In a few small ways, Pope Francis is a traditionalist. He opposes abortion, gay "marriage" (although he supports gay civil unions), and the notion of infinite genders.

In most other ways, though, the pope constantly demonstrates that he emerged from a Marxist background. Despite being the Catholic Church's pre-eminent man of God, he has a Gaia-centric view of nature. He also brings a Marxist's understanding of economics (i.e., simplistic and wrong) to the papacy. That's why, on Wednesday, the pope suggested that COVID-19 is the Earth's revenge for climate change and then implied that politicians concerned about the economy are akin to Hitler in 1933.

To understand how the head of the Catholic Church can make statements so perfectly aligned with leftism, one has to go back to the left's long march through the Church.

The Latin American Catholic Church went leftist in the 1950s and 1960s, when it developed "liberation theology." This was also when Pope Francis came of age as a Catholic priest. "Liberation theology" is a pure leftist doctrine tacked onto Catholicism:

Liberation theology proposes to fight poverty by addressing its alleged source: sin. In so doing, it explores the relationship between Christian theology — especially Roman Catholic theology — and political activism, especially in relation to social justice, poverty, and human rights. The principal methodological innovation is seeing theology from the perspective of the poor and the oppressed.

Liberation theology's defining concept is "social justice." That's how a Latin American leftist now heads the institution that, under Pope John Paul II, once stood firmly with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the West's existential fight against socialism.

Francis's push to the left began early in his papacy, when, in December 2013, he preached economic Marxism to the flock. The pope's Marxist worldview also means he supports the whole idea of anthropogenic climate change. In his 2015 encyclical on ecology, Laudato Si', Pope Francis said climate change is real and is primarily "a result of human activity."

Both these beliefs came to the fore on Wednesday, when The Tablet and Commonwealth magazines published an email interview with the pope. Regarding COVID-19, Francis reverted to animism — that is, the view of nature as a living, god-like being:

"We did not respond to the partial catastrophes. Who now speaks of the fires in Australia, or remembers that 18 months ago a boat could cross the North Pole because the glaciers had all melted? Who speaks now of the floods?" the Pope said. "I don't know if these are the revenge of nature, but they are certainly nature's responses," he added.

Ignore the silliness of glacial melt. What's significant is that this viewpoint is totally antithetical to Judeo-Christian doctrine. The Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, long ago abandoned animism in favor of a single divine entity that created the Earth and all that is upon it.

In the same interview, Pope Francis took a swipe at Donald Trump, who is very worried that extreme measures against COVID-19 will destroy the American economy, leading to depression and everything that flows from it (e.g., suicide, depression-related health events, drug addiction, alcoholism, etc.). That's not how Pope Francis sees things:

The Pope also warned against the rise of populist politicians — who he said are giving speeches reminiscent of Hitler in 1933 — and others who are focusing solely on the economy.

The Catholic Church has survived for close to 2,000 years, so it's not likely that a single Marxist pope can destroy it. Nevertheless, traditionalists have to be worried when the pope starts speaking of Gaia with the same immediacy with which he speaks of God. Moreover, everyone should look askance at a pope who joins with the world's Marxists to attack Trump with Hitler insults because Trump is worried about the economic costs attendant upon flowing from the same questionable models that have led to twenty years of climate change hysteria.

File photo credit: Casa Rosada.