I woke up to hear the news which everyone will be hearing today: Pope Francis has passed away this morning (Bright Monday). The first thing I did was pray for him, for him to have a blessed repose and that his memory be eternal. After that, I thought about how he pushed himself over the last few days, wondering if he knew if this would be the last time he would celebrate Easter with us. I suspect he did. I believe this is why he tried to do all he could do during the past few days, even meeting with people who many of us were surprised he met them, hoping to give everyone he met one last chance to listen to him and his pleas for human dignity. Francis tried to be open to all, to show his love to all. He took his role seriously. He always took the opportunity he had to encourage us all to follow what Jesus taught, especially those truths which so many have conveniently ignored or forgotten, such as that we are to care for and help those whom society wants to marginalize (that is, the preferential option for the poor). Maybe those who met with him during his last few days will take to heart what he told them, and what he preached while they were at the Vatican, maybe they won’t. But, like Jesus, he wanted to make his message clear, to live as he taught, making sure, when he was called to his heavenly home, he had done all he could to change the hearts of those who tried to excuse themselves from following the way of Christ,
We will, of course, see the preparation for Pope Francis’ funeral, even as we will see all kinds of people trying to predict who the next Pope will be. While there might be some candidates who are more likely than others, I don’t think any of us can predict who will be the next Pope. There are many rival contingents which have formed in the Catholic Church, many which are actively fighting to change the direction they think the church should go into the future.
Some want things to go backwards, to have everyone return to the way they imagine things were before Vatican II (but after Trent and Vatican I); others, some who connect with the first group, want to have the church move away from its modern interest in its social doctrine so as to better appease right-wing political groups in the world; others wants to simply continue following what Pope Francis established (who, despite the way some have tried to pit Pope Francis against his predecessors, actually followed after them and what they established, such as can be seen in the way he dealt with environmental concerns, concerns which were also key for St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI); and, finally, there are those who want to go further than Pope Francis, to radically revolutionize the church from within.
If I had to guess, I would expect we will have someone who continues along with what Pope Francis established, but someone who will do so trying to merge further (in the eyes of the public) what Francis said and did with what Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II said and did (which is not as difficult as some would think, because Francis continued with the precedents established by his immediate predecessors, precedents which at the time were not liked by many so-called traditionalists, those who have been the most vocal against Pope Francis).
Pope Francis would not want anyone one of us to use him and his legacy for anything other than for the glory of Christ. He listened to and wanted to live out what Christ taught. He wanted to show us in his person, as well as Pope, that it was possible to do so. Pope Francis consistently put those who were being marginalized by society, but also by Christians, at the forefront of his ministry, which was certainly the lesson he gave us before he died, when he preached, once again, on the need to be humane, to treat migrants with respect.
When he visited those in prison this year, he said he wanted to wash their feet like he used to, but he knew he could not do so; that didn’t stop him from visiting them, to show, once again, that Christ called us to think of and take care of those in prison. We are not meant to dehumanize them, to torture them, to make prison hell on earth. Instead, we are to remember, no matter what they have done (or have not done, as many innocents are in prison), they are still human, and we are to look after and take care of them due to the inherent worth of human life (even if they, in their actions, did not show that respect to human life, because we are not called to treat people as they treat us, but to treat everyone in the way we would like to be treated).
If we ignore their humanity, if we start saying that once someone is deemed a criminal, they have lost their human dignity and so we can do anything we want with them, we become that which we decry. We must stop the process of dehumanization which is happening before us, especially when we see those in positions of power and authority trying to have us ignore the rights of the accused, because once those rights are denied anyone, they are able to be denied to everyone, and no one is safe from unjust accusations.
In the days ahead, I expect we will see conflict between many factions within the Catholic church. These conflicts could, in theory, end with a schism in the church, especially as there are many places, like the United States, where the bonds which hold the church together have become rather frail. Some, even before the death of Pope Francis, had already begun doing this, writing and sharing books amongst themselves as to who the next Pope should be, or by trying to find a way to disconnect Pope Francis’s legacy with the Popes who came before him. Once again, we find this especially prevalent in the United States, and, despite the way many Americans think of themselves in the world, and within the church, there is much more which will be going on in the determination of the next Pope than what happens in the United States.
I certainly will not make a list of candidates who I think is most likely to be the next Pope, nor a list of those who I hope will be chosen. Instead, I will focus on living the faith, promoting sound doctrine and social justice in a world in which both are put into question; I will follow in the spirit of Pope Francis, hoping that the cardinals, when they come together, will listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and choose the best candidate possible, but even if they do not, as there is some freedom involved in their choice, I will still follow what Pope Francis and his predecessors taught, and promote in my writings, those aspects which are the most needful for our times.
* This Is Part LV Of My Personal (Informal) Reflections And Speculations Series
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