The latest version of Newsweek sounds like it’s going to be even more liberal than the The Daily Beast version. The group hoping to re-launch the print edition has an article on their website called “Is Pope Francis a Socialist?”
Their answer is no, but they’re so impressed with the new pope that they’re channeling the idea that somehow pope photos will replace Che Guevara as a revolutionary icon:
The left-leaning Guardian, which routinely heaped opprobrium on the Vatican for its mishandling of the pedophile priests scandal, hails Francis as the liberals' new poster boy. Literally: Tomorrow's undergraduates, predicts Jonathan Freedland, will adorn their rooms with posters of Francis instead of Che Guevara. And Time just named him their Person of the Year.
For many conservative Americans, who believe socialism begins with street lighting, the question of whether the pope is a socialist is not moot. Before they join in the songs of praise for the pope they need to know which side the pope is on.
Of course, the notion that Pope Francis is a true socialist is absurd. Socialists believe in the state taking control of the commanding heights of the economy. They believe the free market should be substituted by a command economy in which goods are produced according to need and prices are fixed to ensure fairness.
Nothing Pope Francis has said or done would suggest for a moment that he is a dangerous radical or even that he secretly harbors socialist thoughts.
Then there’s a passage that really suggests there’s a violent dictatorship running Vatican City:
Because they operate behind the scenes, Vatican bureaucrats can all too easily get away with secrecy - and crimes. Scandals involving clerics' visits to gay brothels and money laundering by the Vatican Bank have sealed the curia's reputation as Da Vinci Code baddies.
"They have a lot at stake in things continuing as they are," claims one Vatican watcher, referring to conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Pope John Paul I in 1978 after only 33 days. "They will see off anyone, even a pope, if they suspect opposition."
If Pope Francis gets bumped off by wicked cardinals, you heard it first in the new Newsweek.
