A Few Thoughts on Popes

   As with most other people in the world, I didn't know what to make of Jose Mario Bergoglio when he stepped out on the balcony of St. Peter's as Pope Francis.  (Oddly enough, I had a premonition that morning when I woke up that whoever was elected pope was going to take the name Francis.  I'm not sure why I thought that; perhaps it seemed overdue considering the tremendous spiritual influence the great saint of Assisi has had over the last eight hundred years.)  Pope Francis has made waves in the first several months of his papacy, but they are good waves, in my opinion.  He believes in simple, direct gestures that manifest the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I would agree with George Weigel that these waves represent the rising tide of evangelical Catholicism.  However, it's not a tidal wave that has come out of nowhere.  It has been building for some time.

   Over the last one hundred and fifty years or so, we've been blessed with exemplary popes, in my opinion.  They've all been holy men, but still men with faults and shortcomings.  The College of Cardinals chooses the successor of St. Peter under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and I trust that the man who is selected and answers the call provides something that is necessary to the challenges the Church faces in that moment of history.

   I spent my childhood, my youth, and my young adulthood under the pontificate of the soon-to-be Pope St. John Paul II.  I wept for an hour when I received the news that he died.  With the force and charisma of his personality, he brought order out of the chaos of the 1960s and 70s and articulated a bold, fearless vision for the Catholic Church as we entered a new millennium.

   Pope Benedict XVI's election surprised me, only because he had been so clear about not wanting the job.  After years of service to his predecessor, he only wanted to retire to a monastery, pray and write.  And that was in 2005, at the age of seventy-eight.  Yet the "humble servant in the vineyard of the Lord" still answered the call and spent almost eight years filling the Fisherman's Shoes.  Pope Benedict was very different in personal character to Pope John Paul II, but he was a kind and gentle shepherd to the Church.  I think his greatest contributions have been his insistence on the hermeneutic of continuity in understanding the Church's past, present and future, and his wonderful emphasis on appreciating art, beauty, the sacred liturgy, and our interior life of prayer.  I believe he surprised many people (and disappointed media vultures) by his gentleness and pastoral concern.

   No one really knew what to expect from Pope Francis, since he was a bit of an unknown on the world stage, even in ecclesiastical circles.  Over the last several months, we've witnessed many people, especially in the media, attempt to draw their own picture on the blank slate.  Without doubt, however, Pope Francis will shape his own papacy.  He strikes me as a man of very firm character.  Journalism these days seems to be all about narrative and less about truth, but Pope Francis doesn't have any illusions about this.  I predict those who seek to use him for their own narrative are going to get quite frustrated.  He truly seeks to practice what Christ teaches.

   The things I value most so far about Pope Francis - and I speak from my perspective as a priest - are his pastoral zeal and simplicity.  In the now-famous Jesuit interview I was struck by a comment  that I haven't seen reported in any media other than the full text of the interview itself: the Holy Father decided not to live in the Apostolic Palace because it was too isolated, not because it was too large or luxurious.  After his election, he entered the papal apartments and felt like it was a bubble; access was too restricted.  So he refused to live in the bubble.

   What a great lesson there is for all of us in that.  How often do we choose the safety, the solitude, and the certainty of the bubble rather than the rough and tumble of the messy world?  As Christians, our lives rest on a solid foundation of faith in Jesus Christ.  Why be afraid to take that faith into the world, to bring light to others, and to bind up their wounds by showing them the path that leads toward holiness?  Whatever their lives have been up to that point, there is an opportunity to know the Lord and what life in him offers.  This is what Pope Francis tries to live personally and what he encourages us to do, and I believe great things will be born of it.  Once again, the Holy Spirit has given the Church exactly what she needs in the present moment.  Funny how that works.