(CNN)Some pontiffs have been beatified or canonized, but Pope Francis is receiving a far more dubious honor.
He's being "Obamified."
The charismatic Pope, who arrives in the United States on September 22, has gained fans in and out of the Catholic Church
for denouncing unfettered capitalism, warning about climate change and
urging mercy toward divorced couples and women who have had abortions.
He's
also sparked a strange trend. The same political slurs and conspiracy
theories that critics have used against President Barack Obama are now
being deployed against Pope Francis. One critic even says the two
leaders have morphed into one sinister figure he calls "Popama."
The
Obamification of Pope Francis includes charges from conservative
critics that he's either a socialist, the Antichrist, an illegitimately
elected leader who wants to create a "New World Order" -- or all of the
above. Their anxiety was captured by the headline of one online column:
"Pope Francis is the Catholic Church's Obama -- God help us."
Such apocalyptic warnings about Francis reflect normal anxiety over a new leader, says Greg Erlandson, publisher of Our Sunday Visitor, a Catholic organization that distributes church textbooks and religious materials.
"There's
been some crazy stuff going around," Erlandson says. "You're always
going to get a fringe element, on both the left and right. There's some
guy in Canada claiming to be the Pope."
Yet conservative concerns over Pope Francis appear to be growing. A Gallup poll this summer showed that Pope Francis' support among American conservatives fell from 72% last year to 45% in July.
"There
is a sense that he is or could be introducing significant changes in
the church," Erlandson said, "and people find that very threatening."
Some of that anxiety goes beyond traditional debate over church doctrine. Here are three ways the Pope is being Obamified:
No. 1: He's a stealth socialist
Religion
and money -- it's hard to find a more combustible combination. Pope
Francis' comments on faith and finance have ignited a theological
firestorm.
He said the poor have
"sacred rights" of labor, lodging and land. He called the "unfettered
pursuit of money" the "dung of the devil" and accused world leaders of
"cowardice" for refusing to defend the Earth from exploitation.
During a speech to grassroots organizers in Bolivia
in July, he called on the poor to rise up against "new colonialism,"
including corporations, loan agencies, free trade treaties and austerity
measures.
Pope
Francis' economic message is no different than his predecessor, Pope
Benedict XVI, above, Catholic commentators say, but some critics call
Francis a Marxist.
The Pope's
critique of capitalism has caused some -- including conservative radio
talk host Rush Limbaugh -- to suggest Francis is a Marxist, a label he denied in a 2013 interview
with an Italian newspaper. "The Marxist ideology is wrong," Francis
said. "But I have met many Marxists in my life who are good people, so I
don't feel offended."
Yet some conservative critics don't believe the Pope. Like Obama, they accuse him of being a secret socialist.
Conservative
radio show host Michael Savage said the Pope is a "stealth Marxist in
religious garb." Fox News business show host Stuart Varney warned in
June that the Pope may align with Obama to gang up on the rich.
"Will
Francis and Barack reshape the world by taxing the rich, taxing fossil
fuels and redistributing the wealth?" Varney asked. "That's exactly what
they are trying to do."
The Pope
should be trusted when talking about matters of faith, some critics say,
but he's outside of his depth when talking about economics.
Denise
C. McAllister, a senior contributor to the Federalist, a conservative
online magazine that covers politics, religion and culture, said the
Pope's "social justice schemes" are immoral and similar to Obama's
"socialist ideology."
McAllister wrote that Catholics have a moral responsibility to care for the poor,
"but the greatest vehicle for alleviating poverty and deprivation is
the very institution of free market capitalism that [the Pope] now
denounces."
"He says people have a
right to land, lodging and labor," McAllister told CNN. "When you're
talking about giving to one, you're talking about taking from another.
It's wrong and immoral for a powerful government to take property from
you and give it to another group."
Yet
Patrick J. Deneen, a Notre Dame professor, says Francis' statements on
capitalism are no different from those of his predecessors. The Catholic
Church has long been critical of unfettered capitalism. He says Pope
Benedict XVI once wrote about the importance of "distributive justice
and social justice for the market economy."
"Even
though the church's teachings have not changed one jot under Francis,
he has placed more emphasis on economic matters," says Deneen.
No 2: He's the Antichrist
In July, Jennifer LeClaire asked readers of Charisma magazine to Google the phrase "Is Pope Francis Antichrist." The query produced 425,000 hits, she noted. (That number is now 440,000.)
Pope
Francis hasn't yet caught up with Obama in the Antichrist category. A
Google search for "Is Obama the Antichrist" yields more than 800,000
results. But LeClaire's column reported on a growing belief among some
Catholics that the Pope is a diabolical figure in papal clothing.
"Could
Francis be the final Pope before Christ's return?" LeClaire asked.
"Could he be the Antichrist? Is he the False Prophet? The chatter
continues. ... "
A recent Washington Post article noted there has "sprung up a cottage industry of books, DVDs and websites promoting Francis' dissenters."
Some
of the dissent leads to conspiracy theories that would be familiar to
anyone who has followed conservative reaction to Obama's presidency.
After
his election in 2008, rumors circulated that Obama's victory was not
legitimate because he was not actually born in the United States and
there was massive voter fraud.
Similar
conspiracy theories about Pope Francis' election "won't die," according
to David Gibson, a reporter for the Religion News Service. The theories
revolve around the belief that Francis doesn't have a legitimate claim
to the papacy.
"Among them," Gibson wrote,
"Benedict used incorrect Latin in his formal resignation letter, so it
is invalid; alternately, they say, the cardinals in the March 2013
conclave that elected Francis violated certain procedures, so his
election is null and void."
One critic who goes by the name Paul Joseph C. edits The Wild Voice,
a website devoted to Catholic current events and subjects such as "the
mark of the beast" and the "Illuminati." He says Obama and Francis are
both cunning figures -- but that the Pope is even more dangerous.
"We
are in the presence of a very powerful political figure, the likes of
which we have never witnessed before," he says. "Pope Francis is not a
legitimately elected holy vicar of Jesus Christ as many believe, but he
is the very igniter of a new world."
Pope Francis' comments on global warming have irked some conservative critics.
He
writes that Francis and Obama are "perfect dictators" who are using
their anti-Christian agenda to ruin America and the church. He sees such
disturbing similarities between the Pope and the President that he
calls Francis "Popama."
The conspiracy
theories have strayed into the mainstream media. After the Pope recently
spoke about the dangers of climate change, Fox News commentator Lou
Dobbs warned that Francis was describing "a new world order" and "a new
global organization."
Where does this talk come from?
Elizabeth
Stoker Bruenig, a religious commentator who has written about Pope
Francis for the New Republic, says critics use such language because the
Pope and Obama have in one way uttered blasphemy -- they question the
sanctity and the "moral neutrality of markets."
"What
all these things have in common is that they're essentially the worst
possible thing the right-wing Id can come up with," she says. "You don't
have to actually do anything indicative of being a socialist, communist
or the Antichrist to earn these titles."
No. 3: He's on an 'Apology Tour'
After
Obama was elected, critics said he apologized too much for the sins of
America's past. Conservatives labeled one of the President's earliest
international travel stints as "Barack Obama's Apology Tour."
Some are now making the same accusation against Pope Francis.
During his speech in Bolivia, Francis apologized for the Catholic Church's treatment of Native Americans.
"I
humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offense of the church
herself," Francis said, "but also for crimes committed against the
native peoples during the so-called conquest of America."
And during a visit to an Italian church last month, the Pope apologized for past persecution of Pentecostals under Italy's early 20th century fascist government.
Meetings
at the Vatican between the Pope and Israeli and Palestinian leaders
have led some critics to accuse Francis of having an Islamic agenda.
The apologies irritated one critic so much that Adam Shaw, an editor for FoxNews.com, wrote the opinion piece entitled, "Pope Francis is the Catholic Church's Obama -- God Help Us."
"Just
like President Obama loved apologizing for America, Pope Francis likes
to apologize for the Catholic Church, thinking that the church is at its
best when it is passive and not offending anyone's sensibilities," Shaw
wrote.
Carl Olson, editor of Catholic
World Report, said he and other Catholics think Pope Francis expends too
much energy apologizing for and chiding the faithful.
In a column last month entitled, "The hyperbolic and exhausting papacy of Francis," Olson wrote that the Pope obsesses over certain points such as the sin of gossip to a degree "that is frankly grating."
Olson,
who describes himself as an orthodox Catholic, says the Pope seems to
ignore the struggles of ordinary middle class people who work, raise
families, pay the taxes and "keep society afloat while chaos and madness
swirls around."
"At times it appears
that the Pope will praise non-Catholics, including atheists, but then
ignore how hard ordinary Catholics are striving to live the faith,"
Olson says.
Some have even suggested
that Pope Francis' allegiance to the Catholic Church is so shaky that he
has an Islamic agenda -- an accusation similar to one directed at
Obama.
In her Charisma article about the Pope, LeClaire dismissed rumors that Francis said the Bible and the Quran are the same.
Then she added:
"Meanwhile,
Francis has warmed up to Islam like no other Pope before him. In a
historic first, Francis opened the door to Muslim prayers and Quran
readings at the Vatican last year. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
and Israeli President Shimon Peres joined the pontiff in the Vatican
gardens for a prayer meeting."
Still, the Pope and the President are different in at least one crucial way, says Earle Scarlett, a retired U.S. diplomat who writes about religion.
While
arguing that Obama and Francis share a yearning for economic justice,
Scarlett says Francis is freer than Obama to pursue his vision because
the same checks and balances that stymie the power of the presidency
don't exist in the Vatican.
"In the
American government, a guy can get up and say you're a liar to the
president," Scarlett says. "Can you imagine a bishop or cardinal saying
that to the Pope in a meeting? I never heard of a Pope being dethroned.
But I've heard of presidents being impeached."
As the Pope visits the United States, it's doubtful anyone will stand up and call him a socialist or the Antichrist.
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