Pope Francis the Disruptor

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

News, Wnyc, David, Arts, Yorker, Society & Culture, Storytelling, Books, New, Remnick, Politics

4.2 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2018

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As a conservative columnist at the New York Times, Ross Douthat fills the post once held by no less a figure than William Kristol. A devout Catholic, Douthat opposes the progressive direction in which Pope Francis is leading the Church—to prioritize caring for poor people and migrants over opposing abortion and the culture of sexual revolution—even though he acknowledges to David Remnick that this puts him at odds with the Church’s emphasis on mercy. In his new book, “To Change the Church: Pope Francis of the Future of Catholicism,” Douthat provocatively compares Francis to Donald Trump, painting him as a disruptive figure who is determined to bring change fast and damn the consequences. Plus: a lawyer and former baseball player explains why a new federal law targets the wages of minor league players.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is World Trade
0:02.0	The One World Observatory
0:05.0	The Strait of the Block for West Boulevard and make that right
0:09.0	They didn't break that, but they have pretty good access to those people
0:14.0	They actually have subconsciously mocked that lineage
0:18.0	So that's happening
0:20.0	It seems like an incredible story here on many fronts.
0:24.0	From One World Trade Center in Manhattan, this is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production
0:28.9	of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:32.6	Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour.
0:34.3	I'm David Remnick.
0:35.5	Last week, Pope Francis issued a statement to Catholics
0:38.2	worldwide, something that's called an apostolic exhortation. In more than 100 pages, he talks about
0:43.8	how to live a holy life in, quote, a practical way for our time. The document covers many things,
0:50.1	but the newspaper headlines singled out this in particular, that caring for the poor and for refugees is a vital Catholic duty,
0:58.0	just as vital in Francis's eyes as opposing abortion.
1:02.0	That shift in the church's priorities has made Pope Francis quite popular,
1:06.0	especially here in the United States,
1:08.0	but it's led to some hostility and real resistance to the Pope for more
1:11.9	conservative Catholics. It's a resistance that we haven't seen in generations. And one of those
1:17.2	critics is the conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. For Douthat, Francis is hardly the
1:23.7	kindly reformer. Rather, he's a radical, playing fast and loose with doctrine.
	...

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