Since
Pope Francis' election last week, the reaction in Catholic blogs has been
remarkable, schizophrenic even, totally split between two extreme
alternatives. The first is total,
complete, unquestioning adoration with nothing but good to say about the
man. The other is total, complete,
unquestioning condemnation of him laden with forebodings of gloom and doom with
no possible good coming from his selection.
Those taking this view see Francis as a man of dubious intentions, at
best.
I
have just one thing to say to all this, SNAP OUT OF IT! It's time for everyone to take a couple of
deep breaths and chill.
I
mean, can one man, at the same time, be both the savior of the Church a Marxist
Leninist partisan out to destroy her?
How can that be? I think the truth, while weighing more to the good
side, must be somewhere in the middle.
Let's
remember that Francis is a human being.
The pope, it's true, is the spiritual leader of the Church, the heir to
Peter's Chair, and, in certain very limited circumstances, gifted with a
certain infallibility concerning matters of faith and morals. Still, he's a human being, and outside those
circumstances, fallible and error prone.
It
seems to me the wise thing for everyone is to, as we used to say in Nam, hide
and watch. Let's sit back and allow
events to play out. Prayer mightn't be a
bad idea either, whichever side you find yourself on. Before making rash judgments, let's give the
man some time to show what he's about.
Our
Holy Father seems determined to lead by example, to make some much needed
changes in the hierarchy, and, in other ways, bring some new life into the
Church. He’ll make mistakes along the
way, he may not do everything you or I would like to see him do, but I think
he's on the right track. Whatever he
does, though, he'll most likely neither be the salvation of the Church nor the
instrument of its destruction. Remember,
the fate of the Church, the Body of Christ, isn't up to him. It's up to God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
My
own take on our new Holy Father? I'm not
sure I like the way he has so thoroughly shunned the symbols of papal
authority, the mozetta, the gold pectoral cross, etc. He is, after all, the man who occupies the
seat of Peter, he isn't just one of the boys among all the bishops, he’s the Bishop
of Rome, Supreme Pontiff. The symbols of
the office aren't about the man, the symbols aren't meant to honor the person but the office, which has a
certain dignity of its own which should be maintained. On the other hand, I think Francis sees the
Church in trouble because she has become disconnected from the faithful in ways
that need to be addressed. He has rightly
chosen to change that by reaching out, making the Church more open and
transparent, rather than turning the Church in on itself and pretending the
problems will go away, which would be devastating. It’s not an easy task, he’s chosen own way to
deal with it and should be given a chance to make it work.
In
any case, it would be best for all concerned if everyone just sat down, put
their feet up and relaxed, it's all good.
The Spirit guarantees it.
