POPE FRANCIS ON THE CHURCH’S VARIOUS OBSESSIONS: JESUS IS TRULY AT WORK IN HIS CHURCH

9/19/13

In an interview with Italian Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica, Pope Francis once again shook things up by declaring that the Church had "locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules" but should no longer be "obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently."  He specifically referred to such issues as abortion, contraception, and homosexuality with which the hierarchy of the Church has indeed become obsessed.   Rather than being rigid and doctrinaire, and treating the confessional like a “torture chamber,” the Church should act as "a field hospital after a battle" and should display God’s mercy rather than impose a rigid set of doctrines that seem to have wandered from the original message and intent of Jesus.  

The Pope also discussed the role of women in the Church, saying

“The church cannot be herself without the woman and her role.  The woman is essential for the church. Mary, a woman, is more important than the bishops… We must therefore investigate further the role of women in the church. We have to work harder to develop a profound theology of the woman. Only by making this step will it be possible to better reflect on their function within the church. The feminine genius is needed wherever we make important decisions.”

The Pope didn’t go as far as many of us would like, nor is he likely to do so…as he said

“On the ordination of women, the church has spoken and said no. John Paul II, in a definitive formulation, said that door is closed.”

but we will take, for now, what the Pope has given us…more than any of his predecessors, perhaps than all his predecessors combined…and hope and pray that this is more than lip service.

Pope Francis summed up the entire interview nicely by saying

“We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible.  The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.”

and

“The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently.  We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.”

And, perhaps best of all….

“This church with which we should be thinking is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people. We must not reduce the bosom of the universal church to a nest protecting our mediocrity.

Such comments, along with such gestures as refusing to move into the lavish papal apartments, eschewing the regal trappings of the Papacy, urging the bishops and priests to get out of the rectories and among their flocks, and even stating his intention to drive around in a 30 year old Renault with a manual transmission (Do I love this man or what?  But I digress.) go a long way toward removing any doubts I may have nurtured regarding the Church’s being divinely guided by Jesus Himself.  (See my Easter Sunday post (“OUR NEW ANDWONDERFUL PAPA) HAS POWERFUL ENEMIES”).

While I agree with the sentiments the Pope has expressed, and would be disingenuous were I to say that such profound agreement did not have something to do with my belief that this Pope provides evidence that Jesus guides His Church, there is more to it than that.  (See my 3/13/13 post POPE FRANCIS:   THIS IS STARTING TO LOOK LIKE A MIRACLE! for my first development of this theme.)  What is remarkable, miraculous, really, is that such a man could ever become pope in 2013. 

The College of Cardinals is dominated by appointees of John Paul II and Benedict XVI.  In fact, I’m quite sure that ALL the electors were appointed by one of those two Popes.   Thus, there are few if any liberals, or even moderates in any but the most relative of terms, among those who decide who will be pope.  In fact, it would not be too cynical to suggest that the College is controlled by people who would, if they felt free to do so, disagree violently with Pope Francis.  Judging from the Cardinals’ behavior and words of the last three or so decades, one could not be criticized for thinking that this crowd believes that the Church’s most important, perhaps its sole, mission is to enforce doctrine on abortion, contraception, homosexuality, make sure the women, and especially those uppity sisters, remain subservient, and to make sure that the Church retains and prioritizes all the gold, finery, and the tacky regalia that the hierarchy prances around in like a pack of preening popinjays.

How could such a College of Cardinals ever give the Chair of St. Peter to a man who is so different in outlook, even if not on basic doctrine, from them?   How could they choose a man who thinks nothing of the trappings of office to which they so desperately cling?   How could they have chosen a man who would rather emulate Christ than be treated like some medieval potentate by bowing, scraping, terrified, and obedient automatons who profess free will while unthinkingly and reflexively doing whatever they are told?

Surely, Jesus was at work when the College of Cardinals chose Pope Francis.  May He continue to be at work in guiding and protecting this good and holy man.

POPE FRANCIS: WHAT WILL THE “TRADITIONALISTS” DO ABOUT THIS CRAZY MAN?

9/19/13

A lot of people who call themselves “Church traditionalists” aren’t happy with Pope Francis.  (See my Easter Sunday post, “(OUR NEW AND WONDERFUL PAPA) HAS POWERFUL ENEMIES” and today’s other post, POPE FRANCIS ON THE CHURCH’S VARIOUS OBSESSIONS:    JESUS IS TRULY AT WORK IN HIS CHURCH for further illumination on the Pope’s problems with certain elements of the Church.)  It’s not that the Pope has made any substantive moves that run counter to the Church’s conservative approach of the last thirty or so years and it’s not that he is likely to do so.  This Pope is no radical; he was, after all, made a Cardinal by John Paul II, late in his papacy, at a time when it was nearly a requirement to toe the conservative line to be made a prince of the Church.   But Francis is really shaking things up by his style, his approach, and his most recent pronouncements on such things as homosexuality, abortion, contraception, and women in the Church.  (Again, see today’s other post.)   The conservatives in the hierarchy, accustomed to their comfortable lives of being served rather than serving and perfectly content to spend the rest of their lives obsessing on tangential issues and excluding and castigating those who don’t simply pray, pay, and obey, have to be getting nervous.  What is this guy going to do next?  

But the “traditionalists” are in a bind.  One of the doctrines to which they demand rigid adherence is the primacy of the Pope; we have to do what the Pope says because he is Christ’s representative on earth, the successor to St. Peter.  While technically he is infallible only in limited, and few, instances, the “traditionalists” seem to believe he cannot be challenged at any time on anything.  What do they do, then, when a Pope doesn’t agree with their conception of what it means to be a Catholic follower of Christ?  Can they ditch their doctrine of papal primacy?   If they do, doesn’t that put their other doctrines in danger of being thrown over the side?

So far, the approach of the “traditionalists” seems to be that the Pope doesn’t really mean it when he says crazy things and does insane things like refusing to live in the lavish papal apartments.  I heard a few weeks ago, from a “traditionalist,” that Pope Francis is not living in the Papal apartments not because he finds their regal accoutrements distasteful and not in conformity with his understanding of the way Jesus wants us to live.  No, sir.  The “traditionalist” line is that Francis is not living in the papal apartments out of deference to Benedict XVI.  Since Benedict is still alive, the story goes, Francis won’t live in the papal apartments because he considers those quarters Benedict’s home…even though Benedict doesn’t live there.  Uh huh.   Those peddling this story may be right; and the Cubs and the White Sox may play a subway series in 2014.

Such rationalizations on the part of the “traditionalists,” aside from being a short term strategy, give a hint as to the “traditionalist” long term strategy regarding this bothersome pope.  It seems to yours truly that these quarters of the Church will square the circle presented by the combination of papal primacy and a pope whom they don’t like by arguing that Francis is not the “real” or “legitimate” pope. 

The “traditionalists” will argue, in line with tradition, of course, that the Pope cannot step down, that he has no right to relinquish his position and must serve until his death.  Thus, the real pope is not the poseur Francis but Benedict XVI, the guy who just loves the red Prada shoes and all the gold and regal finery the papacy has to offer and who spent virtually his entire papacy, and time as John Paul II’s doctrinal enforcer, obsessing over the very things Francis said are ancillary to genuinely following Christ. 

That such a pronouncement would be self-contradictory (How can a pope, who is not supposed to be wrong in such important matters, have made such a grave mistake by resigning?  Hmm…) will bother this crowd not a whit.  Contradictions have never bothered them; just look at the riches of the Vatican in light of the simple life of Jesus.  And such a rationalization will let them off the hook; they won’t have to listen to the poseur who thinks he is pope; they only have to listen to what the guy in the red Pradas had to say about the inherent evil of homosexuality, the uppitiness of the sisters, the unpardonable sin of contraception and other such nonsense.