WELL HELLO POPE FRANCIS

No one should underestimate the significance of the election of the Argentinean Cardinal Bergoglio as Pope. In the closed world of the Catholic Church, every gesture can have massive symbolism and meaning. (Blog: Catholicism in Crisis – Can the Vatican Change? February 2013). While one can only rely on the rumors, gossip and speculation as to the intrigue that lead to his election, the fact that a Cardinal not from Italy or Europe was elected Pope is in and of itself extraordinary. This particularly so in the light of the fact that the majority of Cardinals are from Europe and more than half of all the Cardinals had been appointed by the outgoing Pope Benedict XV1. In addition his appointments worsened the disparity between the number of European Cardinals and the rest. On retiring the outgoing Pontiff had called for, "A smaller more cohesive Church".

Now Bergoglio was not even mentioned as a contender in the run up to the conclave. He was not even the most fancied South American candidate. The bookmakers had him as a 16/1 shot far behind the favorites. It was believed that the Pope favored the Canadian Cardinal Quelet and the favorite was the Milanese Cardinal Scala. Bergoglio had been runner up to Benedict XV1 in the previous conclave and if rumor has any merit they represented different factions within the narrow band of Church Policy interpretation. Now his election means that the majority of the Cardinals, not only him, are representative of whatever nuances he may bring to the interpretation of the doctrine.

All this means that two thirds of the Cardinals thought that Bergoglio was the mortal to fill Saint Peter’s shoes at this stage in the Church’s history. Also they came to that conclusion on, only, the second day of their conclave. The Argentinean was no compromise candidate elected after days and days of polling, he was the clear choice almost from the get go. Again this is significant in and of itself.

Before continuing one must bear in mind that the Catholic Church Crisis relates to two separate domains: The first relates to Church Doctrine which includes contraceptive practices, women’s involvement in the church, celibacy for the priesthood, denial of church rights to the divorces, attitudes to homosexuality and the like. The second involves the administration of the church and the financial and sexual scandals it has gotten itself involved in.  The combined impact gives the current poor image of the Church.

WHO IS CARDINAL BERGOGLIO ?

Anyone listening or viewing the announcement of the new pope would have heard that the commentators had no biographic material prepared for this eventuality. In the studios everyone was scurrying into the archives to get information on the new Jesuit Pontiff. 

Before the facts became available he would send a loud and clear message as to who and what he will be. He would be the first Pope Francis – the humblest of the humble. One needed no special knowledge to know what that meant. Saint Francis of Assisi was known for his peaceful nature and sympathy for the needy. Bergoglio asked the colossal crowd assembled in Vatican City to pray for him while making it clear that he had come from far away to be have the honor to be the Bishop of Rome. He also blessed those in the throng that were not of the Catholic faith. The next day he told reporters he wanted “A poor Church and for the poor”.

This all was synchronous with the biographical details that were being fed to the announcers. He lived in a small apartment, cooked for himself and used public transport. He was in and among the poor as a matter of habit and identified with the underprivileged. Pope Francis followed his election by not standing on a lectern so as to be on the same footing as his Cardinal Brothers, traveled with them by bus and not the Pope limo and paid his Hotel Bill on his own.

However, his doctrinaire social opinions were conservative. He had publicly challenged the right of gay couples to adopt and at no stage has shown any inclination to buck the current church line.

RELATIONSHIP WITH THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

Cardinal Bergoglio has had a long and warm relationship with the Jewish Community on every level.  On a representative level he has had dialogue with the World Jewish and the Latin American Jewish Congresses and the Argentinean Communities. Claude Epelman, the Executive Director of the Latin American Jewish Congress said they knew his values and his strengths. The former Head of the World Jewish Congress reflected that he had worked with the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires on a welfare project for poor Jews and Catholics. Bergoglio had attended a Rosh Hashanah Service where he said; “We are people on a journey where we place ourselves in God’s presence”. Bergoglio also attended a Kristallnacht memorial service as well as being in the forefront of the protest of the bombing of a Jewish Community Centre in Argentine.

At a time when the world is experiencing a new wave of anti – Semitism his election has to be a source of comfort to the world wide Jewish Community.

ALLEGED INVOLVEMENT WITH THE ARGENTINIAN MILITARY JUNTA

Pope Francis had been accused in a book of failing to protect two fellow Jesuit Priest during the “Dirty War” between 1976 and 1983. There were allegations that he did not do enough on their behalf when they were illegally detained and that he had even been complicit in their detention. There were also allegations that he new about baby stealing under the Military Junta. Although these allegations were vigorously denied by the Vatican, they are still out there in Argentine. So much so that The Centre of Legal and Social Studies in Argentine opposed his election as Pope.

The fact is that none of this has ever been proven and Bergoglio has formally denied the charges while acknowledging, when he was Bishop of Buenos Aires, that the Church did not do enough against the dictatorship and asking for forgiveness. The Vatican also pointed out that there had been many public declarations of how much he had done to protect citizens during the Military Dictatorship.

THE FUTURE

If there is going to be any major shift in policy it has to be in the domain of non  - doctrinaire issues. One would hope that the Pontiff would clean house with his administration at the Vatican, They have been, allegedly, responsible for failure to fully respond to the  the sexual abuse and banking scandals and their cover ups. The Vatican bureaucracy are immensely powerful as they provide the continuity in the Church and are responsible for the day to day running of an organization that involves every corner of the earth and one sixth of the world’s population. It is hard to imagine anyone, let alone a seventy – six year old spiritual leader of the World’s largest community, being able to keep tabs on all of this. Also the Church needs more decentralization. To this day, for example, every Bishop is appointed in Rome. Communities need to be allowed to take more responsibility.

The Pope would be wise to entrust the public resolution of the sexual and financial scandals, which have dogged the church for decades, to new officials that have experience in these areas. The belief that cover up after cover up will protect the Church has been proved erroneous again and again,

The doctrinaire issues, that have been responsible for loss of membership or total disinterest in the Church, such as a greater role for women, acceptance of homosexuality, priest celibacy and contraception are going to be a much tougher nut to crack even if Pope Francis is so inclined to tackle these.

However, there is one problem that, from a practical point of view, that has to be staring the new Pontiff in his face, and that is the demographics relating to the Priesthood. The number of Catholics has almost doubled since 1970 and the number of Priests has remained virtually the same. The average age of Priests in 1970 was thirty -five and in 2010 it was sixty-three. The social doctrinaire issues have had to play a significant role in this situation. In terms of Pope Francis’s philosophy the Church has to be about community and without leadership there the Church will stagnate. So to kick the can down the road on these issues is not going to move the Church out of crisis mode. If the root causes are not found and then addressed, in 2020 the average age of Priests will be seventy- three and the number even fewer.

CONCLUSION

There is little doubt that, on balance, Pope Francis is sending a loud and clear message for change. This is going to be a Pope who will be involved in the community and in social justice. Clearly these were not Pope Benedict XVI ‘s priorities who wanted to have a “smaller more cohesive Church”. In fact one of the criticsms of the  Leadership Conference of Women Religions, during Benedict XV1s Papacy, was that they concentrated too much on social justice rather than on the Church's doctrines.

 Clear too is the fact that the majority of the Cardinals who elected Bergoglio believed that change was needed. As matters stand at the moment the new Pope has given no indication that he will deviate one iota on the Church’s stance on the contentious social issues that are disrupting Church unity and the recruitment to the Priesthood. Although, given his radical stance in relation to the status quo in other areas, it might come as no surprise if he addressed an issue such as contraception.

In the few days since his election his sayings and public appearances and apparent accessibility has given him rock star status. In the long run the future of Catholic Church, however, will depend more on substance than on style.