Pope Francis interview in La Repubblica,
or, “Is This Now My Fate?”
My email is filled with
notes from people who need to be talked off the ledge.
The reason – this time –
is Pope Francis’ interview with Eugenio Scalfari, the atheist editor of the
vile Italian daily La
Repubblica.
BTW… in Rome some wags
are now referring to La Repubblica as L’Osservatore Romano.
I have not read the new
interview in Italian yet (La Repubblica‘s site
loads at tectonic plate speed), but I have read it over twice in English.
A sense of the tone of many of the Holy Father’s comments in
this interview – I repeat – interview, can be gleaned from one of his
observations about Augustine:
“Someone who is not touched by grace may be a person without
blemish and without fear, as they say, but he will never be like a person who
has touched grace. This is Augustine’s insight.”
Let that sink in for a while, keeping in mind that everything
the Pope said to Scalfari is off the cuff and… well… off the cuff.
In the meantime, some of you may be having a little melt-down
regarding his comments on proselytism, the Curia, conscience, etc.
The Curia…
“You know what I think about this? Heads of the Church have
often been narcissists, flattered and thrilled by their courtiers. The court is
the leprosy of the papacy.”
The leprosy of the papacy, those were his exact words. But what
is the court? Perhaps he is alluding to the curia?
“No, there are sometimes courtiers in the curia, but the curia
as a whole is another thing. It is what in an army is called the
quartermaster’s office, it manages the services that serve the Holy See. But it
has one defect: it is Vatican-centric. It sees and looks after the interests of
the Vatican, which are still, for the most part, temporal interests. This
Vatican-centric view neglects the world around us. I do not share this view and
I’ll do everything I can to change it.
Of COURSE the “Vatican”
is the problem! This is news?
I am reminded of candidates who make Washington the enemy.
They become President in Washington and they make Washington the enemy.
John Paul II had problems with the “Vatican”, but he became the “Vatican”
eventually. Benedict was betrayed again and again within the “Vatican”.
Francis is going to have his own Sisyphus moments with the “Vatican”.
Good luck.
That said, I think the Francis has a pretty good BS detector.
He’ll need it.
Conscience…
Your Holiness you wrote that in your letter to me. The
conscience is autonomous, you said, and everyone must obey his conscience. I
think that’s one of the most courageous steps taken by a Pope.
“And I repeat it here. Everyone has his own idea of good and
evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them.
That would be enough to make the world a better place.”
Is there more to say about “conscience”? You bet. Can it be said
in an interview… this interview in this moment? Nope.
But let’s see if what Francis said has foundation in what the
Church teaches:
Catechism of the Catholic
Church 1800: A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his
conscience.
Or:
1790: A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his
conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself.
Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes
erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed.
Or:
1782: Man has the right to act in conscience and in freedom so
as personally to make moral decisions. “He must not be forced to act contrary
to his conscience. Nor must he be prevented from acting according to his
conscience, especially in religious matters.” (Dignitatis
humanae 3 § 2.)
How about:
2106 “Nobody may be forced to act against his convictions, nor
is anyone to be restrained from acting in accordance with his conscience in
religious matters in private or in public, alone or in association with others,
within due limits.” (DH 2 § 1) This right is based on the very nature of the
human person, whose dignity enables him freely to assent to the divine truth
which transcends the temporal order. For this reason it “continues to exist
even in those who do not live up to their obligation of seeking the truth and
adhering to it.” (DH 2 § 2)
I will add believers
and Catholics are obliged to follow their FORMED
consciences, and those consciences are enlightened by Divine Revelation, by
apostolic tradition and by the Magisterium. Once again, His Holiness is
right, but within the context that
he had in mind, which context is only implicitly evident in the
interview because of the nature of
that genre.
Could Francis be faulted
for not talking about defective conscience or lack of formation of conscience?
I suppose. But the Church teaches that people cannot be coerced in
matters of conscience. This is anatural right
as well. But the context here is non-believers.
When the LCWR nuns try to citeDignitatis humanae as
an excuse to not obey, they err and err gravely. But the Pope was talking
with a non-believing journalist, not LCWR nuns.
Context, friends, context.
Sigh…
are we going to have to do this everyday? Is this now my fate?
It’s an interview, friends.
Popes don’t govern or shape doctrine in interviews.
Proselytizing…
The Pope smiles and says: “Some of my colleagues who know you
told me that you will try to convert me.”
It’s a joke I tell him. My friends think it is you want to
convert me.
He smiles again and replies: “Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it
makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and
improve our knowledge of the world around us. Sometimes after a meeting I want
to arrange another one because new ideas are born and I discover new needs.
This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand the circle of ideas.
The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer together and move apart,
but the important thing is that they lead towards the Good.”
When you read this, you
have the sense that the Pope is really in
the moment. This is how you talk when you are involved with the
emotion of the moment, with the adrenaline of the occasion. Alas, your
Earth’s yellow sun doesn’t give me the power of reading minds, but this is how
it feels to me, having read that bit – aloud, though in English – and thought
about it.
In any event, some quick thoughts after having read the
interview:
§ abortion
is still murder,
§ gay
marriage is still no marriage,
§ we’re
going to jaw-jaw with nonbelievers,
§ we’re
still going to be a minority,
§ Former-Fr.
– Mister Reynolds is still
excommunicated!
No comments:
Post a Comment