Over recent weeks, there has been a flood of social media spillage on what Pope Francis had to say about failed marriages.
Amid all such churchy quibbling, the Holy Father made a not unrelated comment when visiting a Rome-based house of testimony. In a reference to persons named in the parable of the Good Samaritan, he said, “May the Lord free us from doctors (of law) who want to present Jesus Christ’s faith with mathematical rigidity.”
A few days later, he made a similar comment at a June 16 Q&A session with Rome diocese pastors. “Very often, we want a certain doctrinal and mathematical certainty that does not exist,” the pope said in answering a priest’s question. “Neither rigor nor laxity is the truth. The Gospel chooses another way: Receive, accompany, integrate and discern without poking the nose in people’s moral life,” he wisely counseled.
His persistent push toward pastoral realism seems to target Pharisaical legalism of textbook theologians. And it brings back to mind a similar scenario endured by his predecessor – Saint John XXIII.
“Francis, like John, recognizes that folk religion is the language of the heart for many people,” writes historian Garry Wills. “Loving the people means loving what they love. That is part of the smell of the sheep,” explains his book “The Future of the Catholic Church with Pope Francis.”
No doubt, the smell of the sheep implies the instinct of the sheep as well. And that instinct was much cherished by both popes despite their long sojourn in scarlet. It speaks much of a sensus fidelium discerned in rapport with people. Such pastoral wisdom steeled Pope John in his Spirit-led mission for Church renewal by convoking the Second Vatican Council.
If still maligned by some Church folks for that move, Pope John was also long derided for his role in ending the Cold War. His initial overtures were not always welcome on either side of the Atlantic. Nonetheless, both John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev warmed up to the pope’s sincerity, thus helping ensure world peace and mitigate Church problems in Eastern Europe.
Today, historians endorse two facts: Pope John’s rapport with Khrushchev’s daughter Rada and son-in-law Adzhubei helped ease international tensions and later paved the way for Pope Paul VI’s détente and Pope John Paul II’s role in ending communism.
Nonetheless, the Roncalli diary records the Curial opposition faced by Pope John: “I deplore and pity all those who have, during these days, given themselves over to unspeakable schemes. I overlook and forget,” says the pope’s diary.
Maybe, Pope Francis too has to serenely overlook and forget schemes against Bergoglio-style discernment of Gospel imperatives in response to people’s current needs. May he be led by the same Spirit that guided his two sainted predecessors, and counseled his immediate predecessor to make way for him.
The Spirit imbues when/where/how s/he wills!
(Hector Welgampola is available at welgampo@gmail.com)