♦ Katholisch.de is the website for the Catholic Church in Germany. In late November, it featured an ill-considered posting by Björn Odendahl that was critical of Pope Francis. I’m not shy about criticism, but when taking Francis to task for highlighting the achievements of the non-Western Church, he writes, “The Church in Africa is growing because the people in Africa are socially dependent on it and have nothing else other than their faith. She grows because the level of education is very low and people accept simple answers for the difficult questions of the faith. Answers like the ones Cardinal Sarah gives. And the growing number of priests is the result not only of the strength of the missionary presence but also of the fact that it’s one of the few options for employment security there.”
♦ More sensible (but no less severe) was an anonymous criticism of the Francis pontificate written by a former curial official and published by the German magazine Focus . (Available in translation at onepeterfive.com .)
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