“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness.”

This is the opening sentence of A Tale of Two Cities in which Dickens transposes with his keen social critique and his sympathy with the urban poor of 19th-century England onto the French Revolution.

Considering the ‘revolution’ of Pope Francis, some people look at our days as ‘the worst of times’ and ‘the age of folly’; others see them as ‘the best of times’ and ‘the age of wisdom’.

Those of my age have lived through the two concurrent historic revolutions of the 1960s: Vatican Council II and the student uprising against the Vietnam War and in defence of civil rights. Due to limitations of space, I will refer only to issues related to change in the Church.

There are similarities between the hot debates that took place in the Church during Vatican II as much as there are similarities between Pope John XXIII and Pope Francis. The former, now canonised by the Church, was ridiculed by some high-ranking prelates of his time.

The current Pope is unfortunately passing through the same predicament, if not worse. He is being criticised by the same category of people whom Pope John XXIII, at the opening Vatican II referred to as “prophets of doom, who are always forecasting worse disasters, as though the end of the world were at hand”.

These prophets are still alive, thinking they have a divine right to defend the Church and forget the traditional adage Ubi Petrus ibi ecclesia (where there is Peter, there the Church is).

Why do some members of the Church want to give primacy to the law over mercy?

A website describes John XXIII thus: “Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, who took the name John XXIII, was a ‘counter-pope’, a break from the vast majority of his predecessors”. No wonder that Mgr Domenico Mogavero, Bishop of Mazara del Vallo, said “[those] attacking Francis would like to hit the Council... In the name of traditionalism, certain sectors of conservative Catholics show their hostility to the Church of mercy and the reforming work of Jorge Mario Bergoglio.”

To quote Nicholas Lash, one is shocked by “the extent to which our ingenuity has outstripped our wisdom”. During the speech referred to above, John XXIII warned against those who “can see nothing but calamity and disaster in the present state of the world”.

Aren’t Catholics who have the same mindset – which St John XXIII wanted to correct – separating themselves from Pope Francis? John XXIII said:

“One would think from their attitude that history, that great teacher of life, had taught them nothing. They seem to imagine that in the days of the earlier councils everything was as it should be so far as doctrine and morality and the Church’s rightful liberty were concerned.”

Why do some members of the Church want to give primacy to the law over mercy? Are we becoming oblivious of the Lord’s insistence: “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

In my view, in spite of all the present dangers and disasters, we are not living in the worst of times, but in the best of times. At the beginning of this Jubilee of Mercy let us remember the forgotten words of God, and of two recent Popes: “Now the Bride of Christ wishes to use the medicine of mercy rather than taking up arms of severity” (John XXIII), and at the closing of Vatican II “…a wave of affection and admiration flowed from the Council... Errors were condemned… because charity demanded this no less than did truth, but for individuals themselves there was only admonition, respect and love. Instead of depressing diagnoses, encouraging remedies; instead of direful predictions, messages of trust.”(Paul VI).

This is the way of the Gospel.

joe.inguanez@gmail.com

Fr Joe Inguanez, a sociologist, is executive director of Discern.

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