Saving Vatican Council II is the challenge the Catholic Church is facing. It is unfortunate that after Pope Paul VI’s death, certain forces on the Church have had the upper hand. I am not referring to the Lefebvrist schism. There are those who gave a lot of lip service to this Council, and perhaps some words on paper, but in reality they soft-pedalled anything moving in its direction. Some spoke of ‘reform of the reform’, meaning reform of Vatican II.
Pope Francis was not elected Pope in a ‘normal’ stride of history. He was elected after the voluntary and conscientious resignation of the wise and holy Pope Benedict XVI. This resignation was not Benedict XVI’s fall from grace but an answer to a call of his honest and humble conscience. This makes it clearer that Pope Francis is a gift from God to His people.
However, the Church is passing through a paradoxical situation. While Pope Francis has become a beacon of hope for millions of Catholics and non-Catholics alike, there are certain elements that look at his papacy with caution if not outright suspicion.
In my view there are reasons for this. This is first an ecclesiological issue, namely his practice of collegiality. From the very first words he uttered from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, he referred to himself as the Bishop of Rome. Without denying the primacy of the Holy See, he is looking at his fellow bishops as direct representatives of Christ, as Vatican II expressly taught.
I do not want in any way to imply that his predecessors denied this ecclesiological reality. However, it is obvious to all those on the margins of the institutional Church, that few are the bishops who would dare act like St Paul and publicly pronounce a position that is different from that of St Peter. This is the effect of the fact that through history, the institution – necessary though it is – overshadowed the charisma; or to put it in sociological terms, this is the result of the routinisation of the episcopal charisma.
Hence, many bishops are not really aware of their responsibility – cum Petro and not only sub Petro – towards the universal Church in matters of faith, morals and governance. So many who have trust in Pope Francis and faith of God are waiting to see how the next synod of bishops will evolve.
Many are waiting to see how the next synod of bishops will evolve
If every bishop is given only a few minutes to express his conscience, then we can call it a day. The secretariat of the synod should not be shocked if, as has happened at the start of Vatican II, the working documents it presents to the bishops are sent back for radical revision.
The consultation of the Pope with the ‘Council of Eight’ cardinals is an excellent step towards internationalising Catholic thinking, but it is not enough as an expression of collegiality. Reading Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini will help!
The second point which has positively characterised Francis’ papacy is his unconventional lifestyle. The Pope has not only rejected the idea that he is a monarch – the head of a minuscule state – but he is showing by his lifestyle that he is not a monarch but concretely ‘the servant of the servants’ of God.
It is peacefully accepted that justice must not only be done, but it must also be seen that it is being done. Similarly, Francis is not only saying he is only a man of God and not a man of the throne, but showing this by his lifestyle.
Hence his utter disregard for protocol, pomp and circumstance and personal security. When he needs to speak to a person in need, Pope Francis does not ask his secretary to put him through, but picks up the phone and makes the call. He does not want the ‘court’, because the latter creates ‘courtiers’ and careerism, which Pope Benedict XVI frequently condemned.
Finally, Church governance. Both distant history and recent fact make it amply clear that the Roman Curia is an outdated feudal and clerical institution that can no longer serve the Church. Its culture is imbued by an Italian ‘friends of friends’ culture.
Posts were very often filled on the basis of the Italian-style raccomandazione. Pope Francis has already made it clear – to the shock of many curialists – that the days of this type of Church governance has already been counted.
joe.inguanez@gmail.com
Fr Joe Inguanez, a sociologist, is the executive director of Discern.