The news has hit like bombshells.
One day after the funeral of Australian Cardinal George Pell, with all the pomp of such a Vatican-like event, we learned that last March, under a pseudonym, Pell had written a scathing condemnation of Pope Francis and his entire pontificate. Now another cardinal, Gerhard Müller, has put forward a book-length memo in a similar vein.
For those of us who revere Pope Francis and his Christ-like papal ministry, we might dismiss these screeds as the rantings of dyspeptic old men with axes to grind in their tiny Vatican world. (Müller was dismissed by Francis as Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2017; Pell’s term as head of the Secretariat for the Economy was not renewed in 2019.)
But it is becoming obvious that these startling revelations from the pinnacle of the Roman Catholic hierarchy point to a more generalized fault line in the Church, one that runs through its entire ranks, clerical and lay. The question becomes: Is Pope Francis’ vision for the Church being repudiated, as Pell and Müller described it, as “catastrophic” or “toxic”?
Such divisions are not new. The experience of the very early Church reveals a similar scenario. The Acts of the Apostles relate the disagreement among those who had known Jesus personally as to whether non-Jews should have to embrace Judaism before baptism as Christians. In other words, could Gentiles be directly evangelized?
That debate resulted in what is known as the Council of Jerusalem. One wonders what would have happened if the forces of conservatism had prevailed and Gentiles excluded. What then would have been the history of the Christian Church? And what of those who held this restrictive position? Did they leave the Church and continue to promote their opinions?
Some criticisms of Pope Francis are understandable (for example, delays on the part of the Vatican to address credible accusations of sexual abuse against bishops and priests; frustration at the pope’s inaction on clerical celibacy or the priestly ordination of women.) However, on balance it is clear to thinking Catholics and to the wider world generally that this pontiff has brought a “new springtime” to the Church, much like that of Pope St. John XXIII and his decision to “open the windows [of Catholicism] and let in the fresh air.”
Another look then at the inspiration for Pope Francis’ objectives:
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J. is a product of the Vatican II Latin American Catholic Church. His chronology parallels almost exactly that of its last 60 years.
The Latin American Bishops’ Conferences implemented Pope John’s Council in extraordinary ways basically through a series of continent-wide gatherings of the People of God held about every 15 years from 1968 until 2007. To understand the effect this has had on the future pope, and at the risk of over-simplification, several features of this history are important to note:
- They were gatherings of the entire People of God: laity, clerics, vowed religious and hierarchy
- They based their agendas on the concrete realities of their people
- They were deeply influenced by the methodology of liberation theology: social analysis, theological reflection and consequent pastoral action.
- God’s Word continually informed these processes.
- They called the entire Church to a adopt a “preferential option for the poor.”
- They understood that social structures are under the judgment of biblical imperatives
- It gave rise to Base Christian Communities – local groups led by lay women and men which regularly engaged in analysis, prayer and action.
This is the Church in which Jorge Mario Bergoglio grew up, in which he chose religious life, rose to its hierarchy, and which he has so clearly brought to the papacy. His is an ecclesiology of openness, inclusion, respect for God’s action in every human being. It is diametrically opposite to an ecclesiology of those who favor “wrapping a shroud of rigidity around Jesus.”
Joe Nangle OFM is a Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace. As a member of the Assisi Community in Washington, D.C., he is dedicated to simple living and social change. Joe also serves as the Pastoral Associate for the Latino community at Our Lady Queen of Peace, Arlington, Virginia.