‘You surprised
me!’
is the name of a book by Joe Mannath. This poetical title becomes very relevant
with the sweet and simple Francis, the pope.
We were all
watching this otherwise unassuming and simple shepherd from Argentina to make a
difference for the good of the sheep Jesus entrusted to Peter ensuring his
irrevocable commitment to love him. Thereafter, it were days of surprise after
surprises.
And on 25th Sept I received
a mail from one of my friends providing me with an attachment. It was the
interview
Antonio Spadaro, S.J., editor in chief of La Civiltà Cattolica, the
Italian Jesuit journal, had in person with Pope Francis on 20th Sept
’13. It was conducted on behalf of La Civiltà Cattolica, Thinking
Faith, America and several other major Jesuit journals
around the world. See and savor the outright honesty, beauty and boldness
befitting an enlightened.
Spadaro starts point-blank: “Who is Jorge
Mario Bergoglio?” The pope stares at him in silence. He asks him if he may ask
him this question. He nods and replies: “I do not know what might be the most
fitting description.... I am a sinner. This is the most accurate definition. It
is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.”
This simple man is making waves already,
waves of hope in a seemingly drowning/sinking church ship. May be that she has
conveniently forgotten a saying attributed to the hard core atheist, Frederick
Nietzsche. It is somewhat like this: ‘Christ was a crocodile. Church was built
upon it. The crocodile went down and the church alone is seen.’ One of my
friends in the early eighties wrote a verse exhorting to make roofs out of
crosses without Christ for the poor!
Though the alarm had already been raised with
the scandals of child sex abuse, corruption and incompetence, she was sitting
rather complacent. May be that Pope Benedict XVI was bold and humble enough to
take the lead by stepping down with a clear hint that he was no more competent
to lead!
Naturally the worried and anxious faithful
were expecting a new shepherd who will steer clear the ship of impending
troubles and take it to the safe shores. And they were indeed praying the lord
of harvests to send a man of his heart of warmth and understanding and not
judging and condemning. Yes, the lord heard the prayers and gave this simple
man who preferred to live in the apartment in the Casa Santa Marta, hinting at
what is in store for the days to come.
How honest, humble and bold was he to suggest:
‘Who am I to judge?’ He had the heart of Jesus when he asked us not to
‘interfere spiritually’ in the lives of gays, lesbians and so on. Pastors have
enough urgent business of nourishing the faithful with the ‘saving love of God’
than judging and penalizing.
The other day he was heard referring to the
all encompassing church centre and was again hinting at decentralization. It is
better that the local church address the local issues, if necessary only in consultation
with the Vatican.
He was eloquent while speaking of greed the
minority which begets poverty for the majority. He brands it as ‘idolatry of
greed!’
“I did not see myself as a priest on my own.
I need a community… I cannot live without people. I need to live my life with
others.” What an awesome understanding of priesthood!
In pastoral ministry we must accompany
people, and we must heal their wounds…I dream of a church that is a mother and
shepherdess. God is greater than sin…The first reform must be the attitude. The
ministers of the Gospel must be people who can warm the hearts of the people,
who walk through the dark night with them, who know how to dialogue and to
descend themselves into their people’s night, into the darkness, but without
getting lost
Religion has the right to express its opinion
in the service of the people, but God in creation has set us free:
it is not possible to interfere spiritually in the life of a person.
Here is a real shepherd God
has given to his church ‘to speak freely and say what needs to be said’ – not
fearing the loss of favor with people… they are certainly not guarding their
flock with the care expected of a shepherd but are acting like hirelings,
because hiding behind a wall of silence is like taking flight at the approach
of the wolf.’…They are likened to dumb dogs that cannot bark… The lips of a
priest, adorning the office of herald, shall guard knowledge, and men shall
seek instruction from his mouth…’ (Pastoral Rule of Gregory the Great, Bk 2,
4 in p.609-10 of The Divine Office, Vol. III)
Let me conclude with
the first and last lines of the Hindu editorial today: ‘Pope Francis may have
been an unlikely successor to Pope Benedict XVI, but he is already emerging as
a remarkable pope… For Roman Catholicism, (he) may well be a truly
world-historic figure.
Let us try to
take clues from this great pope and mend our ways to enable God’s people
realize the Kingdom of God in their midst.
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