Thursday, 2 January 2020

The Two Popes, and Catholisisms Eurocentrism



Warning: This is a hot take on a film I have just seen so its likely to change after my thoughts have settled on it.
I saw the two popes today and I really liked it. Two years ago I saw the Martin Scorsese Silence and it really changed me on a spiritual level and broaden my scope of what cinema can do, and it was about God and our relationship with him so it hit the sweet spot for me in that regard. So too with Two Popes although after watching it, it did get me thinking about about how in the Conclave where they choose the Pope, yes there were representatives in from the New World and so-called Third World countries there choosing their new spiritual leader, there were not many black faces there. I am fresh off seeing the film on Netflix but it did get me thinking about why I rarely go to the Catholic Church any more despite my love for her, her intellectual history and thoughtful stances on issues plaguing our world (even though I don't always agree with everything they say). Maybe it's due to the fact, on a subconscious level that it's all kinda white. I mean its be clear the Church is very diverse with over 1.2 billion adherents spread across the world, and the so-called Third in particular where it is growing the most, but its Cardinals and higher-ups do not fully represent the faithful it's supposed to save. It is so Eurocentric. The HQ is in Rome, orders are dictated from there to the dioceses. The conclave of cardinals is 61 as and 19 from Latin America supposed to 11 from Africa and 11 from Asia (this could have changed) and most from Latin America are of European descent. Not that this is bad but I feel it would be nice if there was more presentation on the Conclave rather than a Eurocentric view on Christianity. I have no idea why I thought that after watching the film but yeah. Good film though.

No comments:

Post a Comment