Buchanan: ‘Man of the Left’ Pope Francis ‘Entertaining Ideas’ That Have Put Church ‘In Confusion and Division’

Columnist Pat Buchanan stated that Pope Francis I “is not a traditionalist” on “faith and morals,” “is clearly a man of the left,” and entertains “ideas which have caused the church itself to be in confusion and division” on Friday’s “McLaughlin Group.”

Buchanan said of Pope Francis, “on matters of faith and morals, he is not a traditionalist. He is really entertaining ideas which have caused the church itself to be in confusion and division. Politically, he is clearly a man of the left, on economics, and on politics, and climate change, and all the rest of it. He does not speak and authoritatively, morally on those issues at all. And there’s no need to believe — but you ought to respect what he says, but there’s no need to go along with him, when some of us have dealt with those issues a long, long time.”

Buchanan also stated, “The pope cannot change matters of faith and moral[s], on which the church has preached and would taught infallibly for 2,000 years.”

He further added, “what he said up there, he said softly, on both sides of the spectrum. What he said gently, he said about life, i think a little too gently. But there’s no doubt, even on the matter of climate change, that was very gentle and economic.”

Buchanan concluded that the pope’s agenda “goes beyond theology, and goes beyond morality, and goes into the realm of politics and global issues. And on those, quite frankly, he has divided people, just as people are divided on the other [issues].

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett