Fall from Grace

Fall from Grace

By: Erreh Svaia

“The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness.”

Karl Marx

I'm not pretending to say that México has started to turn into an atheist state but some things have changed from the last visits by John Paul II and Benedict XVI, a definite failure by Enrique Peña's attempt to appease social discomfort towards his administration, despite Pope Francis charismatic persona.

I have seen tyrants and despots using religion to legitimate their doings, and I guess more and more people are realizing this, as Francis visit hasn't produced the "opium for the masses" the government or their media ally Televisa expected, it wasn't what happened a couple of years ago in Brazil, where Francis visit helped to calm social, unrest, gave oxygen to the government of Dilma Rousseff and even helped her (along with a Soccer World Cup) to get are elected, although the populist strategy lasted just a few months and the crisis cover up worked momentarily.

A visit to dictatorial Cuba, his bland critics towards authoritarianism in Bolivia and Ecuador, and non-firm policies to condemn pedophile cases within the church have weakened what could have been a successful strategy by the Vatican considering Francis as an effective populist, a charismatic man of great appeal, but whose actions seem mote directed toward easy popularity rather than the big reforms and transparency expected to happen within the Vatican.

Publicized as a "Marxist Pope" or a Pope "from the left", Francis hasn't lived up to his reputation, overtly politic, yes, as his intervention in the Cuba-USA reborn relationship, Francis was also there in Cuba, when political dissidents were arrested and didn't made any statement about it, in México people expected him to take a hard stance on corruption, pedophilia and authoritarianism, but none of it was heard.

In the end, is no wonder that the Vatican is worried, it's actions are not going along well with the times, Catholicism is not giving devotes exactly what they want, heaven can't wait anymore for the afterlife, heaven is required here on Earth, and now, this is the age of disenchantment, and Francis and the Vatican are not invulnerable of it.