Bolaño and Francis: Food for Thought in a Complicated Situationd

The Pope from Argentine?  Time to re-read Robert Bolaño's amazing By Night in Chile.  The country is different but the complicated relationship between the Church and a  dictatorship certainly bears some reflection, given the rôle of Pope Francis during the long period of authoritarian rule there.

We're told he's a humble man, someone who took public transport to work, who cares deeply about the poor.  That's all to the good, as is the fact that he's not from Europe.  But the Mother Church is not going to change much in its teachings, I'll bet.

The former resident of Buenos Aires also may have chosen his papal name for more than connection with St. Francis of Assisi.  Don't forget that one of the founders of the Jesuits was St. Francis Xavier, whose take on relgion was quite different.