Thoughts on Pope Francis

Dear Friends,

HABEMUS PAPAM FRANCISCUM!

 We have a new pope!

I must say, I have a really good feeling about Pope Francis. I've been reading up on this man and I'm definitely excited to see the changes he'll bring to the Catholic church. Now, in this day and age, an event of this caliber and a man of such great importance will not be without negativity and slander from the media and the internet. One of the biggest pieces the media is working with is Bergoglio's role in the "dirty war" from betraying priests to stealing babies. I'm in no way denying that Pope Francis have never done such terrible deeds, but at the same time why do we, as a society, love digging skeletons out of people's closets and make judgment on their character for something that happened decades ago?

 If you were placed in a difficult situation in the middle of the war, and you either die or you betray your friend what would you do? Of course, of course you would say that you would rather die than to betray your friend, and to live in guilt... right? Right now, I say, I would NEVER betray a friend in a situation like that... but my background in psychology also tells me that this is a common response, but when shit hits the fan (pardon my language) you and I are going to break and we'll betray each other for our own survival. Simple, it's human instinct. Recall the protagonist, Winston Smith, from "1984": not going to betray his lover, not going to... but once they stick him in Room 101 and rats are coming at his face... he breaks, "DO IT TO JULIA!" he screams.. and 2+2=5. Is this the right, moral thing to do? Probably not. We keep forgetting that we're all ONLY human. You and I are only human. The priests are only human. The pope is only human. The saints are only human. Our flesh is weak and worldly. So shit, we all sin, we all make mistakes, some more detrimental than others.

 I'm sure we've all heard the quote "The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall" or the less fancy version, "It's not about how you fall, it's how you get back up." I see shit tons of people pinning this quote on Pinterest to remind themselves that it's their perseverance and not their failures that matter and I think it's true. I try to remind myself of that every time I fuck up. Here's the thing, this quote, it's not just something we should use to defend our own self-perception and to make ourselves feel better about our own fuckups, it's something to keep in mind when we look at other people's fuckups as well. So come on people, give Pope Francis some credit. If this was something he did then yes, the Holy Father fucked up, but shit, the guy got back up and he made something of it (probably learned a shit ton that led him to being the humble pope we have today). If more people I knew got back up after they fucked up, learned something out of it, and never made the same mistake again... why, we'd be springing forward as a society like no tomorrow.

Love,
Keyne

PS. The above are all just personal opinions made without any accusatory or offensive intentions.
PPS. Sorry for all the swearing.