Pope Francis Research Paper

Keely Anderson

Essay Topic #1- Comparing & Contrasting Popes

RELI 220.01 Wednesday Spring 2016

Dr. Karin Heller

Word Count = 974

A Pope for a Better World

Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis, while similar in many areas, such as the way they integrated into the community, carried out their roles as the pope differently, especially in regards to how they viewed and treated people, what they thought the church should encourage and teach, and particularly in how they felt about women in the church. Because of his compassionate, understanding, adaptive ways, I prefer Pope Francis for today 's world.

One of the similarities between these Popes is the way they belonged to their community. Though they both dealt with situations where they felt

They viewed people on a completely different level. Pope Francis said, “I see the sanctity of God’s people, this daily sanctity. There is a ‘holy middle class,’ which we can all be a part of…” He viewed people as individuals who needed compassion, mercy, and guidance. Pope John Paul II was much more rigid. Roberto Suro from the Washington Post said, “It portrays the world, all of the world, as in the grip of what he calls ‘a culture of death.’ He sees humanity as having lost its sense of the sacredness of life, of the value of the individual human being.” Obviously these Popes are extremely different in their thinking of people. John Paul’s goal was to preach what he thought was the right thing and hopefully show people the correct way. He was angered when people didn’t agree with him or didn’t conform to his way of thinking. On the other hand, Pope Francis tried to be understanding. He wanted people to feel supported and went to great lengths to show love and

The Popes were similar in the fact that they didn’t support any form of birth control or abortion. They differed in the way that they shared this message and how passionate they were on the topic. John Paul was obsessive on the topic. He wanted to put an end to these practices immediately and viewed all of it as evil. Contrarily, Pope Francis felt that these issues didn’t always need to be touched on. He feels that it is important to motivate people to do better, but that it isn’t always necessary to talk about this topics. There are ways to communicate appropriate actions and beliefs without insisting on such issues. Pope John Paul II felt that it was crucial to explain every topic in explicit detail with a justification on why a certain action should be taken. While Pope Francis agreed with some of John Paul’s opinions and teachings, he felt that it was way more important to evaluate everything on a case by case basis and to exercise mercy. He wanted people to feel close to God and to have another chance to make the right decision; he didn’t want them to feel tortured for making the wrong