I came back from Rome after an October visit smitten.
Not with the ancient glories of that historic city, but with the modern “glories” of the new Pope.
No, I did not meet Pope Francis.
No, I am not a Catholic.
And, yes, I will continue to protest against some of the church dogma that I think does harm to people, especially women.
Yet, how can one rail against a pope who, dwelling near Vatican splendor, comes across less like a pontiff and more like a servant of the world?
Who lives in a small apartment in San Marco rather than the traditional and spacious Papal suite in the Apostolic Palace?
Who walks, or drives a modest car, while bishops and cardinals pass him by in limousines?
Who puts together a new council of diverse cardinals from eight different countries to help him reform and restructure the church?
Who makes his own phone calls, even to the outspoken atheist journalist Eugenio Scalfari, whom he actually agrees to let interview him. Here are some direct quotes from that interview:
On evil: “The most serious of the evils that afflict the world these days are youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old.”
On proselytism: “Proselytism is solemn nonsense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other … .”
On autonomy and conscience: “Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them.”
On church narcissism: “The heads of the church have been narcissists, flattered and thrilled by their courtiers. The court is the leprosy of the papacy. I do not share this (Vatican-centered) view of the world and I’ll do everything I can to change it.”
On women in the church: “(Next time) we will also discuss the role of women in the church,” says the pope to Scalfari as they part. “Remember, the church is feminine.”
My Sister of Loretto friend Lydia Peña, who admires Pope Francis (especially for his “generous, inclusive, open heart”), is hopeful and patient about what will change for women. “He has said that the feminine genius is needed wherever the church makes important decisions. True, presently, he is not promoting female ordination to the priesthood. He is listening, and I remind myself that he has only been serving as pope for some nine months.”
Some Catholics are appalled that Pope Francis seems to be marginalizing core Catholic positions such as the censure of abortion and homosexuality, and that he has publicly said things like, “If a homosexual person is of goodwill and is in search of God, I am no one to judge.”
Yet, most accounts reveal that he is not reversing the church position on these issues. He simply does not want to become “obsessed” with such matters to the detriment of other missions.
One specifically mentioned in the Scalfari interview: “We must restore hope to young people, help the old, spread love. Be poor among the poor. We need to include the excluded and preach peace.”
Then, last Tuesday, in his first Papal Document, Pope Francis expanded the economic aspect of this mission, sharply challenging those people who “continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world … . Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting … .
“I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets rather than a church which is unhealthy … from clinging to its own security.”
Clearly, the pope’s Jesuit roots of men and women in the service of others, and his identity with St. Francis’ mission of ministering to the poor, are shining through.
I applaud!
Dottie Lamm (dolamm59@gmail.com), former first lady of Colorado, is a spiritual humanist.
