I read that Babette's Feast is Pope Francis' favorite film. I looked it up to see what it was about. Sounds like something a religous man would watch, not saying anything is wrong with it as I haven't seen it. I'm Baptist and I've become fascinated with the choosing of this pope and the man himself. I did think maybe they would choose someone younger.
shareI read that Babette's Feast is Pope Francis' favorite film.
I find it interesting that priests, cardinals, nuns, etc. even watch films, mainly because of the content, language and such of many of them. Did you know that an actress turned nun who was in a movie with Elvis still has her actors card and watches and votes for the Academy Awards every year? There was a discussion about Pope Francis and what direction he might take the church in this morning on the Today Show. Dr. Nancy Snyderman said since poverty is one of his main concerns it should be time to talk about reversing the stance on birth control. I don't see that happening!
shareLooks like Nancy Snyderman doesn't understand the concept of Doctrine within the context of the Catholic Church, and the fact that Doctrine, once declared as such, can never be abrogated by anyone, not even by a pope. It's not a very difficult concept to understand.
Not surprising that she said that, though. Intelligent, well-informed people speak the truth, and ignorant people, like Snyderman, talk a load of crap.
(BTW, the actress you refer to is Dolores Hart)
Sorry, but "Doctrine within the context of the Catholic Church" is simply arbitrary, oftentimes political; nothing more, nothing less. Let me give you an example that contributed in a big way to my becoming an ex-Catholic.
The concept of mortal sin is clear enough -- a transgression so grave that if willfully committed and not cleansed by genuine contrition (preferably through the grace of the sacrament of Penance) an offender who dies with a mortal sin on his or her soul goes straight to hell for all eternity, without even the hope of purgatory.
When I was a boy, it was a mortal sin to eat meat on Friday. Then, all of a sudden, one day in the Spring of 1966 it wasn't. Had God changed his mind? I couldn't help thinking of all the poor souls who had eaten meat last Friday and died unshriven who would have to endure the torture of hell forever while this Friday I blissfully chewed my baloney sandwich.
If God is always right, he doesn't change his mind. This is simply about obeying the rules of the Church, requirements which can (and, as I have shown, do) change. It is a means of imposing social control, a legacy of the centuries when the Church had temporal power (and, thus, relevance) in a way it no longer does. The topics of birth control and abortion, and even female clergy, generate more heat than eating meat on Friday may have done. But the Church deals in absolutes -- that's what makes a mortal sin 'mortal', after all -- and just as Rome eventually came around to accept that the Earth is not flat (and stopped torturing those who opposed its abandoned Doctrine), I am confident that these modern-day hypocrisies will some day be lifted from those who for whatever reason find comfort in the Catholic faith.
You are either a liar or you can't remember the truth to suit your purpose. Eating meat on Friday was NEVER a "mortal" sin.
shareI found it ironic that this film should be high on the Vatican's list of best films and be the favorite of a pope, given the anti-papist undertone of the story's calvinist christian sect.
Well, I got the impression from some of the clues in the film that Babette is Catholic... ;-) I thought that the film had deeply religious undertones (call them Christian or Catholic- in the context of the movie it doesn't make a difference), and I'm not in the slightest surprised that this is Pope Francis' favourite movie because it has very a humane and religious touch, as well as artistic connotations.
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