Why the Left Will Do All They Can to Hurt the New Pope

Faithful Catholics knew from the moment Francis walked out on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, it was the beginning of his cross. The silent prayer he asked for, and during which he bowed, I believe was prayer that he could bear that cross with joy and fortitude, and that his ability to bear it would be provided by the prayers of his people. 

P>WASHINGTON,DC (Catholic Online) - It really didn't matter who the cardinals elected as the new pope. The Left, and we know who they are, hate the Church. Regardless who walked out on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, there would be no honeymoon, hardly time for a hiccup, in fact, before the Left and its media goons started to bash him.

As Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, recently chronicled, the barrage of lies, spin, and accusations has already begun. 

When you hate the Church, when you wish for its destruction, or at least for its transformation into another vehicle for secularization, you will naturally do all you can to hurt Her leader. 

The Left can't really help it (I can't bring myself to call them "progressives, their preferred self-description) because they are not only left on the political spectrum, but they left true liberalism a long time ago, about the time they left civilized, humane conversation, a form of dialogue that sincerely cared about reaching the truth.

Francis himself, however, actually galls them: A Jesuit who rejected liberation theology ("Oh, the horror!), a South American cardinal who opposed the government on abortion, euthanasia, and gay-lesbian adoption, and, most of all, his lifestyle provides no clubs to beat him with -- he rides the bus, will not live in archdiocesan palaces, and wears the simplest of clerical robes.

In his first public gesture, Francis I bowed to the thousands in St. Peter's Square, as if to say, "I will be your servant."

Some readers may think it hyperbole to claim the Left "hates" the Church. Anyone who by 2013 thinks such a claim an exaggeration will not be convinced by any evidence I could offer here.

Perhaps the most egregious fact of all: Led by the epicenter of anti-Catholic hatred, The New York Times, the Left considers the priest sex scandal a definitive corroboration of all their disdain towards the Church and its moral teachings. Yet,  the same media ignore similar, and worse, patterns of child abuse in public schools, the Boy Scouts, and other religious dominations, including Judaism.

The Church gets special treatment. For the Left, priestly hypocrisy proves the falsehood of the Church's moral principles, particularly on matters of sex, including celibacy, contraception, marriage, and, of course, homosexuality. And the moral standard a person strives but fails to attain is refuted. But they fail to notice how their argument leads to the nullification of all moral standards, even their own.

If their own logic leads to refutation of all moral standards based upon hypocrisy, from what moral ground does the Left, who we must presume suffer from hypocrisy, throw their stones at the Church and Francis I?

This must explain why the same critics of the Church haven't registered any notice of the "sex weeks" being held annually at their prestigious Ivy League alma maters like Harvard, Yale, and Brown. At least the Left is honest enough, as signified by its silence, to decline comment on such flagrant nonsense.

The latest from Brown University is a workshop on "The Ultimate Guide to Prostate Pleasure." The Yale University "sex week," now over a decade old, was shut down briefly when its close ties to the porn industry were exposed, but was given the green light again by Yale College Dean Marilyn Miller after reviewing  a revised proposal, "It's an ambitious proposal, with attention to consent in the present and historical and social contexts overall." Ah, sweet reason reigns once again at Yale University!

Faithful Catholics knew from the moment Francis walked out on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, it was the beginning of his cross. The silent prayer he asked for, and during which he bowed, I believe was prayer that he could bear that cross with joy and fortitude, and that his ability to bear it would be provided by the prayers of his people. 

Catholics know, and they will pray, regardless of who says what about our new pope.
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Deal W. Hudson, Ph.D, is president of the Pennsylvania Catholics Network and former publisher and editor of Crisis Magazine. He is a contributing writer for Catholic Online.

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