Back in November of 2023, Pope Francis provided a preview of where he would eventually arrive:  

Pope Francis has called for a “paradigm shift” in Catholic theology that takes widespread engagement with contemporary science, culture, and people’s lived experience as an essential starting point. [skip]

Pope Francis wrote that Catholic theology must experience a “courageous cultural revolution” in order to become a “fundamentally contextual theology.” Guided by Christ’s incarnation into time and space, this approach to theology must be capable of reading and interpreting “the Gospel in the conditions in which men and women live daily, in different geographical, social, and cultural environments,” the pope wrote.

Ah. So apparently the Gospels on which the fundamental beliefs of Christianity are based can only be understood in light of ever-changing “cultural environments.” God’s word is not unchanging and eternal but subject to change based on the ever-evolving cultural whims of His creation. I somehow missed that one in my many visits to the Bible.

Note also the contemporarily woke reference to “people’s lived experience.” “Widespread engagement with contemporary science” is also a flashing, red warning. Still, none of that was a surprise by 2023. Francis became Pope in 2013 and his grounding in leftist belief and activism was no surprise then.

Since then, many Catholics who have traditionally looked to the Pope for spiritual leadership have remained faithful to the Church, but shifted their search to their parish priests. If the leader of any faith proclaims the Gospels to be not the inspired word of God, but mere suggestions to be interpreted by contemporary cultural contexts, from where comes that leader’s spiritual authority? Majority vote? Perhaps the Pope doesn’t recognize that if one’s “lived experience” defines their faith, the Pope might be experienced out of the Vatican.

Popes are expected to uphold the highest standards of morality, to pronounce on what is good and what is evil. Pope Francis seems to be defining those fundamental tenets based entirely on “geographical, social, and cultural environments:"

Graphic: X Screenshot

 Pope Francis called for a global ceasefire this weekend while again decrying Israel’s “cruelty” in dealing with Palestinians in Gaza.

“Let us pray for a ceasefire on all war fronts, in Ukraine, the Holy Land, in all the Middle East and the entire world, at Christmas,” the pontiff said in his weekly Angelus address Sunday. “And with sorrow I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty; of the children machine-gunned, the bombing of schools and hospitals… So much cruelty!”

The Pope is apparently thinking of some other conflict in the Holy Land:

The Jews are not committing genocide against Muslims in Gaza, whose population grew almost 3% last year. Muslims, however, are committing mass murder via jihad against Christians in Africa. Yet the Pope cowers from defending his own flock.

It’s incontrovertible that the Israelis go to lengths not required by the laws of war, and unprecedented in history to avoid harming innocents. They are certainly not machine-gunning children. Islamists, on the other hand, torture and murder their co-religionists and use them as human shields, siting their headquarters and weapons storage depots in hospitals and schools, many, if not most, run by the UN. The Pope is sufficiently sophisticated to understand this geographical, cultural reality.

The number of Christians intentionally murdered, let alone tortured, raped, kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam far exceeds the number of Gazans killed unintentionally as Israel directs its fire at terrorists who hide behind civilians. Indeed, Israel is defending its population from the very same jihadist assaults faced by African Christians.

One would think the Pope would be focusing his moral powers of persuasion on protecting the lives of Christians. One would apparently think wrongly.

"Nigeria is the most violent country in the world for Christians. Every two hours, a Christian is killed in Nigeria," according to Open Doors. Raids by jihadists are a common way to terrorize Christian communities in Nigeria. Christian women and girls are raped, forced into sexual slavery, kidnapped for ransom or murdered…The Pope has not called for an investigation of the jihadists and their sponsors.

The Pope does not lead the only denomination that has chosen to interpret the Gospels in favor of contemporary, leftist politics. Some of those denominations’ choices have rendered their theology largely indistinguishable from socialist/communist ideology and practice. Church leaders, like anyone else, have the freedom to speak on the moral issues of the day. Still, one should expect moral clarity and accuracy of the leader of any faith. More, they should expect fidelity to the scriptures, to the words of God, which unless they are unchanging, infallible and eternal, are not worthy guides for Christian living, but mere political rhetoric in the service of base, human desires.

By that standard, Christians are justified in wondering why the head of the Catholic Church might be providing political cover for Islamists who would delight in murdering him and every Christian. That’s a “fundamentally contextual theology” we can live without.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.