Sigh. Pope Leo’s first sermon…

[CurlewKate]

“"A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society,"

I don’t know why I expected anything different. Maybe because he likes Wordle?

😂

Popes gonna Pope! 😎

I think he may be right.

I don't think his message is too strong or devisive. Being kind, selfless, charitable, forgiving and gracious are the key principles of how we should all conduct ourselves, and being nice and morally upright are not virtues assigned to only one group of people.

However, Christianity, at its very heart has one real message: you are a sinner and you can't get to heaven, no matter how hard you try or what good deeds you do. Nobody is good enough to get to Heaven. However, Jesus died a barbaric death in your place and if you repent and put your trust in Him, your sins will be forgiven and you can enter Heaven when you die. This is the Gospel message and is what Christianity is about. It's not about being a moral or good person, although those aspects should be part of a transformed heart having been forgiven by Christ. The Pope's message could have been 'we are all sinners, including you. Repent and turn to Jesus!'

But he didn't mention Jesus, the central figure of Catholicism. He didn't even mention God (in the excerpt shared by the OP) and 'God' can be as general as you like. I think it was a loosely phrased, generic comment that you would expect from anyone who had some kind of religious or spiritual fancies. It couldn't have been any more vague without turning into a random motivational speech.

But @Dopeyandgrumpy if you aren't a believer, why would you care?

It's like I don't give a shiny shite if Donald Trump (or someone equally as right wing) thinks I'm a sinner - or evil - for thinking abortion isn't a sin, or if he thinks I'm a wet lettuce or 'soft' or a 'snowflake' because I really like Obama, and think women should have safe private spaces away from men etc, because I don't think like him, I don't share his beliefs, and I don't care what he thinks of me.

If someone is very secure in their atheist beliefs, they wouldn't give the slightest shit about the Pope's words. My DH is atheist and he didn't bat an eyelid at the Pope's speech when I had it on earlier. He has his beliefs, and is very secure in them, and the biggest amount of ranting and preaching from anyone 'religious' wouldn't even touch the sides.

He would just shrug his shoulders and wonder why they were preaching to someone who is atheist. And he certainly wouldn't care if anyone judged him or said anything negative about him being atheist. He literally doesn't care what anyone thinks about it, and would be baffled if anyone thought he should be bothered.

As I - and some others have said - if someone is secure in their atheist beliefs, they wouldn't care about what the Pope said in his sermon.

.

That's batshit.

Seventh Day Adventists, Calvinists, Evangelical protestants (including born again). The protestant bible belt of america, rampant in bigotry and persecution.

The most prominent cited example of non islamic religious extremism is the Puritans, a protestant cult. They inflicted a religious and intellectual strait jacket on society, banned Christmas, banned theatre, banned couples holding hands, banned football on a Sunday, and punished anyone who held views than didn't correlate to their bleak and narrow worldview. The English to their credit had the good sense to declare Puitan laws null and void following their reign of terror.

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20141219-when-christmas-carols-were-banned

HL Mencken;

"The Puritan's utter lack of aesthetic sense, his distrust of all romantic emotion, his unmatchable intolerance of opposition, his unbreakable belief in his own bleak and narrow views, his savage cruelty of attack, his lust for relentless and barbarous persecution – these things have put an almost unbearable burden up on the exchange of ideas in the united states."

Personally, I think the problem is too much faith and not enough reason. Having ‘faith’ means believing something because you wish it was true, even though deep down you know it’s not. The world would be a far happier and more civilised place if we replaced bronze age religions with science, reason and humanism.

It’s frightening to think how much influence this man will have. What is he going to say about abortion, for example? Is he going to oppose birth control in the developing world? Africa’s birth rate is so high the African population is going to double, just as climate change is causing chaos. It’s ridiculous that this man could influence the future of the world. Above all, it’s obscene how much influence he will have over the lives of women, especially poor women.

Yeah I really didn’t expect the pope to be all “atheists are cool” somehow. I just didn’t.
I think he prefers Catholicism and faith at the end of the day. Which is quite reasonable, when you consider that he’s the pope.

What do you want him to do op, read out the football scores?

😆

Well, exactly!

Having gone through my initial spasms of outrage at this thread, I'm now settling into enjoying the juxtaposition of Wordle with his sermon on faith.

"I'd hoped that, finally, a conclave would elect our first agnostic Pope, a Pope for all faiths and none, the kind of Pope you could play a nice game of Wordle with over a cup of tea - but no, out he comes with all this weirdo religious chat... Why can't he just stick to the crossword?!"

Has he not noticed those who have faith, a zealous faith, who are busy with “the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity”?

And the many people of no faith who dedicate their lives to others, to peacekeeping, to causes that benefit us all?

Yes, he is the Pope and it is his job to promote and nurture faith but it is simply not true that faith is a guarantee of healthy behaviour and a happy society. It never has been.

This. Its all twaddle but, if you're Pope, you generally have to believe and promote that twaddle.

@GasperyJacquesRoberts https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_health_care
I didn’t pick the 20th century because there were others which didn’t fit my point, but because it saw mass murder on an unprecedented scale.

I think she’s a bit cross but the Pope is suggesting if you don’t believe in religion/faith you’re a wrong un.

No he's not

I'm not surprised he said it (clue being POPE), but lack of faith, just means lack of faith.

other people should have more respect, than to say such stupid things, especially if they don't want to be mocked for their faith.

I am atheist and j pay zero attention to what the Pope says. I am also ok with there being no meaning to life and then I die. I am happy if there is something good on TV!

Oh come on now, even George Michael said you gotta have faith.

He’s just another Marxist Pope.

“Prevost is known for his commitment to the poor and migrants, and for his balanced approach on social issues, which aligns with Pope Francis' vision. He has been described as a centrist and a progressive on many social issues, although he has faced some controversy regarding his handling of clergy sexual abuse cases during his time as provincial of the Augustinian Province of Chicago.”

That’s Wikipedia, by the way. Not the greatest source, but still worrying. If Wikipedia says ‘balanced’ it means ‘imbalanced to the point of being batshit crazy’.

I read that 108 out of 133 Cardinals at the Conclave were selected by Francis. He loaded the top tier with his followers, ensuring that all were ideologically committed to the revolution. Just basic Marxist strategy that they have deployed from Lenin to Obama and will deploy in any institution they seize.

There can be no counter revolution. The first thing they always do is try to ensure that it’s impossible to reverse their period in control. Francis looks like he did a good job of that.

So Francis 2.0 and one of the institutions that should be most strongly on the side of tradition and sanity still on the side of the whole globalist progressive shitshow……

Why would you care what he or other religious people or leaders think if you are an atheist?

Popes gonna Pope

Well, of course a religious person is going to think all that! A none religious person knows what he’s said is bollocks. If they want to think their ‘morals’ are superior then live and let live! I’ll continue to think it’s all a load of shite that warrants nothing more than a passing ‘rightio’.

Victims' groups are already alleging that he ignored sexual abuse, so am not unduly fussed what he says. Religion is by men, for men, of men.
edition.cnn.com/2025/05/09/world/sexual-abuse-mishandling-allegations-pope-leo-xiv

I’m not catholic, and I’m kinda agreeing with his statement

Faith in humanity, faith in the basic decency of people, faith in society.. faith isn’t exclusive to religion.