As for the whole Kischner relationship, I’m from the States and I’ve seen some truly odious high ranking Catholic officials get comfy “time outs” for their behavior. (See Cardinal Law). I’d assume that late JP II and Benedict would have probably given Bergolio a cushy Rome job rather than risk opening wounds in Argentina. I agree with you that there is nothing there but there isn’t anything to suggest that Kischner wouldn’t make something up. I’m assuming that lots of the charges are trumped up in these instances. But she couldn’t touch him because he was both popular and innocent.

First, Just based on some of the reporting that came out of Argentina, it strikes me that Bergolio was way too personally popular for Kirchner to get rid of even if she really wanted to. I’m an American, not an Argentine, so I don’t know if that is the case after seeing a few CNN video tours through the Buenos Aires slums. However, it does seem sort of politically difficult for a false champion of the poor to try to summarily arrest and try the humble religious man who spent his time building drug rehab centers and celebrating Mass in the slums. I’m sure that gets into Kirchner’s craw that she couldn’t touch him.

Second, there is the whole idea of a guile hero rather than the martyr. At least that is what the Pope’s supporters are saying. Oscar Romero might have been a greater force for good in El Salvador if he wasn’t assasinated.

Illinidiva on March 18, 2013 at 4:11 PM

I am not sure what you are trying to say with the second paragraph in this case. But in regards to the first point Kirschner has found multiple ways to eliminate opponents regardless of their popularity. From character assassination, political and economic pressure,to simply buying the opposition or the public opinion. She is rarely doing the dirty work directly herself, so it wouldn’t have affected her. If there had been any dirt they could find on Bergoglio it would have been exploited a long while ago.

ptcamn on March 18, 2013 at 3:41 PM

First, Just based on some of the reporting that came out of Argentina, it strikes me that Bergolio was way too personally popular for Kirchner to get rid of even if she really wanted to. I’m an American, not an Argentine, so I don’t know if that is the case after seeing a few CNN video tours through the Buenos Aires slums. However, it does seem sort of politically difficult for a false champion of the poor to try to summarily arrest and try the humble religious man who spent his time building drug rehab centers and celebrating Mass in the slums. I’m sure that gets into Kirchner’s craw that she couldn’t touch him.

Second, there is the whole idea of a guile hero rather than the martyr. At least that is what the Pope’s supporters are saying. Oscar Romero might have been a greater force for good in El Salvador if he wasn’t assasinated.

The Dbags are working overtime attempting to connect him to the deposed Argentinian junta.

Blake on March 18, 2013 at 1:01 PM

You’ve got to admit it is curious that the head Jesuit in Argentina, a man nearly 40 years old at the time, stood on the sidelines as nearly 30,000 of his fellow countrymen went missing. Now I’m not saying he should have martyred himself by speaking out and becoming one of the missing but apparently he did little by some reports as all of this was going on even though he was in a position better than most to have done something.

Happy Nomad on March 18, 2013 at 1:46 PM

As an Argentinean I can talk about that. The current president, Cristina Kischner, belonged to one of the left terrorist organizations acting in the country during the dictatorship years, along with her husband, the previous president. When they got into power they began prosecuting everyone who remotely had any relation to the government of the 70′s/ early 80′s, even though we were about 30 years detached from that episode and everyone had been amnestied by previous democratic presidents. The actions of the current president (and her late husband) were completely out of spite, not because of any noble or reasoned reason but simply because she had the power to stick it to those she had not been able to defeat back in the 70′s. With the justice system stacked in her favor (on top of the rampart corruption in the country) they use whatever piece of dirt against anyone just to get convictions.

If Jorge Bergoglio (Pope Francis) had have any participation on anything related to the government of the 70′s, as some initially claimed, the current Argentinean administration would have exploited that years ago when they went in the vengeful tirade against those related to the dictatorship of the time. This would have been even more the case since Jorge Bergoglio has been a staunch opponent of the president’s policies for years, and Cristina is known for shutting up her opponents in any way she can. Yet nothing came out it. Pope Francis had no relation to the government of the time.

Some have moved now to accuse him of “not doing enough” at the time, which in itself is a completely arbitrary measure of the man. What you may consider “enough” may not be what someone else considers enough. That is, while you may think that “enough” involves picking up a weapon and fighting back, others may consider a political approach to be just as effective. In Argentina, by all accounts from people who knew Bergoglio he did plenty to help those who were having trouble, and he did as much as he could have done to get the two Jesuits that were arrested released, even though in the structure of the Argentinean church he was a low ranking servant of God.

What all these accusations come down to is grasping at straws trying to find something to tarnish the new Pope with. It is using the fact that there is a lot of misunderstanding and misconceptions about what happened during the so called “dirty war” in Argentina that the left (those who did innocent killings) have been using for decades to get public opinion on their side.

They are not. She is, to divert from all the political woes she’s in.

You’re right an all her corruption.

Schadenfreude on March 18, 2013 at 3:15 PM

Yeah.. I know it is a look at the shiny thing-y over here ploy to keep people distracted from the hyper-inflation like what the Argentine dictatorship did in the 1980s. However, I was wondering if it was something more than just hyper-nationalism and South American anti-colonialism. It does seem kind of silly from an outsider’s perspective to be fighting over this.

Also, could someone please tell me why the hell Argentines are so obsessed with the Falklands? They’re sparsely populated islands with no natural resources.

Illinidiva on March 18, 2013 at 2:27 PM

They are not. She is, to divert from all the political woes she’s in.

You’re right an all her corruption.

There may be as much as 60 billion barrels of oil in the area around the Falklands.

THE POWER OF FRACKING!

Another Drew on March 18, 2013 at 3:04 PM

I don’t think a lot of fracking will be going on in the South Atlantic. But it is good to know that there is a material motivator behind the whole situation. Until that it seemed silly.

THE POWER OF FRACKING!

There may be as much as 60 billion barrels of oil in the area around the Falklands.

trigon on March 18, 2013 at 2:38 PM

Ahh.. Greed. Didn’t know that.

Also, could someone please tell me why the hell Argentines are so obsessed with the Falklands? They’re sparsely populated islands with no natural resources.

Illinidiva on March 18, 2013 at 2:27 PM

There may be as much as 60 billion barrels of oil in the area around the Falklands.

In anticipation of having to deal with “the stupid” runnings rampant in The Curia, Pope Francis does not wish to risk losing any additional brain cells that a meeting with Sloe-Joe would entail.

Another Drew on March 18, 2013 at 1:52 PM

Hee.. I think that it is less stupid and more outright greed and corruption.

As a sidenote, I’m sort of confused as to why Bergolio wasn’t elected in 2005. Benedict XVI was a brilliant theologian and I like the fact that he actually quit, but it just seemed like things got really out of hand while he was in charge. The only thing that I can think of is that the Cardinals were well aware that Bergolio wouldn’t let them keep their privleges and perks.

“MOSCOW, March 16 (RIA Novosti) – A Constantinople patriarch will attend pope’s inaugural mass for the first time since the Great Schism between the Western and Eastern churches, Vatican Radio said.

The start of the schism dates back to 1054.

The presence of Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, who is regarded as the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, at Pope Francis’ official Inaugural Mass at St. Peter’s Square on March 19, is widely regarded as a sign of further improvement in relations between the two churches.

Bartholomew I earlier welcomed the election of Pope Francis with a warm message of congratulations.

“I want to express the hope and the certainty that the Holy Father will contribute to the peace of an already battered humanity, the poor and the suffering,” he said.

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, who shared friendly relationships with John Paul II and Benedict XVI, said that newly-elected Pope Francis “will give a new impetus to the two Churches’ journey towards unity.”

http://en.ria.ru/world/20130316/180051934.html

His next task is to please this Cow of Argentina.

The peopole of the Falklands voted 99% to remain with Britain.

May all the socialists be destroyed.

Schadenfreude on March 18, 2013 at 1:12 PM

Papa Francisco and Kirchner apparently do not like each other. And it isn’t just because of social issues as the media seems to be reporting. He thinks that the Kirchners are corrupt politicians who are pretending to help the poor while lining their pockets. (Which they are.) And if you’ve seen any of the various packages of reports of U.S. journalists riding through the Buenos Aires slums, you’ll know that he is pretty beloved in Argentina.

I read something in the Wall Street Journal that suggests that Kirchner and her allies are probably behind the Argentina Dirty Wars smears that the left is trying to push. The leftists in South America don’t need a charismatic Pope chastizing them ala JP II especially since Chavez has kicked it. Apparently, everyone was making nice today because a detente is in their best interests but don’t expect that to continue.

Also, could someone please tell me why the hell Argentines are so obsessed with the Falklands? They’re sparsely populated islands with no natural resources.

Wuerl said, cardinals have talked about providing the pontiff with more perspective from local churches around the world through papal meetings with leaders of bishops’ conferences.

This approach might cause far more problems in view of the behavior of our own USCCB over the past years.

It would do the pope well to remember that his predecessor, as Cardinal Ratzinger, made a point of reigning in the various national councils by publicly stating that they had no hierarchical authority.

The USA s/b ashamed for sending Biden/Pelosi to represent the Catholics of the land. They s/b shunned.

Schadenfreude on March 18, 2013 at 1:18 PM

Boehner declined because of the work that was budget/economic work going on in Congress this week. I wonder why Pelosi wasn’t similarly concerned.

In anticipation of having to deal with “the stupid” runnings rampant in The Curia, Pope Francis does not wish to risk losing any additional brain cells that a meeting with Sloe-Joe would entail.

The USA s/b ashamed for sending Biden/Pelosi to represent the Catholics of the land. They s/b shunned.

Schadenfreude on March 18, 2013 at 1:18 PM

It’s quite shameful, I agree.

I also wonder, even aside from their phony-Catholic nonsense, how anyone considers those two with their *mental issues* to be representatives in other nations of the US. It’s not only embarrassing, it’s like sending the worst possible duo to represent us.

How ya doin’, Mr. Pope! Say, that Sixteen Chapel is really somethin’!

- Stupid Joe

OhEssYouCowboys on March 18, 2013 at 1:36 PM

“Hey, Sir Francis, you know abortion really helps the poor!”

- Sinful, Stupid Joe

Joe Biden has landed in Rome and met with the American ambassador to Italy, David Thorne, according to the pool report from Yahoo! reporter Olivier Knox. There will be no meeting between Biden and Pope Francis,

The Pope isn’t a fool.

Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, Biden, others like them, they assume, PRESUME, that just because they attend a Catholic parish here in the US while supporting, advocating for, even funding, abortion and so much more that is contrary to Catholicism, that they’ll be met by the Pope while they visit Rome with their *stellar Leftwing reputations*…

The Dbags are working overtime attempting to connect him to the deposed Argentinian junta.

Blake on March 18, 2013 at 1:01 PM

You’ve got to admit it is curious that the head Jesuit in Argentina, a man nearly 40 years old at the time, stood on the sidelines as nearly 30,000 of his fellow countrymen went missing. Now I’m not saying he should have martyred himself by speaking out and becoming one of the missing but apparently he did little by some reports as all of this was going on even though he was in a position better than most to have done something.

- Stupid Joe

Despite near zero temperatures and flurries of snow and rain, the turnout was 92% from an electorate of 1,650. All but three people voted yes to the question posed on the ballots: “Do you wish the Falkland Islands to retain their current political status as an overseas territory of the United Kingdom?”

The Cow of Argentina and the new Pope will undermine the people?