Pope Francis: Base, Not Based

Dirty Leftist. The First Western and Southern Pope. The First Latin American Pope. The First Jesuit Pope. The First Pope to take the Patron Saint Francis of Assisi as a namesake. A champion for the environment. A pro-LGBT progressive. A committed Marxist. A bishop with a heart. He elicited praise from staunch conservatives, yet he attacked the traditions of the Catholic Church,

The Worst Pope yet. The Most Based Pope ever. So, who was Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Italian immigrants?

It’s not controversial to point out that he was controversial. The controversy itself is the problem, not because he took bold stances on issues, but because he took differing stances, issuing conflicting statements. He was trying to be hip, the first social media pope. But the genius, or the long-standing honor of the Catholic Church, and the Christian Faith generally, is that we stick to the truth of God’s Word, extoling the timeless and timely revelation of Christ and Him Crucified.

Yes, I have heard the comments from ardent conservative Catholics who praise “The Most Based Pope Ever.” I would not question their conservative credentials, but I do question their blind affirmation of the head Catholic just because he was the head.

Yes, Pope Francis stuck to basic church doctrine on some issues. With one word—“No”—he made it clear to Maureen O’Donnell that there would never be women deacons or priests. He also denounced transgenderism and railed against abortion.

And yet, someone, please, explain to me:

What is “based” about denouncing countries and their leaders who wish to stymie mass immigration and stop illegal invasions of their homeland? This was rank hypocrisy from a prince of the church, living within his sovereign state with a strict policy regarding who may or may not receive a Vatican City passport, with thick walls all around.

What is based about inviting confused men who think they are women, and connecting with them precisely based on their confusion, to a sacred church event in the Vatican? Love the sinner, certainly, and hate the sin, but you are not loving the sinner when you define the sinner only by his sin.

What is based about saying “Who am I to judge?” when it comes to acceptance of homosexuality (or homosexual priests) in the church? Since when did church doctrine mean twisting standards to be more inclusive? What has drawn millions—if not billions—to church is not the reduction of standards, but the restitution of them. Young millennials, Gen Z, and now Gen Alpha are craving order, meaning, a sense of purpose and pursuit. All of that was swept away with “Who am I to judge?” – which is a vapid judgment in itself.

In another self-induced clash on LGBT issues, Pope Francis protested that he was not calling for the blessing of the same-sex unions themselves, but for the people in the unions. One could then ask: “Why identify that specific group in the first place? Why spotlight a set of behaviors that conflict with church doctrine and Biblical truth?”

What is “based” about a pontiff pontificating about climate change, as though he never read—or believed—what the Bible says about weather? Genesis 8:22 solidifies that there will be cold and heat, no matter what: “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

What is based about curtailing the practice of the Traditional Latin Mass, other than to assert a political agenda and silence those who crave the restoration of tradition? While claiming that the Latin Mass was dividing the church, Francis’ arrogant attempts to stifle its celebration fostered division.

What is based about sympathizing with left-wing, Marxist-leaning communist movements and kowtowing to Communist China in order to install one’s selection of bishops?

What is based about excommunicating a traditionalist bishop who properly criticized the pope’s increased deviation from sound, accepted, and traditional catholic doctrine? What is based about silencing bold preachers of the faith like Bishop Joseph Strickland, who wisely stated that the Francis papacy was marked by “ambiguity and confusion.” If “based” means speaking your mind no matter what someone else thinks, then Francis was not based at all.

Consider this report from the New York Post:

During his tenure as pontiff, Francis expressed support for abolishing the death penalty, and at times spoke out against capitalism, even criticizing “trickle-down” economics.

While it remains current Catholic doctrine to oppose the death penalty, the Bible teaches that the death penalty has its place. And what is “based” about denouncing free enterprise? Rather, it is base and immoral to denounce free markets, or worse yet, to blame capitalism for the gross inequalities which one perceives to exist.

As the Vicar of Christ, Francis was supposed to be based in Christ, lifting high the Cross. Instead, his unsteady controversies, his raw insistence on speaking his pleasure created more problems. The pope is not just a head of state. He is a representative of the faith. It’s not about him, and yet Francis made the Papacy all about Francis.

That is base, not based. Even Christ Jesus Himself never glorified Himself, but drew His glory from the Father. With all due respect to the conservative apologists, Pope Francis was not “based.”

Francis embased (mind the archaism) the Latin Mass. He abased conservative Catholics. He debased clear church doctrine and leadership. He debased the supernatural authority of the church by trying to fit with the times. He rebased a struggling church by tinkering with temporal means for eternal ends, and achieved neither. His tenure was not based on Scripture, but based in a growing secularization to appeal to the collective masses, a measure which will always fail.

The Catholic faithful respected the Papacy, but the latest pope holding that office did not respect the church. A woke Pope asleep to the needs of the faithful, Pope Francis was not the base that the church needed for much-needed revival.

Arthur Christopher Schaper is a teacher-turned-writer on topics both timeless and timely; political, cultural, and eternal. A life-long Southern California resident, Arthur currently lives in Torrance.

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