By Fr Andrew Chase
I READ a story the other day entitled “Is Pope Francis steering the Church towards Schism?”
A quick Internet search revealed dozens more opinion pieces in the same vein, suggesting that Pope Francis has too little concern for faithfulness to Catholic doctrine.
And I found myself wondering: is it just me or is there a little too much hysteria in the air?
In his 18 months as pope, Francis has demonstrated a particular desire for openness and compassion in the Church, with a special focus on the poor and suffering.
In many ways he is pushing the Church in new directions.
But is this really a neglect for orthodoxy?
I would suggest instead that it is a call to even greater orthodoxy.
One of the unfortunate aspects of the Church in 21st century western society is our tendency to label people and ideas as either liberal or conservative.
The problem with these labels is that they can be very limiting and become tools with which to attack others and ignore what they are really saying: “Don’t listen to her – she’s just a conservative” or “What would he know – he’s a typical liberal”.
But Pope Francis does not easily fit into either of these categories – he is not interested in playing that game.
His concern is to be faithful to his role as the successor of St Peter – to be a point of unity for the Church and the guarantee that the Church will remain faithful to the teaching of Christ.
And one of the signs that he takes this role seriously came in the Holy Father’s address at the end of the recent synod on the family.
Towards the end of his speech, he said:
“The pope…is not the supreme lord but rather the supreme servant – the ‘servant of the servants of God’; the guarantor of the obedience and the conformity of the Church to the will of God, to the Gospel of Christ, and to the Tradition of the Church, putting aside every personal whim, despite being … the ‘supreme Pastor and Teacher of all the faithful’ and despite enjoying ‘supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the Church’.”
These are strong and clear words of a man who understands and takes seriously the power and authority he has, and who realises that the purpose of this power is to keep the Church obedient to and in conformity with the truth of Christ.
And this is why I said that Pope Francis, far from ignoring orthodoxy, is actually challenging us to a deeper orthodoxy – a deeper faithfulness to the truth. Indeed this is what every pope is called to do.
Pope Benedict XVI did this with great passion, as did St John Paul II.
They each realised the importance of this in their role as successor of St Peter.
So why is there so much angst and fear in the twitterverse and online blogs that maybe Pope Francis is steering us away from faithfulness to Catholic doctrine?
The first thing to note is that Pope Francis has never said anything that contradicts Catholic dogma or anything in the Catechism.
In fact there are numerous instances of him reaffirming traditional Catholic beliefs and practices.
But what Pope Francis has often done, and this is what causes unease for some, is to shine a light on Catholic doctrine from a new angle, and so enlighten a new facet of its mystery.
The reality is that all theological beliefs and doctrines are deeply profound mysteries, in fact the early church fathers used exactly this word to refer to the doctrines of the Catholic Church; no one can grasp them completely, even in a whole lifetime.
Every age of the Church sees the ancient and timeless mysteries of faith in a slightly new light and with a slightly different emphasis.
In my opinion, some of the unhelpful comments made recently about Pope Francis arise because of too limited an appreciation of what orthodoxy means. When the Holy Father speaks of openness and welcome of people whose lives do not reflect fully the ideal of Catholic doctrine, he is not denying the truth of these doctrines, but urging us to see also that true faithfulness to Catholic orthodoxy means having the heart of Christ who welcomes the sinners and seeks to heal and bandage their wounds.
In this he reflects strongly the theology of St Augustine of Hippo, one of the greatest theologians of the Church.
St Augustine spoke passionately in his debates with the Donatists about the need for patient tolerance of people’s brokenness and sinfulness, because the Church is the unique place of reconciliation and it is only by having a place within it for sinners that they can have hope of healing and salvation.
This kind of theology finds great resonance in Pope Francis’ own words in an interview with America Magazine:
“I see the Church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars. You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else.”
Talk of schism, and comments that imply the Church is like a rudderless ship under Pope Francis, are really the response of those who fail to see the full breadth and implications of what it means to be orthodox.
It’s also the result of failing to fully appreciate just how precious is the gift that God has given the Church in the Petrine ministry – that is, the role of the pope as the successor of St Peter.
This ministry is like a solid centre point around which all the activity of the Church takes place – its prayer and worship, its care of the poor and suffering, its promotion of human values – and as long as it remains connected to this centre point it won’t stray from the truth.
Again, Pope Francis reminded us of the importance of this ministry in his words at the synod:
“…as I told you from the beginning of the synod, it was necessary to live through (the discussion and debate at the synod) with tranquility, and with interior peace, so that the synod would take place cum Petro and sub Petro (with Peter and under Peter), and the presence of the Pope is the guarantee of it all.”
The true danger for the Church is when its members treat this Petrine ministry as something to ignore when it challenges them.
And this is nothing new; it happened with Pope Benedict XVI and with Pope St John Paul II and with many others before them.
At times their teachings challenged people, and some responded by rejecting their teachings or treating them with contempt.
But to do so means to forget that in a very real sense, the man in the white cassock is no longer Karol Wojtyla or Joseph Ratzinger or Jorge Bergoglio – rather it is St Peter, to whom Jesus entrusted the stability and faithfulness of the Church.
Each of these men has shone the light of faith from different angles, but always on the same eternal truths.
We run a great risk, and we are not being truly Catholic, when we set ourselves up as the safeguards of orthodoxy instead of recognising that it is primarily the pope who is entrusted with that responsibility.
Being authentically Catholic requires us to trust the Holy Spirit to guide Pope Francis in this ministry and to be humble enough to be open to new dimensions of the timeless truths that comprise Catholic orthodoxy.
Fr Andrew Chase is a priest of Rockhampton diocese who is studying in Rome.
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