After the election of the new Pope, the focus of the Catholic Church has shifted from the abstract theology of Pope Benedict (right) back to a mediaeval saint and “pastoral care”. After the highfalutin theology of the previous Pope, we’re back to the Middle Ages and to “shepherds” and “sheep”, as Cardinal Bergoglio told fellow cardinals during the pre-conclave meetings: “You can’t have the shepherd on the mountain and the sheep in the valley”.

Harking back to the past is not going to help the Church move forward. And the attempt of Pope Francis to revive the mediaeval spirit of St Francis is about as viable as the endeavour of Pope Benedict to restore the Latin Mass!

The problem with the Church is that it has nothing new to offer. Its “Good News” has been repeated ad nauseam, and after 2,000 years it has become rather stale. To make matters worse, the Catholic Church is struggling to regain its credibility after the shameful scandal of Catholic priests sexually abusing boys in Europe, North America, and Australia. As if all this were not enough, the Pope’s butler and confidante leaked private papers which allege bitter intrigue and corruption at the Vatican itself.

The Catholic Church is deadlocked in an existential crisis. It tries to be relevant in the 21st century while clinging stubbornly to the past. Instead of convening a new council to update the Catholic Church – as the pragmatic Pope John XXIII did in the exhilarating and forward-looking early 1960s –Pope Francis has decided to revert to the dead past and to the spirit of poverty and humility of a 13th century saint.

The Pope’s mediaeval nostalgia won’t work for the Zeitgeist of the 21st century.