Monday, March 13, 2013, was a historic date for the Catholic Church, for Christianity and for the world. On that day, only few knew Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s mettle. There were those who saw in him a Pope who would move the Church into a more defensive stance of conservatism.

Writing in London’s The Tablet, Margaret Hebblethwaite, a columnist specialising on Latin America, wrote that what certain people were saying about him was “unprintable”. In The Guardian she wrote “I have heard two opposite opinions. One sees him as humble, the other as authoritarian. One as progressive and open, the other as conservative and severe...”

However, from the moment Pope Francis first appeared in St Peter’s balcony after his election, his great humility and simplicity have gained worldwide recognition… he appeared dressed as a priest (the white colour is nothing but a historical legacy), referred to himself not the Pope but as the Bishop of Rome, and asked for a blessing from his flock.

The list of his firsts became longer by the day: the first Pope from the south of the world and the Americas, first Jesuit Pope, the first Pope who chose the name Francis, indicating his admiration of St Francis of Assisi, his love of peace and of the poor. The previous non-European Pope was the Syrian Pope Gregory III in the 8th century.

His humility emerged clearly both during an in-flight interview when he replied to a journalist’s question by another rhetorical question: “Who am I to judge?”; and when asked about his identity, Pope Francis replied: “I am a sinner… I am sure of this… I still make mistakes and commit sins, and I confess every 15 or 20 days. And if I confess it is because I need to feel that God’s mercy is still upon me.”

He is showing the world that for him and for the Church ‘the salvation of the people should be the supreme law’

As months passed, Pope Francis came across as a man who is passionately committed to the gospel of poverty, while also highly intelligent and cultured. When the votes in the conclave reached two-thirds pro-Bergoglio, Cardinal Hummes, the Archbishop of Sao Paulo, embraced him, saying: “Don’t forget the poor!”

And indeed he did so by words and deeds. In his first statement to the press after his election, Francis stated clearly: “This is what I want, a poor Church for the poor.”

The choice of his episcopal motto, “miserando atque eligendo” stresses his belief and trust in God’s mercy in action. It is a quote from a homily of the Venerable Bede’s commentary on the Gos­pel’s account of Matthew’s calling: “When Jesus saw a publican and, as he looked at him, having mercy on him and choosing him, he said to him: ‘Follow me’”. This motto encapsulates Pope Francis’ pastoral programme.

The leitmotiv of Bergoglio’s pontificate is tripodic: the image of the path to follow together, charity – expressed in confidence, love and fraternity – and evangelisation. This he elaborated in his programmatic apostolic exhortation The Joy of the Gospel.

Pope Francis’s election four years ago has brought the mandates of the Gospel to the fore. In an existential manner he is showing the world that for him and for the Church “the salvation of the people should be the supreme law”.

However, this has also demonstrated how deeply rooted is ‘conservativism’ in the Church and among the Pope’s closest collaborators, be they members of the Roman Curia, bishops and clergy around the world and laity in general. Some of these have manifestly resisted or rejected the teaching of Vatican II; other have done so in a latent manner.

Some conservatives – some by their words, others by their silence and others by their actions – are implying that they would like to cry “Not my Pope!” Then the blunt question rears its ugly head: “If this is not your Pope, who is?” This is the dilemma that faced the Reformation. “When reformers got rid of the Pope, they didn’t have no pope. They became their own pope.”

joe.inguanez@gmail.com

Fr Joe Inguanez is executive director of Discern.

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