As I’m writing this, our Holy Father has died and has been buried at St. Mary Major in Rome. I hope that all of us are praying for the repose of his soul. It did seem a bit disconcerting to be celebrating the octave of Easter with black bunting on church doors and pictures of the Pope draped in black. However, it does serve as a powerful reminder that the Church, while celebrating the great joy of the Resurrection of Our Lord, is also mourning the Pope’s passing on from this life.
I must admit I struggled with a number of things he said and did and with some of the people he appointed to certain positions. I didn’t talk much about it and don’t plan to say much, if any, more. I made only one other post complaining about something he did. I just didn’t see it as the right thing to do to spill a lot of ink (or electrons in my case) critiquing the Holy Father. That being said, I also don’t think it is healthy or wise to pretend that there weren’t problems or to blow off people who have concerns.
However, I do believe it is way beyond anyone’s right to call the Pope a heretic, a narcissist, or even an anti-Pope, or to say that the Pope wasn’t the real Pope or was the worst Pope in history. He was none of those things. I, for one, appreciated what he did for the Year of Mercy. He expanded opportunities for people to be reconciled with God. He also was one who wanted to reach out to those on the margins.
Besides that, he really didn’t (and couldn’t) change the content of the Faith. You’ll hear plenty of news reporters (normally on the liberal side) talk about how the Pope didn’t change the teaching on contraception, didn’t start ordaining women, or something like that. It’s as though the teachings of the Church were a mere political platform that was decided anew by every Pope. No, it doesn’t work that way.
While I consider sound teaching and sound doctrine essential to any outreach, I would say that I could learn a lot about how we as Catholics really need to reach out to people and to care for the poor. I’ve encountered parishes where people have great liturgy but are closed off to people not like them. I’ve also encountered places where the people seem friendly but don’t have much regard for proper worship and doctrine. I’ve seen love of neighbor downplayed and have seen people who are so concentrated on other people that they seem to have forgotten that there is an actual God who is distinct from us. We really need the “both and” here.
Let us pray that this is the direction in which the Church goes. Let’s mourn for Pope Francis and pray for his soul. Let’s also pray for the upcoming conclave that the Holy Spirit will guide them and that they will listen. We’ve got sins to repent of, a Gospel to preach, and a live that we need to give to God.