So the Pope is a marxist.... (wait for it)

[kandrathe]

Yeah. The rich taking care of the poor is really out of touch with what the Bible actually teaches.

The mainline Christian concept is that compassion is crucial, and worldly things (like wealth) are not crucial. To pursue worldly things over faith is considered idolatry (not so much the calf now, but the gold). Franciscans, like the new Pope, are the most renowned mendicants (rely on charity) of the Catholic church. The hardest part of being a Christian (imho), is that so called "people of the book" are some of the worst sinners and hypocrites (now and historically). Like other beliefs requiring discipline, it remains difficult to be the only vegetarian in a room full of avowed omni/carnivores. Religion like other popular social movements is often twisted to justify horrific attitudes and crimes against otherwise innocent people.

I would not want you to confuse Franciscans with prosperity gospel, while there are the same charismatic elements. But, I do believe 1/2 of what is "advertised on TV" Christianity is related to the ~17% of Christians who might be considered prosperity gospel adherents (aka. following the snake oil salesmen "gimme all your money" aka Joel Osteen), with the other 1/2 of the noise being the slim minority of hard line (extremist) fundamentalists bucking the current social norms.