazilians love an Argentine with all their heart….

Francis avoided touching on polemic subjects like sexual mores which challenge the Catholic Church. Not a word about paedophilia, the use of preservatives, homosexuality, abortion etc. He said nothing about women’s ordination, re-instating married priests (5000 in Brazil, 100,000 in the world), or the end of obligatory celibacy. He only asked the bishops to instil more quality into the training of priests.

The pope preferred to describe his profile of Church as: missionary, turned “outwards”, not enclosed, involved in the periphery (poorer areas) and server of the poor. A Church: “advocate of justice and defender of the poor who face intolerable social and economic inequality which clamours to heaven” as he said when he visited the Varginha shantytown (favela).

The Church’s pastoral activity should pay special attention to children, to young people and the elderly. The former for embodying the future and the latter for holding wisdom

The Church should mirror the simplicity of Jesus, like Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis did, by dispensing the ermine cape, the red shoes, the gold ring and cross, the titles of Supreme Pontiff and His Holiness, preferring to be known merely as pope, bishop of Rome, servant of the servants of God. She needs to know how to “waste time” with the poor and learn how to listen to them

He challenged Christians to fight against the “culture of the disposable” which ignores the value of people and stimulates consumerism and hedonism. The security of people of faith should be in trusting God and not in the excessive comfort which separates them from the poor and from the people.

He also spoke of politics when he stressed that corruption should be combated and, at the same time, hope encouraged in “a more just and solidary world”. Solidarity – “almost a bad word” the pope said – should be at the centre of our pastoral and prepared to “add more water to the beans”.

Politics should “avoid elitism and eradicate poverty”, condemning the oppressors, as the prophet Amos did when he denounced the “selling the just for money and the poor for a pair of sandals”. Francis made it clear that the Church should recover its prophetism and be the voice for those who have no voice.

He pointed out that it is necessary to recuperate the trust of young people in political institutions, encourage them in hope and “rehabilitate politics, one of the highest forms of charity”. Yes, with a plate of food we can kill the hunger of a beggar. With politics we avoid or promote suffering, depending on how they are practised.

He supported the street demonstrations of the young when he stressed that they deserve our support for “they went into the streets of the world to express the desire for a more just and fraternal civilization”. He noted that a “more just future society is not an unrealistic dream” but something attainable. Young people should be the “protagonists of history”, builders of the future, and a better world.

The pope called on everyone to promote the “culture of encounter”, favouring dialogue without prejudice, combating fundamentalisms and segregation.

Francis initiated a Church reform starting with the papacy as someone who is convinced that, in order to change the world, we must first change ourselves. Perhaps he will not delay in reforming the Roman Curia and, who knows, extinguish the IOR, the Vatican Bank, target of serious denunciations of corruption and the apostolic nunciatures, the Vatican’s foreign diplomatic representations, giving value to episcopal conferences and collegiality in the Church.

There is now something now in Peter’s barque, whose sails are touched by the breath of the Holy Spirit.

*Frei Betto is a writer, author of “Um homem chamado  Jesus” (A Man called Jesus) (Rocco).

Ausgerechnet Leonardo Boff spielt derzeit wieder einmal den Papst-Erklärer für deutsche Medien:  http://www.hart-brasilientexte.de/2013/03/15/jesus-wurde-der-zutritt-zum-konklave-der-kardinale-verweigert-wie-sich-leonardo-boff-die-wahl-von-papst-francisco-einem-jesuiten-vorstellte/

“Lula machte die größte Revolution der sozialen Ökologie des Planeten, eine Revolution für die Bildung, ethische Politik.“ (Boff) Was die Teilnehmer der derzeitigen Straßenproteste Brasilien völlig anders sehen…

http://www.hart-brasilientexte.de/2013/03/11/brasilien-und-die-befreiungstheologie-clodovis-boff-bruder-von-leonardo-boff-stellt-sich-hinter-benedikt-xvi-essenz-der-befreiungstheologie-wurde-vom-papst-verteidigt-keinerlei-kritik-an-vatika/

http://www.hart-brasilientexte.de/2013/03/20/brasilien-leonardo-boff-nennt-deutschstammigen-kardinal-odilo-scherer-reaktionar-und-autoritar-i-%C2%B4m-happy-that-odilo-scherer-is-not-the-pope-boff-gegenuber-clarinbuenos-aires/

Während Kardinal Odilo Scherer die evangelikalen Sektenkirchen, ihre Machenschaften stets kritisierte und analysierte, begrüßte Leonardo Boff die evangelikalen Wunderheilersekten als  ”Bereicherung”:

 “Saudo a expansao dos evangelicos, porque sou a favor de todo tipo de diversidade.” 

Sektenkirchen in Brasilien:  Sekten verfolgen Journalisten:  http://www.hart-brasilientexte.de/2008/02/14/brasilianische-sekten-verfolgen-journalisten-gesteuerte-prozeslawinen/

Brasiliens starkes Sekten-TV:  http://www.hart-brasilientexte.de/2012/07/27/brasilien-olympische-spiele-erstmals-von-sekten-tv-rede-record-ubertragen-staatsprasidentin-dilma-rousseff-trifft-sich-in-londoner-studios-mit-sektenchef-edir-macedo/

Antikatholische Wunderheilersekten – gute Karten in Deutschland:  http://www.hart-brasilientexte.de/2012/07/16/brasiliens-evangelikale-sekten-mit-guten-karten-in-landern-wie-deutschland-was-kritische-qualitatsmedien-brasiliens-berichten-und-was-deutsche-medien-beispiel-jesusmarsch-2012/

Ouro Preto, Weltkulturerbestadt in Brasilien, Osterprozession, Procissão de Páscoa 2015. **