Francis: a Pope who will preside in charity

Leonardo Boff

23/03/2013

Opinión

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The grave moral crisis throughout the institutional body of the Catholic Church impelled the conclave to elect a person with the authority and courage to make profound reforms in the Roman Curia, and to preside over the Church, more with charity, and less with the juridical authority that weakens the local Churches. Pope Francis noted that in his first allocution. If it happens, he will be the Pope of the third millennium, and will start a new "dynasty" of popes who will come from the peripheries of Christendom.

The figure of the Pope is perhaps the greatest symbol of the sacred in the Western world. Societies that have exiled the sacred through secularization, the lack of referential leaders and the absence of the father figure who guides, orientates and shows paths, focused these old human longings, that could be seen in the faces of the faithful who were in Saint Peter's Square, on the figure of the Pope. In that spirit, Pope Francis broke with protocol. He behaved like any other person, paying his hotel bill, taking a common car to the Church of Santa Maria the Major, and he still wears his iron crucifix.

Christians cannot relinquish the ministry of Peter, as the one who must «confirm the brothers and sisters in the faith», as the Teacher mandated. From the beginning, Rome, where Peter and Paul are buried, was the reference point of unity, of orthodoxy and of concern for the other Churches. This perspective is also accepted by other non-Catholic Churches. The problem is the way this function has been exercised. Pope Leo the Great, (440-461), in a vacuum of imperial power, had to assume the government of Rome to confront the Huns of Attila. Leo took the Emperor's titles of Pope and Supreme Pontiff, and adopted the imperial, monarchic and centralized style of power, with its symbols, vestments and palatial style. The texts relating to Peter, that to Jesus of Nazareth had a meaning of service and love, were interpreted in the Roman style as strict juridical power. All this culminated with Gregory VII, who with his Dictatus Papae (the dictatorship of the Pope), abrogated for himself the two powers, the religious and the secular. There emerged the great Total Institution, an obstacle to the liberty of Christians and to dialogue with the globalized world.

This absolutist exercise was always questioned, above all by the reformers, but it was never softened. As John Paul II recognized in his document on ecumenism, this style of exercising the function of Peter is the major obstacle for the unity of the Churches and its acceptance by Christians who live in the modern culture of rights and democracy. Making the faith spectacular, with grandiose events, is not enough to compensate for this deficiency.

The present monarchical form must be reconsidered in the light of Jesus' intention. It must be a pastoral papacy and not a professorial one. Vatican Council II established the instruments for that: the synods of bishops, which until now have been only consultative, were intended to be deliberative. A consultative organ would be created that would govern the Church together with the Pope. Through the Council, the collegiality of the bishops was created, this is, the national and continental conferences would have more autonomy, so as to allow the faith to take root in the local cultures, always in communion with Rome. It is not unthinkable that representatives of the People of God, from Cardinals to women, could help elect a Pope for all of Christendom. There is an urgent need for a reform of the Roman Curia, along the line of decentralization. Without a doubt, Pope Francis will do it. Why wouldn't the Secretariat of non-Christian religions work in Asia? The Secretariat for the unity of Christians in Geneva, near the World Council of Churches? The one of the missions in a city in Africa? The one of human rights and justice in Latin America?

The Catholic Church could become a non-authoritarian instance of universal values, of human rights, of the rights of Mother Earth and of nature, set against the culture of consumerism, and in favor of a shared sobriety. The central question is not the Church, but humanity and civilization, that could disappear. How does the Church help preserve them? All this is possible and feasible, without renouncing anything of the essence of the Christian faith. It is important that Pope Francis becomes a John XXIII of the Third World, a «Papa buono». Only in this way will the Catholic Church regain lost credibility, and be a beacon of spirituality and hope for all.

- Leonardo Boff is Theologian-Philosopher / Earthcharter Commission

Free translation from the Spanish sent by Melina Alfaro, done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

https://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/74809