Is Pope Francis the first "Woke" pope?

[lees1975]

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2025/04/is-pope-francis-first-woke-pope.html

He was an advocate for migrants, interfaith dialogue as a way to prevent conflict, nuclear disarmament and an end to the death penalty, and the dignity of workers. Pope Francis collected both friends and foes in his attempt to turn the 1.3 billion strong Catholic Church into a "field hospital" with its doors open to all and with a special love for those on the margins.

The Catholic Courier, April 21, 2025

If there's anything that actually indicated this Pope was on the right track when it came to reforming the Catholic Church, aiming to return it to its biblical roots, it was the opposition he received from the more conservative elements within the church, especially in the United States. A quote from an article in America Magazine, a Jesuit publication, says, "What really bothers the detractors of Pope Francis is that his theology stems from reality: from the reality of injustice, poverty and the destruction of nature, and from the reality of ecclesial clericalism."

In other words, because he was from South America, his ministry faced a different world than that of most previous popes, one where the academic side of church theology found itself much less relevant in the face of the kind of ministry necessary to bring spiritual comfort along with meeting the physical needs of an overwhelming amount of political oppression, instability and injustice, and a high level of poverty. He was, according to his critics, not authoritarian enough when it came to pronouncements of sin, too merciful when it came to controversial issues like homosexuality, too lenient on dogma and too critical of conservative politicians supporting the church's political influence in those parts of the world where it is still exercising its Christian nationalist power.

In other words, he was too connected to an emphasis on practice of the core principles of the gospel of Jesus, and on building a ministry foundation based on that, and that made him seem like a left-wing crusader bent on undermining the church's political influence.

In other words, Pope Francis was, in whatever way being Pope allowed him to be, "woke."