A Compassionate Leader is a Real Leader

Because they only seemed to accomplish the opposite of what they preached,  I rejected Roman Catholicism and Christianity a long time ago.  For a long time I believed that no pope could achieve any real lasting good because most had done the opposite.  Roman Catholicism had developed into a polytheism that practices witchcraft and idol worship. 

Witchcraft is an attempt to craft chants, rituals, and formulas that force nature or a god into granting wishes, including begging. The example of prayer provided by Christ was transformed into the first of many rote spells. Then they started adding demigods, Mary and the multiplying saints, despite being told only to pray to the father in the name of the son. In addition to be actual paragons of compassion and Christianity, all were required to perform a magic trick of faith in order to qualify, and believed to be able to influence a god.  Sculpting specific statues and images of the demigods, they started praying to them like idols.  Then the Vatican added relics and icons before deciding to sell salvation and abuse people in order to save their souls with love.  The bodies and minds were disposable. Then they used it as an excuse to start "civilizing" other cultures and religious beliefs.

Sounds like going backwards from Judaism not forward, the direction Jesus was leading.  It’s no wonder that many highly catholic areas are thick with stories of ghosts, witches, and devils.

Until now, the Vatican turned the Christian story inside out. I had given up completely on it long ago but Francis has renewed hope that the founding message of “universal” Christianity (catholic means universal) isn’t dead. I don’t believe in Catholicism, but I do in the compassionate message of the story.  Francis is the first true Vicar of Christ since Peter.   

He doesn’t have me following and bowing, but he does have my respect. He seems to obey the message regarding raising life instead of dehumanizing and abusing it.

No one is "civilized". "Civilization" is the process of developing a more productive, secure, compassionate, society. Many cultures started and spread the process, each adding different techniques and ideas into their own experiments. Africa, Sumeria, Egypt, India, and China, were among the first. Being "civilized" is coercion to look and act like a certain culture or class, absorption or assimilation into the dominant collective hierarchy.

A leader compassionately guides, nurtures, protects, and prods those for whom they are responsible. A tyrant forces to them to behave as desired. A leader is an exemplar in action, not a saint.

A compassionate leader is a real leader.

Everything is always in process

Only compassion defeats dehumanization.