John Allen of the National Chismatic Reporter has as usual a very good article in the NCR on Pope Francis from interviews that John Allen conducted in Argentina recently. You can read his very good and thorough article, "Who Francis may be, based on who Bergoglio was" by PRESSING these sentences HERE.
I thought John Allen's insight in what he writes was very valuable:
Not a conservative
Most early profiles of Pope Francis describe him as a theological and political conservative, largely based on two points of his biography: that he resisted some expressions of liberation theology as a Jesuit provincial in the 1970s, and that he’s had a rocky relationship with the center-left government of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, especially over the issue of gay marriage.
While both things are true, people who know the lay of the land here insist there’s little meaningful sense in which Bergoglio could be described as a “conservative”, at least as measured by the standards of the church. They make three points:
Bergoglio is one of the least ideological people you’ll ever meet, more interested in concrete situations than in grand political theories.
The most serious opposition to Bergoglio from within the Catholic fold in Argentina consistently came from the right, not the left.
Despite a checkered personal history with the Kirchner family, Bergoglio had good relations with other members of Argentina’s current government, and is open to dialogue with all political forces.
MY COMMENTS: Many progressives in the Church at the time of Cardinal Ratzinger's election thought he would bring to the papacy what many in the media thought was his gruff, uncaring nature. Yet, he surprised his critics, wrote a stunning encyclical on love and reached out to Hans Kung and could not be characterized as a ultra-conservative reactionary pope.
Will Pope Francis have a similar metamorphosis as the pope. We know that the Holy Spirit gives special graces to priests, bishops and popes and prompts them to be more like Christ. Time will tell how Pope Francis deals with the more traditional elements of the Church and the SSPX.
2 comments:
For all the despair many of us trads and near-trads express upon the election of Pope Francis, we seem to overlook that Francis is nearly a mirror image of beloved trad pope, St Pius X.
Here is a quote from a1910 issue of Collier's:
Pius X, the kind, unaffected, peasant Pope, has removed many prejudices from the Vatican. One day, soon after his election, he invited his secretary to dinner and made him take a seat at his own table. "Your Holiness," remonstrated an old master of ceremonies, struck with amazement at the innovation, "it is the custom for the Pope to dine by himself, in solitary grandeur!" "Well," calmly asked the Pope, "and who established this custom?" "Urban VII, your Holiness, in the year 1590," promptly answered the master of ceremonies. "Pius X abolished it to-day," said the Pope, and his secretary, his three sisters and niece, and his old humble friends from Riesi and Venice have since dined at his table The members of the papal court, from the major-domo to the last bussolante or doorkeeper, object to these reforms and shake their heads in disapproval, but the Pope evidently overlooks silent opposition as he keeps on removing prejudices and traditions.
Here are other similarities (originally compiled on CAF):
Francis PP.: "I want a church by the poor and for the poor"
S. Pius PP. X: "I was born poor, I have lived poor, I wish to die poor"
Francis PP.: Cut down on papal ceremonial, including use of iron cross and wore white cassock and others.
S. Pius PP. X: Cut down on papal ceremonial, including use of gilded wooden cross rather than solid gold cross and other things.
Francis PP.: Washed women's feet on Holy Thursday, horrifying some
S. Pius PP. X: Gave communion to four year old boy, horrifying some
Francis PP.: Expected to reform curia and liturgy, and church law
S. Pius PP. X: Reformed liturgy (Tra le sollecitudini), Curia (abolished Inquistion) and codified Canon Law.
Francis PP.: Comes from unexpected background, Argentina
S. Pius PP. X: Comes from unexpected background, poor
Francis PP.: Strong defender of Catholic moral teachings.
S. Pius PP. X: Strong defender of Catholic moral teachings.
Francis PP.: Known as compassionate and very kind.
S. Pius PP. X: Known as compassionate and very kind.
Francis PP.: Papacy followed an erudite scholar (Benedict XVI)
S. Pius PP. X: Papacy followed an erudite scholar (Leo XIII)
I know I prayed for God to give us "another pope like Giuseppi Sarto", and it looks like He did... but our own human pride and conceit may be preventing us from seeing it, as we may have expected God's answer to be Cardinal Ranjith or Cardinal Burke.
"Francis PP: Expected to reform curia and liturgy, and church law".
The first, perhaps, but hardly the others. Canon Law was recodified only in JP II's reign, and Francis is not interested in liturgy in the way that Pius X was (or Benedict XVI for that matter). As for music, he admits to being tone-deaf (an advantage when he had to suffer what passes for liturgical music in South America).
What he did or didn't do as Cardinal Bergoglio is much less relevant to his papacy as was what Ratzinger was doing prior to his election. However, if he has an obstinate streak this will not serve him well as an absolute monarch (which in effect the pope is). Pius X was also stubborn, but had the admirable and diplomatic Merry del Val to support and advise him. The success or otherwise of Francis's papacy will depend on whom he is prepared to trust and take advice from.
Post a Comment