was more or less what you would expect.
He had sincere massive respect for the pontiff and demonstrated all the religious vows of obedience so central to the Catholic Church. Being an intelligent self-thinker, he conceded in private that he felt Pope Francis had opened a few too many doors too widely or too quickly.
That's as far as I’ll go in discussing the late Francis’ statements and positions - from anyone’s perspective.
I wrote many many paragraphs today about the man himself and why I admire Jorge Bergoglio, but those are cold comforts to a corpse.
I wrote about his sincerity and struggles, and about the grand differences between himself and other “politicians”.
On matters of war, I referenced Stalin’s quip, Francis’s impossible options, George Orwell's anti-pacifistic colorful realism, Orwell's reverential review of Mohandas Gandhi, and the Pope’s own stunning paragraph quoting Gandhi. And all this only on the single matter of war.
I painted a picture of Rambam spending his life catalyzing a world “where nations shall never again study war”, only for him to explicitly state in his final major letter that the greatest evil that had ever befallen the Sons of Israel was due to their having neglected “the study of war” and “the conquest of lands”.
And I deleted them all.
The truth is that what's required of me is to face my Mosaic reluctance to be subject to the criticisms of the very people I want to help. People whose literal ad-hominem was, and remains, “מי שמך לאיש - Who made you the man? (Exodus 2:14)”
To that end I haven't publicized the important fact that among your fellow subscribers are at least half a dozen other Nobel Prize winners, high-ranking government officials from more than just America, and more than just one administration (including at least one Middle Eastern Head of State and one American First Lady), the most deservedly-famous public author-intellectuals, and of course some of the most worthy and important religious leaders as well.
We aren't alone and we will achieve great things together.
Moshe
My contact information is included in the two most recent emails, as well as on the About Page linked at the top of the Yadidya page in your browser.
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