I very much liked this piece in The Washington Post today about Pope Francis:
The pope himself seems unconcerned, continuing his unpredictable riff. He embraces the big bang. He appears in selfies. He criticizes euthanasia. He invites Patti Smith, the godmother of punk, to perform at the Vatican. He cashiers opponents. He calls the kingdom of God “a party” (which is precisely how the founder of the Christian faith referred to it). He is a man, by his own account, with no patience for “sourpusses.”
As a Protestant, I have no particular insight into the internal theological debates of Catholicism. But the participants seem to inhabit different universes. One side (understandably) wants to shore up the certainties of an institution under siege. Francis begins from a different point: a pastoral passion to meet people where they are — to recognize some good, even in their brokenness, and to call them to something better. That something better is not membership in a stable institution, or even the comforts of ethical religion; it is a relationship with Jesus, from which all else follows.
Instead of being a participant in a cultural battle, Francis says, “I see the church as a field hospital after battle.” First you sew up the suffering (which, incidentally, includes all of us). “Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds.” The temptation, in his view, is to turn faith into ideology. “The faith passes,” he recently said, “through a distiller and becomes ideology. And ideology does not beckon [people]. In ideologies there is not Jesus; in his tenderness, his love, his meekness. And ideologies are rigid, always. . . . The knowledge of Jesus is transformed into an ideological and also moralistic knowledge, because these close the door with many requirements.”…
As I’ve said before, this pope hasn’t said anything new, in terms of doctrine. I am bemused when nonCatholics, or extremely inattentive Catholics, express wonder that the pope embraces, say, evolution. I had never before run into any basic conflict between the Catholic faith and evolution.
But the very simple, and yet amazing, thing that he does is make sure that you hear what’s important about the faith. He makes sure you hear the love. You patch up the suffering first — heal the wounds. The rest is secondary.
Who cares that Patti Smith’s “Gloria” doesn’t start “Glory to God in the highest,” but rather, “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine?” Well, OK, I guess we should care to some extent. But what this pope does is reach out to Patti where she is. He tries to get her to feel the love. And she seems to dig it.
And so it is that we now have our first protopunk pontiff…
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I guess nothing important happened in SC,today.
“The temptation, in his view, is to turn faith into ideology. “The faith passes,” he recently said, “through a distiller and becomes ideology. And ideology does not beckon [people]. In ideologies there is not Jesus; in his tenderness, his love, his meekness. And ideologies are rigid, always. . . ”
YES!!!! This Methodist thinks Francis is awesome.
Pope Francis’ idiosyncratic approach confuses the elite commentariat, the folks with an audience who have neither faith nor a firm notion of how humans should conduct themselves. You know them: they are the ones who regard Moses’ tablets as the Ten Suggestions. The even shallower among them thought that Benedict XVI, John Paul II’s successor, erred by not taking the name George-Ringo I.
But Frankie’s been around long enough so that most ignorati have abandoned any hope that he’ll change to any noticeable degree the Church’s teaching on birth control, abortion, homosexual acts, premarital sex, post-marital sex, the current Dutch treat (i.e., euthanasia), or heating and air conditioning. Regarding the last item, the Vatican Museum is able to preserve its relics — chalices from France, crucifixes from Spain, tapestries from throughout Europe, und so weiter – thanks to America’s gift of climate control for its buildings. Just ask the curator.
As Brad points out, Catholics evantually learned their lesson with Galileo and regard the domain of science as separate from the domain of religion: the former encompasses the physical world, while the later focuses on the spiritual. Exhibit 1 is the Vatican Observatory these days, and it ain’t looking for the Cherubim and Seraphim. Or you can look at it this way: you do not have to believe in gravity, but it will affect you anyway.