Holy smoke, the Pope’s gone woke… but that’s not what Christians want or need from a spiritual leader

Pope Francis is getting ever more political, with recent statements on same-sex relationships, social justice and BLM marches. Christians are entitled to be concerned about this constant pandering to the radical left.

I’m not a Catholic, but like every other Christian on Earth, I tend to keep an eye on what the Pope is doing. With so much of the world Catholic, people naturally pay attention to such a renowned spiritual leader. And ever since Pope Francis became the head of the Holy See, there has been a huge amount of frustration from Christians. After all, whether you’re Catholic or not, you have to acknowledge that many see him as the most well-known Christian on Earth.

Pope Francis is politically the most far-left leaning pope of my lifetime. He has shown sympathy for open borders, has been naively critical of capitalism, and seems to comment on political issues quite a bit more than past popes have. Recently, he has outwardly shared support for same-sex civil unions, and had a meeting about social justice with NBA players. On top of that, he has also praised Black Lives Matter marches and decried protests against Covid restrictions.

A simple question arises from all of this. Is the Pope trying to make Catholicism go woke? I wouldn’t assume to know more about theology or biblical study than Pope Francis. But what I will say is that this pandering behavior comes across like a mix of naivete and stupidity. At this point I’m waiting for the Pope to make the same speech that George Carlin’s character did at the beginning of the film ‘Dogma’.

Whether I agree with the policy prescriptions of Pope Francis is ultimately moot, because my criticism of him is purely spiritual. I think his desire for unity among his fellow man occasionally blinds him to the truth of scripture.

One of my favorite quotes from my favorite theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer is “politics are not the task of a Christian.” I understand this might seem hypocritical coming from the mouth of a man who tried to blow up Adolf Hitler, but I do think Bonhoeffer was on to something. I believe it comes from his understanding of “render unto Caesar” and Christ’s statements on and disinterest in government. This relates to the Pope, because I don’t think it’s his business to tell the governments of the world how to do their job. His job is to spread the gospel.

The reason I question whether he is trying to ‘go woke’ is because all of his recent actions come across like pandering to the radical left. And many on the radical left despise Christians and pay lip service to governments that have persecuted we believers in the past. There are elements of the scripture that discuss things such as same-sex relationships, sexual promiscuity and gender roles that fly in the face of progressivism. In a sense, the teachings of Jesus Christ are the anti-woke. 

As a believer in Jesus, I find myself shuddering anytime I hear Pope Francis make a public statement. Although I applaud his stance that abortion is unacceptable, his payment of lip service to radicals who have no respect

for believers is foolish. You can’t evangelize to people who close their ears to what we believe the truth is, and pandering to them will not open those ears. Rather, all the woke mob will do is lick their lips and prepare to chow down like the lions that the Romans fed us to hundreds of years ago.

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