The capitalist class is not amused with Pope Francis. Last week, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, and Ken Langone, the American billionaire currently heading the initiative to raise €130 million for the restoration of St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, were interviewed on CNBC, the American TV network, about an unexpected problem they are facing. It seems that the Pope has ruffled the feathers of millionaire donors.
Langone told CNBC that at least one potential seven-figure donor was “concerned” about the Pope’s harsh critical statements of capitalism and the trickle-down theories of the economy. Langone is afraid that such remarks may stop people from donating money to the Church, which they now consider to be anti-capitalist.
This is not an isolated incident. Pope Francis’s The Joy of the Gospel came in for an awful lot of bashing by American conservatives. Stuart Varney, the host of Fox’s TV network’s programme Fox Business, accused the Pope of mixing religion with politics; something that, according to Varney, the Pope has no business doing.
Controversial conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh accused the Pope of ripping America. Tea Party advocate and Virginia businessman Jonathan Moseley, in an article for WND.com, chided the Pope boldly, stating that she believes “Jesus was a capitalist”.
The Pope was not inordinately flummoxed by the criticism. He just denied that he was a Marxist, and elegantly added that he knew many Marxists who were good people.
During the last few days of 2013, Pope Francis also came in for a bit of bashing by some members of the gay lobby following the publication of the news that he was shocked by the Muscat’s government decision to legalise adoptions by gay couples. Damian Thompson, the editor of Telegraph Blogs and a columnist for The Daily Telegraph, together with several other bloggers, criticised the Pope, some saying that Time magazine and The Advocate, a leading magazine promoting gay rights, should consider withdrawing the title of ‘Man of the Year’ that both, for different reasons, conferred on the Pontiff.
One doubts whether either magazine will heed this appeal. The Advocate had conceded that Pope Francis had not changed the teaching of the Catholic Church on homosexuality. The award was given because the magazine believed that the Pope’s now famous statement ‘Who am I to judge?’ can lead towards a more positive attitude towards gay people. There is absolutely no contradiction between his ‘shock’ at the legalisation of adoption by gay couples in Malta and his caring attitude towards gays.
Not all churchmen (and women) are enthusiastic about Pope Francis. Horror of horrors, some say, the Pope’s words and actions would lead to the end of the papacy as we have known it for so long. Some bloggers even went so far as to hint that Francis was the Antichrist suavely using the media to communicate heterodox ideas.
Some Maltese who recently participated in the Pope’s daily Mass at Casa S. Martha were exhorted by Vatican officials to tell the Pope to stop making further changes. They were particularly irked by his simple style of dressing, which is in sharp contrast to the fancy dressing habits indulged in by several dignitaries of the Roman Curia. They felt that the Pope’s decision to suspend the automatic granting the title of monsignor to priests working at the Vatican was an instance of adding insult to injury.
One can understand the consternation of Vatican bureaucrats at Pope Francis’s change of sartorial styles, since this change is not something to be scoffed easily.
Esquire, the men’s life and style magazine, last week named Pope Francis as the Best Dressed Man of 2013, beating Hollywood superstars Bradley Cooper and Chris Pine with his clean-cut papal outfits. This can be dismissed as too light to consider, almost infra dig for the Pope. But the Pope’s new wardrobe indicates a new mentality and perhaps the start of a new era.
Ann Pellegrini, associate professor of Performance Studies and Religious Studies at New York University, was quoted in last Thursday’s The Independent saying that: “The humility of his garments offers a way to visibly display his theological and material concerns for the poor. This Holy Roman emperor really does have new clothes.”
Pope Francis became the third Pope to grace the cover of Time magazine with the designation of the Person of the Year. John XXIII and John Paul II were the other two Popes similarly nominated. Chua-Eoan and Elizabeth Dias, who co-authored Time’s profile of Pope Francis, were right on target when they said that Jorge Mario Bergoglio did not change Church doctrine but he did change the tone; and I add the priorities. This is a very important development since, as the Italians rightly say, ‘il tono fa la musica’.
Theologically he [Pope Francis] is not different from Benedict XVI but his style is, as is his whole demeanour
Theologically, he is not different from Benedict XVI, but his style is, as is his whole demeanour. This should not come as a surprise. Benedict’s style was very different from John Paul II, whose style, in turn, was very different from Paul VI. It does not make sense to pit Pope against Pope because of their style or manner of communicating doctrine. To each Pope his own; each one has had plusses and minuses, strengths and weaknesses; and so will it always be.
Pope Francis is Pope Francis and should be judged as Pope Francis in reality, not as he is manufactured to be by sections of the media, different Church groups or other lobbies. He did not, and will not make everyone happy with his way of behaving, but it is undeniable that he’s given so many people so much hope and inspiration in the last nine months. That’s a big enough plus.
But men and women do not live by hope alone. Hope has to be followed by actions to remain ever-green. A great test will come this October when an Extraordinary Synod of Bishops that the Pope has convened, will meet in Rome. Will Pope Francis and the other bishops find it possible to adopt universally the pastoral strategy regarding communion by divorced and re-married Catholics being proposed by several German bishops?
This will, I believe, be an important test for the papacy of Bergoglio.
joseph.borg@um.edu.mt