Pope Francis speaks language close to us: Asian theologian

By Joseph Victor Edwin

Bengaluru, Nov 24, 2023: Pope Francis speaks a language that is close to us, and resonates with our experiences, sys Father Felix Wilfred, a renowned Asian theologian.

The former professor of the State University of Madras and current director of the Chennai-based Asian Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies was summing up the results of a symposium on “Redefining the Mission Today: Pope Francis’ Vision and the Contemporary Landscape of India today.

The November 14-6 event was jointly organized Bengaluru’s St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute and the Pontifical Mission Organizations, India, at St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute.

A number of teachers of Missiology and Ecclesiology from numerous formation centers across India participated and presented papers at the symposium. The papers explored the diverse dimensions of Pope Francis’ vision for Mission in reference to South Asia.

Understanding Mission

Pope Francis recaptures unassumingly the vision of the Vatican II for our times by bringing people especially the poor as focus of his reflections, said Father Wilfred.

The Synod on Synodality is a good example for such ‘recapturing the Spirit of Vatican II for our times.’ Pope visualizes Christians as ‘pilgrims’ on a mission to give witness to Christ among people of diverse faiths, share his riches with others, and recognize the footprints of the Spirit of God within diverse traditions.

The Pope visualizes the Church as a ‘movement’ towards the Reign of God in solidarity with all people, truthful to their conscience. Christians as ‘pilgrims’ and the Church as a ‘movement’ are called to engage with all people of good will in constant encounter with the living God.

All believers are ‘pilgrims of truth and peace’ (Pope Benedict XVI, “Address at the Meeting for Peace in Assisi,” October 27, 2011). God’s truth and revelation could never be objectified and reduced to biblical words, doctrines, or symbols. It could never be identified anything finite, as it surpasses them all.

Further, Pope Francis’ anthropology does not emphasize human person as the crown of creation. Rather, he sees the human person, created in the image and likeness of God, as forming part of the intricate web of relations and interdependent with the entire realities of creation and the whole cosmos.

Thus, human person’s connection with God, with fellow beings and with the cosmos is visualized holistically. Human beings, Pope Francis would insist, cannot attempt to encounter one another in peace by eliminating God and cosmos from the horizon.

Pope Francis views ‘mission’ as mission among nations. The word ‘among’ reveals something at the heart of Francis’ understanding of the mission of the Church. The Church is the universal sacrament of salvation for all peoples (Lumen Gentium, 48).

The Church has been endowed by Christ with the fullness of goods of salvation (Redemptoris Missio, 18 and 55). It sends her people among all people. They are sent to seek fellowship with all and contribute to the Reign of God and transform the world like the leaven in the dough. They seek fellowship, in obedience to truth and respect for freedom of others, through constructive relations with individuals and communities of other religions (Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Dialogue and Proclamation, 9).

Moreover, humility is the hallmark of the ministry that Pope Francis exercises. From this perspectives mission is understood not as a triumphalistic enterprise counting on victories but a ‘processes that would encourage ‘the culture of encounter’. The culture of encounter cultivates frankness, courage and parrhesia (Evangelii Gaudium, 259).

It nurtures humility to discover oneself in the light of the other and honestly revealing about oneself to the other. It guides each partner to illuminate one another through social friendships.

Father Wilfred presented two questions for ongoing reflection with regard to the personal call to missions: In mission, are we to die for Christ? (This could represent a triumphalistic attitude and sound even dangerously fundamentalist) or are we to die like Jesus? (This highlights that the Church as the sacrament of unity and believers as disciples of the historical Jesus).

Mission as praxis

According to a classical definition, humans are rational beings. Without dismissing reason, the Pope highlights human person as relational being. For relational beings, love is the path to knowledge. Pope Francis emphasizes primacy of compassion and he wants this to be at the heart of mission of his disciples.

On August 28, 2019, at a general audience, he reflected on how Jesus strengthened the early Christian community to serve those in need. He said the early Church was depicted as ‘a field hospital that takes in the weakest people: the infirm’. ‘The sick hold a privileged role in the Church and in the priestly heart of all the faithful,” said Pope Francis. “They aren’t be cast aside. On the contrary, they are to be cared for, to be looked after. They are the objects of Christian concern.”

Mission and its political dimension

All baptized Christians are sent on Mission. St. Pope Paul VI in his Apostolic Exhortation Evengeli Nuntiandi (no. 21) affirms that the Mission is a single but complex and articulated reality and it is expressed in many forms (Dialogue and Mission, 13). The Church carries out the mission by making herself fully present to all peoples and all persons (Ad Gentes, 5). Thus Mission has public dimension and in that sense Mission is political.

Mission – speaking Truth to the power

We live in a post-truth era where doctored facts replace actual facts. In the post-truth era feeling is weightier than evidence. George Orwell captured this era in the following words: ‘the very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. Lies will pass into history’.

It is said that every lie has an audience. The political leaders, especially of the present dispensation, manipulate the masses into believing something that they know as untrue. They lie, obfuscate facts by abandoning evidences. In this context, to speak truth to power means to confront those who hold important positions, whether in government, business or religious institutions.

To speak truth to power means to demand a moral response to a problem, rather than an expedient, easy or selfish response. The phrase ‘speak truth to power’ carries a connotation of bravery, of risking either the status quo, one’s reputation or livelihood, or the wrath of the person one is confronting (Lee Mcintyre, 2018). Pope Francis invites Christians and all people of good will to speak truth on behalf of the impoverished poor.

Mission – Fostering social friendship

Fraternity requires an explicit option, a deliberate choice. As W. Carey Mc Williams puts it: ‘becoming brothers (sisters) amounts rather to a revolution’ (1973, p. 23). For Pope Francis ‘fraternity’ is a social practice rather than an abstract metaphor. In his vision ‘love’ connects social friendship and universal fraternity.

He writes: “a love capable of transcending borders is the basis of what in every city and country can be called ‘social friendship’. Genuine social friendship within a society makes true universal openness possible” (Fratelli Tutti, 99). Pope Francis affirms that ‘universal fraternity’ and ‘social friendship’ are inseparable components of every healthy society.

He stressed: “to separate them would be to disfigure each and to create a dangerous polarization” (Fratelli Tutti 142). How do we practice this ‘social friendship – universal fraternity’ continuum in our diverse contexts? Pope presents the parable of the Good Samaritan. Pope stresses the Samaritan’s decision to ‘make-the-one-who-is-in-need’ as his neighbour as a true form of social friendship that is open to universal fraternity (Pasquale Ferrara, p. 87-101). It is like ‘sowing seeds of trust’ in a violent world, says Prof. Wilfred.

Conclusion

Pope Francis through joining his voice with all who thirst for justice, invites all Christians and all people of good will to act with confidence in building social friendships that sows the seeds of peace. We must make every effort to end the vicious cycle of violence. He invites all to build a future together for all especially for those who are marginalized on the foundations of Peace and Justice.