A pope of the past?

From actions like sneaking out of the Vatican to feed the poor, to his announcement that the Church has been too focused on abortion and homosexuality, Pope Francis is the Pope of the modern millennium.

In fact, Pope Francis is so popular TIME magazine named him Person of the Year. This choice, I feel, was misguided.

The honor of Person of the Year should go to someone who has enacted actual social or economic change.

In 2008, Barack Obama was the Person of the Year for overcoming social barriers to become the first African-American president of the U.S.

In 2009 the Chairman of the Federal Reserve System was chosen for stopping a potential economic depression.

Mark Zuckerberg was named in 2010 for his revolutionary changes to the way people communicate and interact with one another.

Protesters were the title winners in 2011 for their numerous victories, from bringing attention to social injustice to tearing down tyrannical governments.

And lastly in 2012 President Obama was again chosen for his legacy of change through the passing of the Affordable Care Act.

However, it seems 2013 took a sharp turn from picking a worthy Victor of Change to picking an unworthy Vicar of Christ.

TIME magazine chose Pope Francis primarily for his promise to heal the church after years of scandals, promote social change within the church and bring the church into the next generation.

He seems promising on the surface.

After all, having a pope who doesn’t publicly condemn homosexuality and birth control on a daily basis is a far cry from what most of us are used to.
People may think the pope brought sweeping reforms to the Vatican, but they are wrong.

Let’s examine what Francis has done.

In September, he excommunicated a priest in Australia who supported gay marriage and the ordination of women, both of which are against church law.
The pope spoke out against same-sex adoption in Malta and elsewhere, but has remained silent on laws in Uganda, India and Russia that criminalize and persecute homosexuality. 

While Pope Francis may not be as polarizing a figure as Pope Benedict XVI, his comments have not changed church doctrine.

The church still maintains homosexuality is a sin, abortion is murder and the Catholic faith is the only way to eternal salvation.

Compare Francis to  Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl who the Taliban shot in the head for trying to go to school. She has grown as a women’s rights activist and worked to give women across the world a voice.

Yousafzai, standing on the front-lines of a war that has been fought for centuries, is far more deserving of Person of the Year.

Far more deserving than a pope who gives public speeches and later scurries to contradict them just as quickly.

­— ajguenth@indiana.edu

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