Pope
with many Faces & Firsts
It looks Holy Spirit has selected the right man for Papacy in a
globalised world. Unlike the much talked about Arab Spring, will he succeed to
bring about a Vatican Spring of collegiality, co-responsibility, transparency
and free dialogue envisioned by the
Council?
James
Kottoor
God
Bless and Long Live the 266th POPE FRANCIS I (Jorge Mario Bergoglio
76), a providential confluence of many FIRSTS: First to assume the name Francis
loaded with multiple spiritual connotations, first progressive and conservative
Argentinean, first Latin American, first from outside Europe and first
Jesuit to become Pope, first Pope with a single lung, first pedestrian cardinal
who sold his Episcopal palace to
live in an apartment cooking own food and travelling by bus to witness his option for the poor
following the example of Jesus who came to serve, not to rule, first Pope to ask
his people to bless him first before he blesses them, first Pope, who reportedly advised
through his envoys to urge Argentineans not to fly to Rome to
celebrate his Papacy, but instead donate that money to the
poor.
Nay
last year he even created a storm in a tea cup of smooth, cosy relations in
Episcopal brotherhood when he accused fellow church leaders of hypocrisy for
forgetting that Jesus Christ bathed lepers and ate with prostitutes. That could have been why he was not lucky to find a place in the short listed group of potential
Popes although he was the runner up close on the heels of Benedict XVI in the
2005 conclave.
"Jesus teaches us another way: Go out. Go out and share your testimony. Go out
and interact with your brothers. Go out and share. Go out and ask. Become the
Word in body as well as spirit," he had told Argentina's priests last year.
Choice of Name: Francis
First let us take the name he chose. What is in a name? Everything, according to
the Latin Maxim: "Nomen est omen" - a name is a sign – conveying a
powerful message like: “Peter, thou art Rock”. It is as valid today for popes as
it was for ancient Roman emperors to proclaim their power and position.
Bergoglio
chose the name of the 12th century “Poverillo of
Assisi”: Francis, who become the epitome of humility, sweet simplicity and
poverty, yes of that Francis who was born of a very rich cloth merchant father,
but had the audacity to leave behind to his father, even the clothes he was
wearing and run away naked to rather “marry his lady poverty” in
order to rebuild the crumbling God’s church of his times than be a slave to his
father’s riches.
The whole world knows that no one has imitated Jesus so closely and intimately
as Francis did and so was known as “Second Christ.” Hence I was forced to dare
and write earlier that I looked for the outstanding traits of Jesus, especially
those of his Foot-washing ministry in the new
Pope.
So when I heard the new Pope took the name Francis, I was simply overwhelmed and
thought my dream already came true. But a second thought, if the Pope being a
Jesuit could be referring to the world trotting 15th century
Spanish Jesuit missionary
evangelist: “Francis Xavier” troubled me. But he was not. So my mind wanted to
include him also in the ambit of his name since Xavier was the second great
missionary to India after the Doubting Thomas. And who can ever forget Francis
Xavier’s penetrating exhortation and exclamation: “What does it profit a man if
he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?”
Progressive and Traditional
According to reports, the former cardinal of Buenos Aires is said to be both
progressive and conservative selectively. That may be the right way of following
a middle course avoiding extremes, in the spirit of the wise counsel:
Virtus Stat in Medio – virtue stands in the middle. On doctrinal issues Pope Francis has been
opposed to liberation theology in general, gay or same sex marriage, abortion,
free distribution of contraceptives to all by government, ordination of women
etc. following in the footsteps of Emeritus Pope Benedict. In fact he called
adoption of children by same-sex couples as “a war against God.” For this
conflict with the dictatorial government in Argentena, present president
Christina Fernandes compared Francis’s times to those of "medieval times and the Inquisition."
In this context his leftist critics accuse him for not doing enough for the two
young Jesuits Orlando Yorio and Franciso Jalics kidnapped by the brutal right-wing Junta
for torture. It was during
1976 to1983 called Argentina’s
“Dirty War” period when some 30,000 people died or disappeared. Vatican
has firmly rejected this allegation
because these two were released after five months,
reportedly thanks to Bergoglio’s
pleadings with Jorge Videla, head of the
Junta.
According to Pope’s biographer Sergio
Rubin
as Cardinal he advocated some aspects of liberation theology and used Jesus
Christ's teachings to justify fight
against social injustices. Equally he has been tough on hard-line conservatives
among his clerics who refused to baptise children of unmarried women. "These are
today's hypocrites; those who clericalize the church," he told his priests.
"Those who separate the people of God from salvation. And this poor girl who,
rather than returning the child to sender, had the courage to carry it into the
world, must wander from parish to parish so that it's baptized!" So Director of Catholic Voices USA, a
pro-church group said of him: “He is a real voice for the voiceless and
vulnerable.”
In addition in 2001 he
was reported to have washed the feet of 12 HIV patients in Muniz Hospital, Buenos Aires and
kissed them telling reporters that “society forgets the sick and poor”. I was just prayerfully dreaming in my
last piece that the Pope going to be elected should be “a
foot-washing minister always like Jesus, not on Holy Thursdays only” and here I
am presented with Pope Francis doing just that to HIV patients, not in the
sacred precincts of a Cathedral but in the sick surroundings of
a hospital. That left
totally confused about its portents except say simply: “Thank God!”
As cardinal he has been most uncomfortable with exhibitionism of worldly
splendour and pomp in the church. His personal style has been the antithesis of
Vatican ways. His biographer Rubin says: "It's a very curious thing. When
bishops meet, he always wants to sit in the back rows. This sense of humility is
very well seen in Rome." He is said
to be a Pope with a single lung because due to an infection when he was a teenager one of his
lungs had to be removed.
Preaches with
Deeds
St. Francis told his followers to go to the ends of the
world preaching the good news but never to open their mouth, meaning they should
preach with their example, with their deeds, their way of life. Pope Francis I,
demonstrated it in practice at his first appearance after election. He asked his
admiring crowd to first pray for him in silence for few moments and then to
bless him, before he gives them his blessing, Urbi et Orbi
(city and world). He then bend himself forward, bowed his head and
stayed with folded hands for a few moments to receive their blessing. Only after
that he blessed them. In doing so
was he not also acknowledging the
equality and priesthood of all believers in Jesus called to pray and bless
others?
Born in
Buenos Aires in 1936, Bergoglio is the son of an Italian immigrant and railway
worker from the region around Turin. He has four brothers and
sisters. Originally he planned
to become a chemist, but in 1958 he joined the Jesuits. He was always in the
forefront to promote social justice. "We
live in the most unequal part of the world, which has grown the most yet reduced
misery the least. The unjust distribution of goods persists, creating a
situation of social sin that cries out to Heaven and limits the possibilities of
a fuller life for so many of our brothers," Bergoglio had told a gathering of Latin American bishops in
2007.
In principle he is said to
oppose International Monetary Fund and Neoliberalism. His personal delight is to
spend much of his precious time in the slums. Doesn’t he deserve the prayers, good
wishes and moral support of people of good will all over the world? May the Lord
bless and prosper his foot-washing Vicar, to inspire and lead the people of God
here on earth.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
With Warm Regards,
Dr. James Kottoor,
Dr. James Kottoor,
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