In response to my recent post, Pontifex Humilis Maximus, a FaceBook friend (and sincere Catholic) commented, “Christ would have never lived in the ‘apostolic palace’. I hope that Pope Francis has started a trend toward simplicity.”
While this response pointed specifically to the pope’s residence, as opposed to the broader topic of papal regalia and comportment that I addressed, I trust this sentiment is shared by any number of people, Catholic and otherwise, and so I want to give it specific treatment.
There are a number of flaws in the WWJD (What would Jesus do?) approach, wherein one presumably looks back to the Lord’s public ministry as described in Sacred Scripture as the model for how the pope should live and conduct himself.
Chief among them is precisely the error described in the previous post; it focuses on Christ the Servant apart from Christ the King.
Another way to phrase it, however, is to say that it comes dangerously close to a denial of the resurrection.
You see, what appears to be absent from my friend’s understanding, as well as from Pope Francis’ public persona, is the fact that the Roman Pontiff is not simply the Vicar of the itinerant Jesus of Nazareth who died on the Cross; he is, more properly speaking, the Vicar of Him who defeated death, is risen from the dead, and now reigns in glory.
The Scriptures demonstrate that Our Lord, even prior to His resurrection, was not opposed to being lavished in the manner of royalty:
Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head, as he sat at table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for a large sum, and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” (Matthew 26:6-13)
“You will not always have me,” said the Lord, and yet we know that we do have Him in other ways, one of them being in the person of His Vicar on earth, the pope.
As the Lord’s interaction with the woman who anointed Him demonstrates, Jesus does not dismiss as harmful, or even meaningless, our attempts to shower Him with finery; on the contrary, He tells us that such “is a beautiful thing.”
Of course, the more cynical among us will protest that the anointing was accepted by Our Lord only as a preparation for His burial, but this only brings us right back to where we began; the Lord’s burial was not an end unto itself; rather, it was the gateway to that which inaugurated the reign of Christ the King, the resurrection!
Shortly after his elevation to the papacy, Pope Francis said, “How I would like a poor church for the poor.”
I’m not sure anyone knows precisely what the Holy Father meant by this, but let us hope that he doesn’t imagine that his program of stripping the office of its finer accoutrements, such as moving about Rome in an unmarked Ford as opposed to a luxury car somehow serves the poor; it doesn’t.
What it does serve is a particular image of not just this pontificate, but of the Petrine Office as a whole; one that invites those who apparently have little appreciation for what it truly is to draw ridiculous conclusions.
Consider, for example, the commentary published by the Huffington Post:
Now here’s a Pope who practices what he preaches. Pope Francis arrived at the papal summer home, Castel Gandolfo, in a humble Ford Focus which was a far cry from the luxury cars of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who travelled around town in vehicles that included a custom-made Renault, a BMW X5, and a Mercedes. In contrast, Pope Francis isn’t even spending the summer in the luxurious retreat of Castel Gandolfo, preferring more modest accommodations in Rome.
If nothing else, these comments underscore the message that Jesus clearly delivered in the house of Simon the leper; withholding luxurious things from Him, and I would argue, from the office and the person of His Vicar as well, is largely superficial, ultimately doing little to serve either the poor or the mission of the Church.
In short, the answer to the question, Would Jesus live in such a palace?, we respond: Yes, he lives in such a glorious place right now. The purpose of earthly imitations is to serve as visible reminders of this truth.
The world loves and applauds him. A bad, bad sign.
I think it is yelling that at this point in the Bible Judas decides to betray Christ.
““How I would like a poor church for the poor.””
The Pope´s former teacher Juan Carlos Scannone S.J. claimed in an Austrian seminar that he held short time after the election of the Pope to know what the Pope meant by this:
http://www.kav-wien.at/presse/item/158-p-scannone-jesuit-und-papstkenner-in-wien
http://www.kav-wien.at/archiv/item/155-juan-carlos-scannone-sj-gott-von-den-opfern-her-denken
Father Scannone invented the Argentinian branch of liberation theology called “theology of the poor”. He studied Philosophy in Germany and Theology in Austria. I purchased two of his older books he published years ago where his theory is explained. I did a lot of research about him. What I read there and in his books isn´t very encouraging for the future of this papacy.
I came across him in an article about Leonardo Boff who praised the Pope for his “poor” approach to the Papacy:
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/documents/detail/articolo/gmg-26712
Leonardo Boff published a book in April called “Francis of Assissi and Francis of Rome” and the Pope ordered a copy of it. Mr. Boff has great expectations for the future:
(…) Boff confirmed in his conversation with me what he stated to O Globo — that Francis could rehabilitate the more than 500 theologians condemned by the Church during the years when it was ruled by Ratzinger and Wojtyla, but that he doesn’t think he’ll do it “as long as Benedict XVI is alive.”
Boff told me that Pope Francis has accepted the most primitive concept of liberation theology in his program. “Remember, Juan, that theologian Carlos Scanone, who launched that theology in Argentina, was a professor of Bergoglio, the future pope, when he was teaching theology in a school on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.”(…)
http://iglesiadescalza.blogspot.de/2013/07/pope-francis-requests-copy-of-boff-book.html
After reading all those things I´,m now taking Mr. Boff´s predictions about the future of the Church and the Papacy very seriously. I think he really is an “insider”. And he has very influential friends in the world:Mikhail Gorbachev, Maurice Strong, Steven Rockfeller, Mercedes Sosa …
http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/pages/Commissioners.html
http://leonardoboff.com/site-eng/proj/carta-terra.html
From the interview with Leonardo Boff:
The Pope speaks often about the poor and at the hospital in Rio he stressed that being close to the poor means touching “the body of Jesus.” What does this mean?
“The poor are Christ’s real representatives. In a way, it is the poor person who is the real “Pope” and Christ continues to be crucified among the Earth’s condemned. Christ is crucified on the crucifixes of history.”
What changes will Pope Francis bring to the Church?
“I think a lot is going to change. Francis is not just reforming the Curia, he is reforming the papacy. His insistence on being the Bishop of Rome and his decision to live in St. Martha’s House instead of the Apostolic Palace means opening up to the world. The Pope has explained that he prefers a Church that has been in accidents but continues to go out onto the road, than an asphyctic Church which stops at the door of the temple. Now the Church has become a beacon of hope not a besieged fort that is constantly at war with modernity or customs that control and regulate faith instead of facilitating it.”
Some criticise Francis for desacralising the pontificate…
“No, he is not desacralising it. He is presenting it in its true evangelical dimension. He is the Successor of Peter and Peter was a simple fisherman. We need to eliminate the “popolatry” that has prevailed in recent decades. Cardinals are not princes of the Church but servants of the people of God. Bishops need to take part in people’s lives. And the Pope does not feel like a king. He even said to the President of Brazil: “I come here as the Bishop of Rome,” that is, as someone who leads the Church in the name of charity not Canon law.”
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/documents/detail/articolo/gmg-26712
“The poor are Christ’s real representatives. In a way, it is the poor person who is the real “Pope” and Christ continues to be crucified among the Earth’s condemned. Christ is crucified on the crucifixes of history.”
An image to illustrate what Leonardo Boff meant by this:
http://www.servicioskoinonia.org/LibrosDigitales/LDK/EATWOTGettingThePoorDown.pdf
Correction: It should read in my first comment that Father Scannone did not invent the “theology of the poor” but the “theology of the people”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carlos_Scannone
My first comment which might have got lost was:
““How I would like a poor church for the poor.””
The Pope´s former teacher Juan Carlos Scannone S.J. claimed in an Austrian seminar that he held short time after the election of the Pope to know what the Pope meant by this:
http://www.kav-wien.at/presse/item/158-p-scannone-jesuit-und-papstkenner-in-wien
http://www.kav-wien.at/archiv/item/155-juan-carlos-scannone-sj-gott-von-den-opfern-her-denken
Father Scannone invented the Argentinian branch of liberation theology called “theology of the poor”. He studied Philosophy in Germany and Theology in Austria. I purchased two of his older books he published years ago where his theory is explained. I did a lot of research about him. What I read there and in his books isn´t very encouraging for the future of this papacy.
I came across him in an article about Leonardo Boff who praised the Pope for his “poor” approach to the Papacy:
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/documents/detail/articolo/gmg-26712
Leonardo Boff published a book in April called “Francis of Assissi and Francis of Rome” and the Pope ordered a copy of it. Mr. Boff has great expectations for the future:
(…) Boff confirmed in his conversation with me what he stated to O Globo — that Francis could rehabilitate the more than 500 theologians condemned by the Church during the years when it was ruled by Ratzinger and Wojtyla, but that he doesn’t think he’ll do it “as long as Benedict XVI is alive.”
Boff told me that Pope Francis has accepted the most primitive concept of liberation theology in his program. “Remember, Juan, that theologian Carlos Scanone, who launched that theology in Argentina, was a professor of Bergoglio, the future pope, when he was teaching theology in a school on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.”(…)
http://iglesiadescalza.blogspot.de/2013/07/pope-francis-requests-copy-of-boff-book.html
After reading all those things I´,m now taking Mr. Boff´s predictions about the future of the Church and the Papacy very seriously. I think he really is an “insider”. And he has very influential friends in the world:Mikhail Gorbachev, Maurice Strong, Steven Rockfeller, Mercedes Sosa …
http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/pages/Commissioners.html
http://leonardoboff.com/site-eng/proj/carta-terra.html
A beautifully written and very well thought out post. Many thanks.