The Darrell McClain show
Independent media that won't reinforce tribalism. We have one Planet; nobody's leaving so let’s reason together!! Darrell, McClain is a Military veteran with an abnormal interest in politics, economics, religion, philosophy, science, and literature. He was born and raised in Jacksonville FL, and went to Edward H white High School where he wrestled Under Coach Jermy Smith and The Late Brian Gilbert. He was a team wrestling captain, District champion, and an NHSCA All-American in freestyle Wrestling. He received a wrestling scholarship from Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa. After a short period, he decided he no longer wanted to cut weight which effectively ended his college wrestling journey. Darrell Mcclain is an Ordained Pastor under The Universal Life Church and is still in good standing, he's a Believer in The Doctrines of Grace Also Known as Calvinism. He joined the United States Navy in 2008 and was A Master At Arms (military police officer) He was awarded several awards while on active duty including an expeditionary combat medal, a Global War on Terror medal, a National Defense Medal, a Korean defense medal, and multiple Navy achievement medals. While In the Navy he was also the assistant wrestling coach at Robert E Lee High School. He's a Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under six six-degree black belt Gustavo Machado, Darrell Trains At Gustavo Machado Norfolk under the 3rd-degree black belt, and Former Marine Professor Mark Sausser. He went to school for psychology at American Military University and for criminal justice at ECPI University.
The Darrell McClain show
Remembering Pope Francis: Compassion, Controversy, and the Future of the Catholic Church
Pope Francis, the compassionate, controversial, and deeply consequential leader who reshaped the Catholic Church through humble leadership and unwavering advocacy for the marginalized, has died at 88 from heart failure. His passing marks the end of a remarkable 12-year papacy that challenged the world's conscience on issues ranging from poverty and inequality to climate change and refugee rights.
From the moment he stepped onto the Vatican balcony in 2013 as the first Jesuit pope, the first from Latin America, and the first non-European pontiff in nearly 600 years, Francis signaled a different kind of leadership. He chose to live in the Vatican guesthouse rather than the opulent papal apartments, rode buses instead of luxury vehicles, and maintained the simple lifestyle that defined his years as Cardinal in Buenos Aires. "I want a poor church for the poor," he declared, a vision that would guide his pontificate through controversies, reforms, and global crises.
The "People's Pope" possessed an extraordinary ability to speak to ordinary people while challenging powerful institutions. His famous "Who am I to judge?" response regarding LGBTQ Catholics represented a pastoral shift without changing church doctrine. His environmental encyclical positioned the Catholic Church as a leading voice for ecological justice. And his consistent advocacy for refugees, even bringing Syrian families to live at the Vatican, demonstrated his commitment to seeing Christ in society's most vulnerable members. Though conservative Catholics often criticized him for prioritizing pastoral outreach over doctrinal clarity, and progressives wished for more structural reforms, Francis maintained extraordinary popularity through his authentic communication style and moral clarity.
As Cardinals prepare to elect his successor, Francis's request for a simple burial—breaking with Vatican tradition by choosing St. Mary Magna Moura Church over St. Peter's Basilica—reflects the humility that defined his life and leadership. World leaders from across political divides, from King Charles to former Presidents Trump, Obama, and Biden, have acknowledged his consequential impact. Perhaps his greatest legacy lies in his reminder that true leadership comes not through power and privilege but through humble service to others. In a divided world desperately seeking moral clarity, Pope Francis showed that an ordinary person could fulfill an extraordinary calling by consistently choosing compassion over judgment, simplicity over excess, and bridge-building over division.
In depth analysis of what’s happening in Israel—and why it matters everywhere.
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Welcome to the Derral McLean Show. I'm your host, derral McLean, and let's get into our episode. So today is a special day it's actually my birthday, but it's also a day that Pope Francis has passed away. Pope Francis died from a stroke followed by a heart failure, according to the Vatican. So the Vatican released a statement saying that he had a heart failure and revealing that the pontiff also requested to be buried in a simple unadorned tomb. The 88-year-old Pope recovered from some illnesses earlier but was kind of in and out of the hospital. He was revered by billions of Catholics around the world. He died at 7.35 am in his apartment at Casa St Marta. His death was confirmed through a ECG test. The Vatican said Francis, who's twice almost died when the hospital with severe pneumonia in February, february also suffered from multiple bronchitis and arterial hypertension and type 2 diabetes. The Pope confirmed in his will that he wished to be buried at St Mary Magna Moura Church in Rome's neighborhood. Breaking with long-standing Vatican tradition, he would pray at the Basilica before and after trips overseas and he last visited on the 12th of April. The test of his will specified that Francis wanted to be buried in the ground without a particular decoration, but with the encryption of his papal name, in Latin Franciscus.
Speaker 1:Popes are usually buried with much fanfare in the beneath St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. But Francis, loved by many Catholics for his humility, simplified rights for a papal's funeral. For a papal's funeral last year. In the text of his will he published by the Vatican, the late Pope said the cost of preparing the burial will be covered by a sum provided by a benefactor, which I have arranged to be transferred to the papal basilica of St Mary Major. Given the necessary instructions regarding this to Cardinal Rollins-Mecrix, extraordinary commissioner of Liberian Basilica, his body was transferred into a coffin in the chapel of Casa St Marta on Monday night. The coffin will be taken to St Peter's Basilica on Wednesday morning to allow the public to pay their respects. Cardinals will meet on Tuesday morning to decide the date of the Pope's funeral, which must take place between the four and six days after the death. The funeral will be followed by nine days of official mourning.
Speaker 1:Thousands of pilgrims and tourists flocked to St Peter's Square where prayers for the Pope were held on Monday evening. Francis, who had a chronic lung disease part of one of his lungs had been removed as a young man and when he was admitted to Gemini Hospital in Rome on the 14th of February for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there the longest hospitalization of his 12 years in the papacy hospitalization of his 12 years in the papacy. He was discharged from the hospital on the 23rd and made his last public appearance on Sunday, where he did a tour of St Peter's Square in the Popemobile and gave a brief greeting from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica A mid-intense morning. Over the coming days and weeks, man over within the Vatican over who is to succeed Francis and become the 268th head of the Catholic Church, it is certain to begin. Cardinals from around the world will head to Rome for a conclave, the secret, complex election ritual held in the 16th chapel, involving about 138 cardinals who are eligible to vote. The conclave must begin its deliberations within 20 days of the Pope's death.
Speaker 1:Some of the potential contenders mounted before Francis' death were Matteo Zuppi, a progressive Italian, cardinal, pietor Perlin, who serves as the Vatican Secretary of State, and Cardinal Louis Antonio Tagli from the Philippines. King Charles said he and the Queen, who met the Pope in Rome last week, had a heavy heart at the news of his death, adding that Francis would be remembered for his compassion and timeless commitment. President Trump said he would attend Francis' funeral, posting on social media. Rest in peace, pope Francis. May God bless him and all who loved him. Former President Joe Biden says Francis will be remembered as one of the most consequential leaders of our time and Barack Obama said he was a rare leader who made us want to be better people. In Italy, giorgio Maloney, the prime minister, said I had the privilege of enjoying his friendship, his advice and his teachings, which never failed, even in the moments of trial and suffering. The prophet's death is likely to exasperate sharp divisions within the curia, with conservatives seeking to wrest control of the church away from reformers.
Speaker 1:During his 12 years as Pope, francis, I, the Jesuit Pope, was a vocal champion of the world's poor, dispossessed and disadvantaged, and a blunt critic of corporate greed and social and economic inequality. Within the Vatican, he criticized extravagance and privilege, calling on the church leaders to show humility. His views roused significant numbers of cardinals and powerful Vatican officials, who often sought to frustrate Francis's effort to overhaul the ancient institution of the church his effort to overhaul the ancient institution of the church, but his compassion and humility endured him to millions around the world. Francis was born, george Merrill Bergalonio, in Argentina in 1936, and he was elected pope in March of 2013.
Speaker 1:He immediately signaled his style of papacy by taking the bus, rather than the papal car, to his hotel, where he paid his bills, before moving into the Vatican guesthouse, eschewing the opulent papal apartments. At his first media appearance, he expressed his wish for a poor church and a church for the poor. He focused papal attention on poverty and inequality, calling unfettered capitalism the dung of evil, the dung of the devil. Two years into his papacy, he issued a 180-page encyclopedia on the environment, demanding that the world's richest nations pay their grave social debt to the poor. The climate crisis represented one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day, the Pope said he called for compassion and generosity towards refugees, saying that they should not be treated as pawns on a chessboard of humanity. After visiting the Greek islands of Lesbos, he offered 12 Syrian refugees at the Vatican. During his recent period in the hospital, he kept up his telephone calls to the Holy Family Church in Gaza, a nightly routine since the 9th of October 2023.
Speaker 1:One of the biggest issues on which Francis had to contend with was the clerical sexual abuse and the church's cover-up of crimes committed by priests and bishops In the first few years of the papacy. As a wave after wave of scandals engulfed the church, francis was accused by survivors and others of failing to understand the scale of the crisis and the urgent need to proactively root out abuse and its cover-up. In 2019, francis summoned bishops from around the world to Rome to discuss the crisis and later issued an edict requiring priests and nuns to report sexual abuse and its cover-ups to the church authorities and garnering protection for whistleblowers. It was a significant move toward the church taking responsibility for the scandals and went much further than his predecessors.
Speaker 1:Also, during his tenure as the head of the Catholic Church, francis was obliged to respond to repeated acts of terrorism and persecution. He was at pains to stress that violence had no part to play in the true practice of religion and that people should not conflate acts of terrorism with their religion or acts of terrorism with Islam. I think it is not right to identify Islam with violence, he said after the murder of a Catholic priest in France in 2016,. I think that in nearly all religions there is always a small fundamental group, he said, adding we Catholics. I have them. Francis spoke with compassion on issues of sexuality to sleep? Famously responding to who am I famously responding? Who am I to judge? To a question about a gay priest, the family and the role of women in society, while adhering to a traditional Catholic doctrine on marriage, contraception and abortion.
Speaker 1:Although many on the left strove to claim Francis as one of their own, he could not easily be defined as liberal or as conservative. On his many trips abroad, francis was greeted like a rock star, with hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, waiting for hours for a glimpse of him, white-robed figure, in an open-side Popemobile. His appeal was particularly strong among young people, whom he frequently urged to reject materialism and over-dependentness on technology. Happiness so um.
Speaker 1:I remember this Pope fondly because this was when he came to my attention. He was talking about the conflict during his time of Israel and Palestine. He actually had to speak about it in two different occasions. Had to speak about it in two different occasions, and that's kind of what I will remember him for Trying his best to change the conversation, trying his best to never forget the humanity of people, even while he was on such a high perch. I should say there were many, many good sayings in this Pope and you will probably be seeing a lot of them online. I remember one in particular as long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved, by rejecting the absolute anatomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world's problems or, for the matter, or, for that matter, any problems". End quote. The last one I'll say is is one quote where the Pope said a nation can be considered great when it defines liberty, as Lincoln did, when it fosters a culture which enables people to dream of full rights for all their brothers and sisters, as Martin Luther King sought to do, when it strives for justice and the cause of the oppressed, as Dorothy Day did by her tireless work. Pope Francis died on April 21st 2025. He was born in 1936.
Speaker 1:In politics, rep Barbara Lee, the Democrat from California, was projected to win the special election to become the next mayor of Oakland, according to Decision Desk HQ, in what became a closer-than-expected race. Amid growing voter dissatisfaction over the direction of the city. Lee won the nonpartisan ranked choice election over a field of more than half a dozen candidates, with the most prominent being a former city council member, lauren Taylor, who is a runner up to the now formal mayor Seedong Toy in the 2022 mayoral race and emerged as this election's dark horse contender race and emerged as this election's dark horse contender. So Taylor had the initial lead after the first batch of votes were tallied Tuesday night, with 48.2% of the vote, about 1,200 votes ahead of Lee, who had 45.7%. But after more than 40,000 additional mail-in ballots had to be counted were tallied and announced by Friday, lee went ahead of Taylor by about five points, or nearly 5,000 votes. That was just enough to win a majority in the initial round of voting to continue, before any additional rounds of tallying the ranked choice system needed to be counted.
Speaker 1:Oakland has been without a permanent mayor since November, when Taub was recalled from office in the first for the city with more than 60% of voters in favor of his ouster. She was elected narrowly in 2022 to become the first Hmong American to serve as mayor of a major American city. But tensions rose under her mayorship as she faced scrutiny over her handling of crime, law enforcement and her personal conduct. The crime rate spiked particularly high in Oakland during the COVID-19 pandemic and remained higher than most other cities in years in which many Americans had begun to resume normal activities. Homicides remained high, robberies and bulgaries experienced a sharp rise in 2023, the first of the years of Tao's administration. Crime appeared to be dropping in 2024, ahead of the election, but Tao also faced a blackjack over poor relationships with the police unions and missing a deadline to apply for a grant that would have given the city millions to address retail theft. A personal controversy also surrounded the mayor after the FBI conducted a raid on her home in June, not committing or not commenting at the time of what the purpose of the raid was. Months after leaving office, the mayor was then indicted in January on bribery, conspiracy, mail and wire fraud charges, accusing her of conspiring with others to get businesses from the city to two businesses in exchange for financial benefits. The mayor pled not guilty and denied any wrongdoings.
Speaker 1:Now, lee's victory was initially expected to be virtually insured for a longtime former House member who chose not to run for re-election last year for an unsuccessful bid for the Senate, which she lost in the primary. She had also had endorsements of several notable local and state political figures, including interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins, former California Governor Jerry Brown and former Mayor Libby Scaife, gene Kwan and Edlu Harris. Brown also previously served as a Oakland mayor, but the race became increasingly competitive as the election approached, with the polls commissioned by Taylor's campaign and groups supporting his campaign showing a tight race. Last month, taylor also touted endorsements from less high-profile but still influential figures, including San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former City Council President Pat Kerrigan. The race became a bit of a proxy battle of sorts within the Democratic Party, with Lee as a longtime progressive leader and the choice of many establishment leaders and Taylor running more of a moderate platform and positioning himself as an outsider who would bring change to the city. Lee's website states that her priorities as mayor will be public safety and a plan to ensure residents feel safe, providing unhoused people with housing and mental health and addiction services, and improving the city's ethics and regulations.
Speaker 1:Barbara Lee is an old school progressive, one of the first people who at one time was the only lone vote to say no to war. Lone vote to say no to war Would everybody, not only in the caucus, every other person in the Congress said yes. She was alone. No vote, and so we got to give people like her her flowers while they're around on the left side, just like I believe in giving people like Ron Paul for calling to attention some of the excesses of the military-industrial complex that had permeated the thinking of the Republican Party.
Speaker 1:I remember him, on stage, being the lone voice calling truth, speaking truth to power. And even though Barbara Lee wasn't on stage, she was in the halls of power when everybody was blinded by hatred and fear and wanting to retaliate for what had happened to us on 9-11. And Barbara Lee stood up and said no to the war. And she's not a young person, that's kind of how this works. She, in my estimation, probably would have been a decent senator a decent senator, you know, but I hope she does a good job as mayor. She's 78 years old and she won this election and we'll see if she can fix this city.
Speaker 2:John Roberts owns it all, from Citizens United to Trump's coup. John Roberts owns this nightmare. Without him and his co-conspirators against democracy on the Supreme Court, we never would have had a reality star neo-fascist ascend to the highest office in the land. And it's getting worse daily. On the morning of April 12, 2025, the North Carolina Supreme Court tried to quietly nullify the votes of over 5,000 Americans, many of them active duty, military and overseas citizens. Four Republican justices attempted to throw out these ballots after the election, claiming they lacked photo ID, even though the state's own voting portal didn't allow IDs to be uploaded. The goal Overturn the narrow 734-volt victory of Democrat Allison Riggs over Republican Jefferson Griffin. A federal court has temporarily blocked certification. But make no mistake, this is what stolen elections look like in John Roberts, post-citizens United, post-shelby County America. Justice John Paul Stevens saw it coming. In his Citizens United dissent, he wrote the court's ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the nation. He warned that allowing unlimited and often anonymous money to flood our politics would short-circuit the democratic process and, quote, shatter public faith in government. Stevens was right. But Justice Stevens's dire warnings didn't stop five Republican appointees three openly taking gifts from billionaires from striking down hundreds of state and federal laws that had limited the political power of corporations and the morbidly rich since 1907. The Citizens United Roberts' court handed the morbidly rich the keys to our democracy. And now the reckoning is here. The richest man in the world, elon Musk, with a social media empire comprised by right, compromised by Russian influence and a checkbook that bleeds billions, bankrolled Trump's return to power in 2024. Trump now uses that power to crush any Republican who steps out of line. And make no mistake, this marriage of oligarchy and authoritarianism rests squarely on the shoulders of John Roberts. It was Roberts who gutted the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County, claiming our country has changed and racism no longer exists as a problem. The result 4 million, mostly black and brown voters were purged or disqualified in 2024, handing the election to Donald Trump. Now, as you read this, at least 10 million more are in the crosshairs for 2026. This is the fruit of Robert's five' decision.
Speaker 2:Then came the big con declaring Trump immune from prosecution for his official acts. This grotesque doctrine now shields him as he dodges court orders, defames rape survivor E Jean Carroll and refuses to pay her what a jury awarded. It even allows Pam Bondi's Trump-hacked DOJ to argue against his having to pay Carol because raping and defaming women is now apparently part of a president's job Question. Roberts watched as Trump bulldozed the Constitution and responded with such tepid finger-waving that Trump's lawyers mocked the court openly. This isn't restoring faith in the judiciary. This is enabling a dictatorship.
Speaker 2:And John Roberts owns it all. He owns Lisa Murkowski's whispered fear. We are all afraid retaliation is real. He owns the purges of civil servants who tried to do their jobs while Trump loyalists like the bigs and Elon Musk fired anyone not in lockstep. He owns the dismantling of our national security infrastructure, gutting the FBI, neutering the NSA and kneecapping agencies that track hostile foreign actors. He owns the future Trump emergency declaration, particularly if there's a terrorist attack that will install him as dictator for life. He owns the death of American credibility on the world stage and the economic depression his tariffs and chaos will provoke. He owns Trump's lies that Kilmar Garcia has MS-13 tattoos on his hands, a gaslighting characteristic of dictators like Putin, pinochet and MBS, as Representative Maxwell Frost said of Trump's willingness to lie, to imprison people. Quote today it's Mr Garcia, tomorrow it can be any one of us. He owns the increasing deaths of women in states with near total abortion bans. He owns the stolen votes of millions who might have stopped this rolling catastrophe but couldn't because John Roberts' court helped rig the system against them. He owns Doge Musk and Big Balls, destroying America's diplomatic and scientific primacy in the world. And now Roberts faces the destruction of the very branch he leads.
Speaker 2:If the judiciary can no longer check power, what's left? We've seen this movie before, not just in America with the exception of the Confederacy, as I lay out the hidden history of American oligarchy but around the world. Within months of taking power, hitler neutralized judicial oversight via the Reichstag Fire Decree. Mussolini packed Italy's courts with fascist loyalists. Viktor Orban rewrote Hungary's constitution to push out hundreds of judges. Putin's courts take instructions directly from the Kremlin via what Russians call telephone law.
Speaker 2:And here JD Vance says Trump can ignore the Supreme Court entirely. And he is. That's where we are. The time for pretending is over. We now live in an early-stage dictatorship. The court has ordered Trump to bring those men back from El Salvador and he's telling it to go screw itself. Early Saturday morning, at 1 am, seven justices briefly found their voices, blocking Trump's illegal deportation regime over the fascist objections of Thomas and Alito. We'll soon see if that was a real stand or just kabuki theater to cover their robes with the scent of legitimacy. Buses were stopped, but the people are still in El Salvador. Trump is still playing dictator, refusing to recognize the authority of the court. If Roberts still refuses to check Trump's power and Republicans in Congress continue to cower before him, it falls to us not with violence, with truth, organizing, voting and, yes, a peaceful revolution, as they say in the activist community uh, plot, plan, strategize, organize.
Speaker 1:Uh. This court thing is very interesting from from the political standpoint to the practical standpoint. The political standpoint is the Republicans win on immigration, and that is just a fact. Immigration is is something that people vehemently believe in, even if it comes in the form of mass deportation. And so the Trump administration, somewhat, has played this one very smart in the sense of them forcing the Democratic Party to respond to somebody that they have labeled not just an illegal immigrant, but because they have said this person has connections to MS-13, they've labeled him as a terrorist. Now what's interesting is how that fight is going to play out. Interesting is how that fight is going to play out because even people like Joe Rogan have started to feel remarkably uncomfortable with that assertion and have now started to say no, it's not about whether somebody is an illegal immigrant, it's not about whether somebody is an MS-13. It's actually about due process. So when you're losing what people kind of laugh at, the family guy calls the stupid man, king Joe Rogan, you start to lose the base of the party.
Speaker 1:Now the audience knows I am a Christian, not always a great one, and I'll just say this. Since evangelicals love to quote Leviticus so much, I have a Bible verse from Leviticus 1933 through 34 that I want them to ponder If a man from another country is living in your land with you, do not make life hard for him. Let him be to you as one of your countrymen and have love for him as for yourself. Leviticus 19.33-34. I'm going to close the show. Everybody knows that I was raised an African Methodist Episcopal and of course I did start the show talking about Pope Francis, one of the senior bishops of the AME Church, bishop Wilford Jacobs Messiah actually put out a proclamation or letter expressing his condolences on the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State. It is with deep sorrow and sacred reverence that we, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, join the global Christian family in mourning the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis, servant of God, pilgrim of peace and shepherd whose heart bore the burdens of the world. In this holy season, resurrection, as we proclaim with faith, is that he is not here. He is risen. We are reminded the death does not have the final word for those who belong to christ, and yet the departure of such a towering yet tender soul leaves an ache that transcends denominational lines and borders.
Speaker 1:Pope Francis was not merely the Bishop of Rome. He was a global voice of conscience, a man of the people, a shepherd for the brokenhearted and a prophet who reminded us that true leadership is not found in those in the thralls of power. Leadership is not found in those in the thralls of power, but in the acts of humility, mercy and justice. He was sought by many in times of crisis, not only for his wisdom, but for the profound humanity which he listed, embraced and responded. As the first pope, and electing from outside of Europe, pope Francis affirmed to the world that the divine calling is not confirmed by geography or tradition. His leadership taught us that grace knows no borders and that the heart of the church must beat in the rift with the lives of the least, the lost and the left behind. He lived as a bridge between faith, between nations and, most deeply, between the wounded and the healing presence of Jesus Christ. And now, as he returns to his internal home, we give thanks because his life became a living example of the gospel.
Speaker 1:On behalf of the entire African Methodist Episcopal Church and the leadership and membership of the 19th Episcopal District, we extend our heartfelt condolences to the family of Pope Francis, the Holy See, and to our beloved sisters and brothers in the Roman Catholic Church. We grieve with you, we stand with you, we pray with you. May we honor his memory not only in word but in witness, by seeking peace, loving mercy, walking humbly and daring to believe that if we unite in the essence of who we are called to be, the world can indeed be transformed. Rest in God's eternal life. Holy Father, bishop Wilford Jacob Messiah, senior Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Presiding prelate. 19th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Speaker 4:Francis the pastor gathering excited children on the popemobile. Ever the warm and humble priest he showed the world the day he was elected in 2013. Asking for prayers dressed in a simple white cassock and an iron cross not the traditional gold no surprise from a man who was cardinal in Buenos Aires, lived in a small apartment, rode the subway and cooked his own meals. He could understand regular people, an ordinary person, an ordinary guy with an extraordinary job, and I think that the message was I am one of you. But then, surprising many as Pope, by blindly taking on controversial causes, speaking out against the invasion of Ukraine, criticizing those who wouldn't wear masks during the pandemic, calling couples who had pets instead of children selfish. And as the first Pope to address a joint session of Congress, challenging the US to open its arms to refugees and abolish the death penalty. Even earlier, just months after his election, saying something revolutionary for a Catholic church leader that the church must welcome the LGBTQ community If a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge?
Speaker 1:It's the Pope saying something?
Speaker 3:that no other Pope has said, not only in terms of the implications of that statement, but the very willingness to speak with such kind of spontaneity and ease on a grave matter to reporters at the back of a plane.
Speaker 4:He was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, in Buenos Aires, argentina, the eldest of five children of Italian immigrants.
Speaker 4:As a young man holding jobs as a bouncer, a janitor and studying chemistry before entering this seminary. When Pope Benedict retired, Bergoglio was seen as a cardinal whose time had passed and, at 76, too old. But after five ballots white smoke, the first Jesuit ever elected Pope, the first from Latin America and the first in nearly 600 years to follow a retirement. He came to the church at a time in which there was tremendous crisis, both internally and externally, in terms of its reputation, and he in a sense rebranded the Catholic Church At a time when the church really needed a facelift. He provided it. He expanded roles for women in parishes and at the Vatican, but didn't budge on making them priests, Considered allowing married priests in remote areas, but ultimately didn't, and reaffirmed many times church teaching against abortion. Conservative Catholics argue. Francis prioritized pastoral openness and outreach at the expense of church doctrine.
Speaker 3:Since our main work in the church is preparing people and calling people to heaven, we need to be able to tell them no, that's sinful conduct that will get you barred from going in the door.
Speaker 4:Other critics question whether his moves to toughen church laws dealing with sexual abuse by priests went far enough, but with his appointment of 21 newly diverse cardinals in 2022, francis further shaped a church leadership tilting more toward the developing world and one that's more inclusive, willing to at least talk about tough issues.
Speaker 5:I want to bring in my friend, historian John Meacham. He was the first canon historian for the Washington National Cathedral. John, what a beautiful life and legacy, but a very sad night. Talk to us about Pope Francis's legacy, specifically as a reformer.
Speaker 3:Talk to us about Pope Francis's legacy, specifically as a reformer. Well, the last three or four pontiffs have been strikingly different. We begin with John XXIII, who was the force behind Vatican II, which is popularly seen as the opening up of the church. It's a complicated story, but that is certainly. He was a pastoral figure.
Speaker 3:In John Paul II you had that remarkable stand against communism, against totalitarianism, and a very conservative theology. In Benedict, you had conservative theology, quite orthodox, and in Francis you had a tonal and in many ways, a theological shift, in the sense that he offered something that a lot of observers inside and outside the church had been missing, which was a sense that the arms of God are open not simply to a select few but to all. And I think of him less as a politician, less as a policy reformer and really a remarkable pastor, someone who embodied the best and noblest parts of the gospel message, which is that the last shall be first and the first shall be last, and that, as we went through last week, hearing once again Jesus saying on the night he was handed over to suffering and death, and the words of the rite he ordered, commanded us to love one another as I have loved you, and I think that was the guiding star for this pope.
Speaker 5:Blessed are the meek Juxtapose that, though, john, with how different that is with where we are as a society right now not just Americans, but Europeans around the world how this anti-immigrant movement has risen up, while you have a pope who, over and over, made it his mission to talk about the importance of protecting those who are most vulnerable.
Speaker 3:Well, you have democracy and Christianity, and this is not to get into Christian nationalism and the often unhealthy blending of faith and power politics.
Speaker 3:But democracy and Christianity have a great deal in common. It requires us to see one another as fellow children of God, and that may sound grand or soft somehow, but that is in fact the motive force of democracy. If I don't respect you and your dignity before the law and you don't respect mine, then we fall into a state of nature, and you don't respect mine, then we fall into a state of nature. We fall into a struggle, a constant battle to get what we want. And the message both of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament is that you can't simply take everything you want when you want it, that there is in fact a hierarchy of affections, that we have to control our appetites, and in doing so we all have a better chance of filling those appetites. So it's not just about being great people, but it is about seeing one another in a way that enables us to at least, if we don't love our neighbor, we should at least try.
Speaker 5:If we do not love our neighbor, we should at least try. And if we cannot be decent, and if we cannot show them a modicum of respect, then what do we have, john? The answer is nothing. We go tonight, the people's Pope. The world was divided in 2020 when the pandemic hit, but Pope Francis used it as an opportunity to unite. He said this to an empty St Peter's Square in March of 2020, at the height of the lockdowns around the world. Quote we've realized that we're on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but, at the same time, important and needed. All of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other.
Speaker 1:So normally we hear terms like somebody spoke truth to power. I'm going to end the show with just ten little quotes from Pope Francis. The exploitation of the planet has already exceeded the acceptance limits and we still have not solved the problem of poverty. The idea of infinite or unlimited growth, which proves so attractive to economists, financiers and experts in technology, is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of the earth's goods, and this leads to the planet being squeezed dry at every limit. Without justice, there is no peace. Indeed, if justice is not respected, conflicts will arise. Without justice, the law of prevalence of the strong over the weak is entrenched. If we took the planet's temperature, it will tell us that the earth has a fever and it is sick. We must commit ourselves to the protection of nature, changing our personal and community habits.
Speaker 1:We cannot in any way accept the bombing of civilians, that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed. We are not faced with two separate crises on environmental and the other social, but rather one complex crisis in which, both social and environmental we need to reject a magical conception of markets which would suggest that the problems can be solved simply by an increase in the profits of companies or individuals. The climate is a common good belonging to all and meant for all. The ones suffering most from the consequences of these disasters are the poor, those who are forced to leave their homes because of floods, heat waves or drought. We all must do good. Ten simple quotes from Pope Francis. Rest in peace, pope Francis. God bless.