The Pope's Plan Is Working Perfectly
There is an instruction regarding world leaders: “Listen to what they say and you know what they will do.” The same can be said about Pope Francis.
The pope, since day one, called Catholics to a prophetic style of living based on prayer and Eucharistic adoration, helping the poor and marginalized and bringing down rigorism. If you listen to what he actually says, you will see what he actually does and you will see they are congruent.
The latest instruction has many traditionalists in the Church upset and ready to start a revolution. Franciscan University of Steubenville professor Regis Martin writing in Crisis Magazine recommends that the pope resign and spend the rest of his life in a monastery engaged in prayer and penance.
The editor of the same magazine promotes Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s catechism Credo which dismisses Vatican II as a non-infallible Council and embraces the sixteenth-century teaching of the post-reformation Council of Trent.
The reactions to the pope and his cabinet reflect a lack of understanding of what his intentions are. However, I take them as signs the pope’s plan is working exactly as he intends — pruning the Church of those who fight for a Catholicism of their own making at every turn, while others embrace Francis’ Vatican II vision for the future of the Church.
A call to serve the poor
Catholic teaching includes what is known as the special option for the poor. It was a hallmark of Jesus’ actions in ministering to those who did not have the money or power to fulfill their needs. The healed received Jesus’ miraculous grace because no doctor could care for them or they did not have the money to receive treatment. They come to the Lord seeking his power over their disease. He ensures that they see him as the Son of God and not another form of medical treatment.
So, it was the poor who came to Jesus first because the poor could go to no one else. The pope calls Catholics to help those who are poor for God has a special love for them. It is they that can most receive his grace and power.
The poor are the poor often for a reason. The man or woman begging on a city subway system obviously do not fit into society normally or they would not be begging. So to help the poor is to help those who are unable to get what they need in normal ways. God calls the church to have a special ministry to those people which is never easy.
Therefore, if you help the poor, your hands will get dirty and you will be challenged in every way. To do it well, you need prayer and this is what the pope wants.
Cafeteria Catholics
Some bishops and more traditional Catholics against the pope stand behind doctrinal barriers. They are far from being with the poor to the level to which the pope calls them. They do not get their hands dirty and they are not with the sheep. This means they have the luxury of being cafeteria Catholics.
Cafeteria Catholic is one whom traditionalists label for picking and choosing which doctrines their opponents will follow. However, if traditionalists stay behind doctrinal walls and protect themselves from the difficulties of working with the marginalized or listening to the pope then they are in a different cafeteria but still one nevertheless. So now they call for Francis to resign as a sign they will choose what to embrace and what to reject. Just as one does in a cafeteria.
The reaction to the latest document Fiducia Suplicans (FS) exacerbates this rift. Traditional Catholics grew extremely upset that someone may bless same-sex couples. There is no prohibition of being a same-sex couple. In fact, that is called friendship and modeled well by David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 18, Jesus and John in John’s Gospel and even among the saints. The prohibition is against sexual activity outside of a sacramental marriage of any type. Catholics who grow angry at the blessing automatically assume the worst of not only those asking for a blessing but those giving one. They do not see it is a great opportunity for evangelism and speaking about what the Church actually teaches.
One example I like to explain is a gay man says he is going to the store and Christians immediately assume the worst, “he must be going to a sex shop.” In fact, he is simply going to the supermarket to buy bread, cold cuts and condiments. This is the problem with the pope’s opponents on FS. They assume that anyone looking for a same-sex blessing must be engaged in an active homosexual lifestyle. The Church calls all people to a relationship with Christ and in that to ask for the grace to live their lives as Christ wants. This is what the pope’s detractors do not understand. They reveal themselves as ignorant of solid pastoral practice in ministering to all.
Light shines into the darkness
A pastor can address issues in his flock when he brings the light of Christ into the darkness of religious manipulation. The pope is using this strategy to reveal the occult corners of rigorism and legalism which benefit the bourgeoisie and alienate the most who seek Christ — the poor and marginalized among all social strata.
The role of a good pastoral leader is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. It seems the comfortable are now quite afflicted. Hence why I believe the pope’s plan is working well.
Fr. Carr writes from St. Anthony Parish in Allston, MA. You can hear the parish podcast at https://stanthonyallston.org/radio-show/