Fifty years after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965),
Pope Francis set about implementing the spirit of the letter after the two last
popes had concentrated on holding the Roman Catholic Church in check lest it
lose itself in accommodating itself too much to the modern world. I submit that the pope's primary objective was to change a problematic clerical attitude rather than to rid the Church of its wealth or drastically change the Church's moral stances.
On the
surface, the pope’s “vision of Vatican II has translated into a dramatic shift
in priorities, with an emphasis on social justice over controversial moral
teachings” such as on abortion and gay marriage.[1]
Calling out the clerical obsession on the “social issues,” the pope sought as
he assumed the papacy to provide his colleagues with a dose of perspective. To
be sure, the pope did not alter the Church’s position on those issues or on
whether divorced Catholics should be allowed to take Communion. Nor did he act on
his demand for a “poor church for the poor.”[2]
Rather, his main concern was directed against the “theological narcissism,” as
he put it, that imposes rather than proposes to the larger secular society.[3]
Perhaps then a poor church would be one that is humble,
rather than necessarily without wealth. This would dovetail with Clement of
Alexandria’s “Sermon on the Rich Man,” in which the early theologian claims
that a rich Christian can indeed get into heaven as long as one does not desire
more than necessities (and that which is to be given to the poor).[4]
What is important, that is, is which master the rich man serves—God or money.
Indeed, Hermas and John Chrysostom emphasized the value of charity as a good
use of wealth, and the Church could not give what it does not have.
So the poverty that the pope might have had in mind could be
that of humility in spirit. As one bishop put it, the pope “is saying, ‘We have
the revelation, but we don’t have the application for all times; don’t presume
that we know everything and that we have every answer.”[5]
Hence the pope called the Synod of Bishops to debate how the Church should
regard divorced, remarried, and gay Catholics. From the pope’s point of view,
being against divorce, for example, does not preempt being welcoming toward
Catholics who have divorced. After all, it is difficult to imagine Jesus
slamming the door on them even if he did not approve of divorce. Compassion
particularly to those people who are regarded as impure was Jesus’s strong
suit. Indeed, this put him on a collision course with the Jewish authorities in
Jerusalem. Pope Francis’s agenda can be characterized in such terms, wherein
attitude ideally checks ego at the door even among priests and bishops, for
nothing is worse for a religious institution than the veneer of hypocrisy.
[1]
Francis X. Bocca, “The New Rome,” The
Wall Street Journal, April 4-5, 2015.
[2]
Ibid.
[3]
Ibid.
[5]
Ibid.
