Religious Agency as a Driving Force for Social Inclusion?

• In Event: Religious Elites, Political Cues, and Political Attitudes

Abstract

Pope Francis' approach to controversial social issues covered by modern media results in diverse voices towards his religious followers and fosters polarization between the two contradictory roots of Catholicism. Existing studies have shown that modernization within Global Catholicism results from forceful changes under the pressure of current challenges. At the same time, all types of media have covered every profound difference. For decades, popes were considered to be religious custodians rather than social innovators. Yet, their communication power, determinants of media consumption and connection to the transforming role of the papacy have received little attention.
This qualitative study expands the understanding of the religious agency of Pope Francis in the function of social inclusion. By examining the relationship between diverse religious media diets and religious media users' reflexive thinking on the pope’s approach to controversial issues (Church and LGBTQ; refugee crisis; Christian, Muslim, Jews relations), the results show that individual preferences and various media sources shape the level of media users' negotiations with the pope's agency for social justice on a continuum from religious aberration to social inclusion. The results obtained through thirty in-depth interviews with traditional and progressive Catholic media users in Poland might be a good starting point for future discussions on public opinion about religious innovators ready to dialogue with contemporary societies.

Author

• Damian Guzek, Universty of Silesia in Katowice