The Popes of World Youth Day – the Popes of Mercy

I'll be going to World Youth Day in Poland this July along with a group sponsored by the Salesian Eastern Province. Here's something I wrote with Fr. Dominic Tran, SDB for the WYD Salesian Facebook page.

World Youth Day 2016 and the Extraordinary Jubilee that goes until November 20 share a common focus: the Mercy of God. This convergence of themes is no coincidence and these great themes came together as the result of the work of the giant figures, the shepherds the Good Shepherds has given to the Church in recent years—Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

St. John Paul was the great promoter of the Divine Mercy devotion and the cause of St. Faustina. He said, early on in his pontificate, "Right from the beginning of my ministry in St. Peter’s See in Rome, I consider this message [of Divine Mercy] my special task. Providence has assigned it to me in the present situation of man, the Church and the world. It could be said that precisely this situation assigned that message to me as my task before God." He beatified and Canonized St. Faustina and established the Second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. He saw mercy as the remedy for humanity after all the wars and atrocities of the 20th century: it was now the time to return to God and seek forgiveness and to turn to one another in a spirit of reconciliation and mercy.

Pope Benedict XVI, being a great theologian, gave us the theology of God’s mercy. With his very first encyclical, he emphasized, “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny. In the same verse, Saint John also offers a kind of summary of the Christian life: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us”.

In a world where the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence, this message is both timely and significant. For this reason, I wish in my first Encyclical to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others. (Deus Caritas Est, #1)

Pope Francis also has stressed mercy from the beginning of his time as the Vicar of Christ. Just a few days after his election in 2013 he said, “God's mercy can make even the driest land become a garden, can restore life to dry bones ... Let us be renewed by God's mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too; and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish.” He has never ceased to call us to be a Church of mercy, both seeking out God’s forgiveness and living mercy in our lives. He has both promoted the Divine Mercy chaplet as a “powerful medicine” but also called us to go out and live mercy in our lives.

In this way St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis can be called the Popes of Mercy. As it is said, JP II introduced the what - Divine Mercy, Benedict taught us why, and Francis shows us how.

Benedict XVI: The Church belongs to Christ, who guides her

The Legacy of Pope Benedict XVI: A commentary by Fr. Barron

Scattered Thoughts on Pope Benedict's Retirement

I was all set to move on a nice, light post about the baseball spring training camps opening up in Florida and Arizona, when the news hit about Pope Benedict's decision to step down at the end of the month.  My initial response, like almost everyone, was one of surprise, but I can't say that I was shocked.  The Holy Father had spoken of a potential retirement as not only possible, but as a moral imperative depending on the situation.

There are two different points of view on this.  One is that the Pope, like all bishops, is the spiritual father of his flock.  For a local ordinary it is his diocese, and for the Bishop of Rome, as successor of Peter, his paternity extends to the universal Church.  A father of the family doesn't stop being the father because of age or illness.  So it is with the Pope.  While John Paul II reputedly contemplated retiring around the year 2000, he didn't for this reason.  There was a time in the early years of the Church when bishops weren't replaced before death because, the thinking went, you couldn't have two fathers in the same household.  A successor was sometimes named ahead of time, but he didn't take possession of his local church until his predecessor was laid to rest.

The other line of thinking is that we live in a fast moving age, and the Church needs to respond quickly to events.  The Pope needs to have the energy and mental alertness to be effective.  As we live longer, it also means that more of us can expect to suffer the ravages of old like dementia and the many forms of cancer that seem to inevitably develop.  It only makes sense to have a mechanism in place that allows a pope to step aside to make way for a younger, more capable man.  Some would even say that there should be a mandatory retirement age, or at least firm mechanism in place to remove a pope who has become physically or mentally incapacitated.  

While I'm not sure I am in favor of some sort of mandatory papal retirement age, I think that the Holy Father knows what he's doing.  He's been in the Chair of Peter long enough; he knows the demands and if can meet them.  It is a loss for the Church, to be sure.  But I have faith the Spirit will give us a Pope we need right now.

So, what next?  My guess is that every move that Benedict makes in the next two weeks, leading up to his retirement, will be carefully chosen, because they will be setting the precedence for future pontiffs who make the same decision.  The Holy Father is a man keenly aware of Church traditions, and has spent his ecclesiastical career "looking to the sources."  It is now a bit ironic that he will be paving a new road for others to follow.

Will he go back to being a cardinal?  I've seen two different reports, one saying yes, the other saying he is going to have to be re-appointed to the Sacred College.  Stay tuned.

Will he retain papal infallibility?  No.  That is a grace of state attached to the office of pope.  His successor will have a distinct advantage over other popes who have reigned in the last 600 years, because for the first time in modern times there will be another man alive who knows what he is going through, and he would be wise to seek his predecessor's advise.  But it is the pope, and only the pope, by the grace of the Spirit, who exercises such authority.

Who will the next pope be?  I've been asked that question a lot, and I am sure I don't have the slightest idea.  It's best to ignore the prognosticators.  The rule of thumb is that the cardinal that goes in the conclave a favorite comes out a cardinal.

I will be writing more about this, obviously, as more is know about why the pope made this decision, and the conclave to choose his successor approaches.

This Mission: Pope Benedict on the Anniversary of His Pontificate from AOP

Pope Benedict in Mexico from AOP

The Pope Controversy

I was going to think up some cute title for this article, considering the subject matter, but figured I should keep it somewhat family friendly, since I post these things on my Facebook page for the world to see, and hopefully read.  The Pope is in the middle of another controversy, this time over comments made about condoms in an interview he did for an upcoming book.  There is confusion, and understandably so, but the Holy Father's statements shouldn't be taken as a great shift in Church teaching.

He was addressing the use of condoms as a way of stopping the spread of AIDS in Africa, expressing skepticism over this strategy's effectiveness.  He brought up a scenario in which a male sex worker might use a condom as a "first step" toward a moral awakening.  Taken in context, the Pope is commenting on a situation where the person is already involved in a morally objectionable act, in which conception is impossible (male prostitutes generally engage in homosexual acts) and so the purpose of the condom is strictly to hinder the spread of infection.  The Pope is no more endorsing the use of artificial contraception as he is prostitution, male or otherwise.  He's presenting an extreme situation where mitigating circumstances render condom use either morally neutral or bring it to the fringe of acceptability, based solely on the user's intention.  Let's be real, in the case given the use of a condom is the least of the poor guy's problems. 

The Pope, at heart, is a college professor.  Professional theologians, of which Joseph Ratzinger was one before he became Benedict XVI, sit around and debate, throw out ideas, and think up concrete situations to test abstract teachings.  This is especially true in the realm of moral theology.  I had a very solid professor, a Dominican priest (the order, not the country) who was as straight an arrow and conservative as you'd get, who could think up all sorts of situations that lessen a person's culpability when involved in what are otherwise morally objectionable acts.  His purpose wasn't to endorse fornication, for instance, but to teach us sensitivity in the confessional.  It's not that sin becomes virtue under the right conditions, but rather a person's guilt and responsibility is effected by certain conditions that surround the particular action they've taken.  It's for us as confessors to help them see their error and bring them back to the right path. 

In the scenario given by the Pope, the prostitute may be motivated to use a condom because he has some dim understanding that his client is a human being with dignity and shouldn't be exposed to the risk of infection by a deadly virus just so he can make a few dollars.  Without being presumptuous, I think the Holy Father would say this is but a first groping step in a moral awakening that hopefully leads this man to see that, while he was motivated by good intentions, the use of a condom doesn't render his life as a prostitute A-OK.  There is something intrinsically dehumanizing about the whole business and a total reform of life is called for.

Pope Benedict was speaking in the language of the university, something we are not use to.  Papal statements are usually well crafted and measured because they are so scrutinized by the world, and enter into the official teachings of the Magisterium.  This was why Benedict was clear to say that his books about Jesus contain his opinions as a private theologian and were not put out in his official capacity as pope.  In this case, the Pope said nothing I wouldn't have heard in a seminary morality course, where extremes are discussed and scenarios are weighed.  But if we look at the Holy Father's words in total context, we see that the Church teaching on artificial contraception is the same today as it was last week.