"Catholicism is What It Is. You Don't Have to Believe It. You Don't Have to Follow It. But It's Not up to Them to Modernize to You."

Love or hate Rush Limbaugh, he has a way with words:

I am not Catholic. But I have endeavored, I have dug deep, I have attempted to find out from sources that I trust as much as I can, that I can understand, that I could then relay to you about this new pope. He's the first pope from the Americas. I realize some of you from Rio Linda say, "What a minute. Argentina? That's South America." He's the first one. And he didn't want to be pope. But there's some incredible things about this man. He is a classic Catholic theologian. There appears not to be one shred of moral relevance. In fact, I'll play the sound bites for you in just a minute.

The media, select members, they're out there. I watched some of it this morning, and it's kind of funny to watch. They're wringing their hands, "How can the church attract young people when it is opposed to contraception? Doesn't the church need to modernize? Doesn't the pope, don't these cardinals realize what they've gotta do if they want to attract young people to the church? If they want to spread their message they can't have this position that's anti-gay marriage and anti-contraception." And they treat the church as a political institution.

And of course there's politics clearly in the Curia throughout the Vatican, but in terms of church teaching, it's not a political institution. It's religious. I heard people, in fact, media people, "Is this new hope, is he a liberal? Is he a conservative?" He's a Catholic! It's no more complicated than that. Catholicism is what it is. You don't have to believe it. You don't have to follow it. But it's not up to them to modernize to you. It's not up to any religion, although some do this, 'cause they want the money. They want the membership. But the Catholic Church doesn't do it. It's not up to them to bend and shape and mold itself to accommodate the shrinking depravity of a worldwide culture. It's to provide the exact opposite. It's to provide a beacon out of depravity, among other things.

Pope Francis I is bad news for the Drive-By Media. He is adamantly opposed to abortion. He is adamantly opposed to euthanasia. He has called the pro-choice movement a culture of death. He opposes same-sex marriage, which he has called demonic in origin. He opposes gay adoption on the grounds that it is discriminatory to the child. He opposed Argentina's legalizing of same-sex marriage. He called it a real and dire anthropological throwback. He was exiled by the Cristina Kirchner government. He was dispatched to the northern climes and the outposts of Argentina. He literally was cast out by the government.

And you know who rescued him? John Paul II. He's a protege, by the way, of John Paul II. John Paul II rescued Pope Francis from what essentially was internal exile, and he was made archbishop of Buenos Aires. And this just happened in early 2000. It's not that long ago. The Argentinean government had basically taken this pope, cast him out. He was teaching math. He was teaching high school math in small, little towns in northern Argentina because he refused to go along with Cristina Kirchner at present and her husband, who was her predecessor. He refused to go along with any of the cultural modernization, and as such they had nothing to do with him. And the Jesuits, of which he is one, had many left-wing members, and they were eager to cast him out, which they did. Oh, yeah, there are left-wing and right-wing Jesuits. There are left-wing and right-wing Catholics, as you know.

And this man, if you had to categorize him, you would have to call him -- and I really don't like doing this, but if it will help facilitate, help people understand, it would be accurate to say that he is a conservative. He's a conservative theologian. I had somebody that I really trust in these matters, a Catholic, who is in Rome, tell me today that in their opinion, Pope Francis is the Catholic equivalent of our Founding Fathers on federalism. But I find it fascinating that he refused to accede, refused to go along with any of the cultural modernization, which was same-sex marriage, contraception, abortion on demand.

And the Jesuits, the left-wing Jesuits working with the Kirchner government, basically threw him out. And he's rescued by John Paul II, made archbishop of Buenos Aires, and then a cardinal, and almost became pope when Benedict became pope, but the people that put him up -- he didn't want to be pope -- the people that put him up for pope in the conclave in 2005 were simply trying to block Benedict. And they failed. He's not crazy about being pope now, apparently. But he accepted it.

You know what he did today? Twelve hours after becoming pope he got in a small, little typical Italian putt-putt car and went to the hotel where he was staying during the conclave and picked up his bags and then went to a local church, which is devoted to the Virgin Mary, and prayed. This is stuff that presidents and popes dispatch underlings to go do. "Go get my bags. They're over at the hotel. Bring 'em back here to my papal apartment." He dressed up in his official pope togs and got in the car and drove over to the little hotel where he was staying, nothing fancy, picked up his own bags and went to church and went back to the Vatican.

I read some things this man has said -- and don't get the wrong idea. I'm just telling you why I like this so far. I'm reading things that he's said that I have authored in the Undeniable Truths of Life. One of my Undeniable Truths of Life is that senior citizens -- I'm paraphrasing my own truth; I don't have it right in front of me -- senior citizens are among the most valuable resource we have for our young people. And, of course, young people throw the elderly away and they laugh at 'em, old-fashioned fuddy-duddies, don't know what they're talking about. To the young, every old person has Alzheimer's. To the young, every old person has Parkinson's.

This man said that the elderly are the seat of wisdom in any society, is how he put it. He says adoption by homosexuals is a form of discrimination against children, which is why you're only gonna be hearing about the aspects of his life I just described, this common man, everyday man. This is not what they were hoping for.

The Vatican is apparently a mess, too, the Vatican Curia -- the White House, if you will -- the administrative aspect. One of the first things that he's going to do when he really sits down and gets serious, is there's a 300-page report on all of the corruption, the back-stabbing, the basic disintegration of the administration of the Vatican, all the petty politics. There's a report done that details it all, and he's gonna be charged here with making the appropriate changes, if he deems them necessary.

But I just found it fascinating that he was willing to stand up to an entire government in Argentina. He's cast aside. He ends up teaching high school math in small, little towns and was essentially rescued by Pope John Paul II.

I am sure that there are aspects of Pope Francis' theology that might make Limbaugh wince and it'd be interesting to hear him comment on them, nevertheless, I find his words here fascinating.

I'd call them an endorsement and suspect he'll be paying close attention to what Pope Francis will say and do.

I hope he does.

I hope many will as I believe he'll be impacting, effectual, and a light drawing many to the faith.