Why even atheists should be praying for Pope Francis
by Jonathan Freedland, Guardian, (Fri 15th Nov 2013)

“As if this weren’t enough to have Francis’s 76-year-old face on the walls of the world’s student bedrooms, he also seems set to lead a church campaign on the environment. He was photographed this week with anti-fracking activists, while his biographer, Paul Vallely, has revealed that the pope has made contact with Leonardo Boff, an eco-theologian previously shunned by Rome and sentenced to “obsequious silence” by the office formerly known as the “Inquisition”. An encyclical on care for the planet is said to be on the way.”  (Visit article……)

Avoiding direct and noisy fights with Curia
by Eugene Cullen Kennedy,  NCR, (Tues 8^th Oct 2013)

“Francis side-stepped the Curia’s control from the moment he was elected and refused to wear the ornate armor-like vestments that curial assistants drape immediately on new popes like nets dropped on their quarry by hunters. Francis stepped forward in a white cassock and pewter cross not as a just-crowned king, but as a just-appointed pastor greeting his parishioners with a simple “Good evening” and a request for their prayers.”

“He has freed himself from the intermediaries who would, in a dozen ways each day, monitor his contact with others and his daily schedule of activities.”

“He (even) gave a remarkable definition to the Curia, referring to them as the “quartermaster’s office” of the church, filling an essential function, overseeing logistics and providing workaday supplies but far from being the general staff in charge of the entire Catholic church.”  (Visit article ……)