Pope Francis wants a Church of the poor. Thus he has chosen not to wear the more regal looking outerwear of popes, including the simple mozzetta. His liturgical vestments while tasteful are austere and of a narrow type. There is no experimentation with the wide variety of vestments that Pope Benedict chose to wear.
He doesn't want bishops who act like princes. Of course the Holy Father's concept of a "prince" is of one that lords his authority over the people and wants to be served and recognized rather than to serve and recognize others. But is this skewed understanding of monarchy based upon the monarchy of Christ as the Church has developed it over the course of centuries based upon Jesus' own use of monarchical terms to describe His mission which the evangelists carry on in the Gospel? Should Pope Francis have a better theology of Catholic monarchy based upon the Sacred Scriptures use of the term and the images and icons that evolve from it over the course of time that find its apex in the accoutrements of the pre-Vatican II Church which Pope Benedict wanted to revive?
Are monarchical trappings for the popes, cardinals, bishops and monsignors of the Church off-putting to the egalitarian, dumbed-down, casual attitudes of modern folk? Should the Church acquiesce to the tee shirt generation in shorts and flip flops?
Is this off putting?
7 comments:
Christ's kingship and the Monarchical rule of the Kingdom are inescapable Biblical teachings. We don't know what the Pope is up to yet.
I got a real sense of Christ as a True King at a Divine Liturgy. This Kingship, I don't think, was ever mentioned explicitly. but through the Liturgy and the rubrics, I could see and feel the real Kingship of Christ. It was more real than I ever felt at Mass.
Do people really know what the office of King entailed? Today's kings are constitutional monarchs at best and are little more than symbols of their nations.
In olden days to say God was King meant something more significant than it does today. In fact, modernism relegated God/Jesus to the role of a yes-man not an absolute monarch.
I have mentioned before that I think the kingship of Christ needs to be stressed now more than ever. Too many laypeople consider Christ to be their brother, and therefore their equal. People don't worship their equals, and everything in Mass takes place in a horizontal dimension.
We need more emphasis on Christ the King and vertical worship. Then, maybe, people will remember that it is God who determines what is and is not a sin- not us!
On a side note, the sleeves on those albs are beautiful! Are the crochet patterns for those available somewhere, or are they reserved for religious orders? I love to crochet, and would be willing to attempt such a challenging project.
Carol - I suspect that is lace, not crocheting.
The evolution of our appreciation of Jesus is a fascinating story. Stephen Prothero writes about it in "American Jesus" How the Son of God Became a National Icon."
This development happened almost across the board, in terms of religions in America. It is not a Catholic phenomenon or a Protestant phenomenon, but a reality we have all encountered.
Most handmade lace is made by crochet with narrow hooks and thread. My German grandmother handmade beautiful crochet lace doilies when I was young; it is what inspired me to learn to crochet when I was 12.
The fact that Jesus has become"nationalized" or made into a popular icon has no effect on Christology. Cultural misperceptions and misappropriations of Jesus are many, from Billy Graham and Richard Nixon walking into Shea Stadium arm in arm with the American flag waving above them to Priests and nuns dragging the same flag through the streets and wearing t-shirts showing Jesus smoking a joint. Both are wrong; both are distortions based upon socio-political fadistic theology.
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