Based on his writings, I have been admittedly critical of Pope Francis I. My principal observation is that he does not understand democratic capitalism as we practice it in the United States. His preconceptions of society and economics lead him inexorably to the conclusion that society’s solutions to the macro problems of the world lie with big government. This view conflicts with the “bottom-up” democracy held dear by Americans.
But watching him in person during his visit to our country made it obvious that these writings are not even half the reality which is Pope Francis. It is true that all popes have had tremendous receptions from Americans, even the less charismatic Pope Paul and Pope Benedict.
However, thanks to his personal charisma and exhaustive television coverage, there has never been an event with the impact of this Pope Francis. The views of hundreds of thousands of people along his routes, in the Washington Mall, the streets of New York and Philadelphia — and especially the last Mass on Saturday — were simply spellbinding. In different ways, his speeches and encounters with president and prisoners, with the children and the handicapped, with cardinals and politicians, revealed a smiling, compassionate and, above all, a humble man of immense magnetism.
Underlying this appeal was the simple message of focus on the individual, not the masses, nor the statistics, nor the categories. By word and action, he preached that each human being has a singular identity and a personal story. That message was especially moving when he went around the room shaking hands with each prisoner, embracing some of them, causing tears in the eyes of some when he spoke of washing their feet, and accepting their past and their loneliness in moving toward hope, toward their personal future.
This message of acceptance of the universal dignity and importance of every person as a child of God, saved from damnation by Jesus Christ, who brought resurrection to us all is at the essence of Christianity. It subjugates all other considerations, including power, position, appearance, and past or present sins to embracing the human person standing before you.
Jorge Maria Bergoglio was not born with this humility and the insight that love is at the core of the Christian message. He was always an unusually effective leader. At the young age 32, he was appointed Provincial (a position like that of a president) of all Jesuits in Argentina. He held prestigious positions in the Jesuit order until 1986, when he was in effect “fired” as head of the Jesuit seminary for teaching young Jesuits an “unorthodox” view of the pastorate, emphasizing concern for the individual ahead of other considerations including Church laws. He was then sent to Corsica (Argentina) effectively in exile, where he stayed for six years.
He was rescued when appointed auxiliary bishop by the Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires. In taking this appointment, he offended the Jesuits, who generally do not accept high appointments in the Church, to the extent that they asked him never to reside in Jesuit residences. Until he became the Pope, he had never set foot again in a Jesuit house. His subsequent rise in the Church was meteoric, but not without great personal pain.
It has been suggested that his exile to Corsica marked a major change in his view of his faith and his church. Whereas he had always been known as a “law and order” cleric prior to Corsica, afterwards he became the man we see today.
It may be, however, that, charismatic and appealing as was Pope Francis in person, word and action, there was another force at work in the massive fascination and reverence he was given by the entire country, Catholic and non-Catholic alike.
For Catholics, he represents a vison of their religion which differs fundamentally in tone from the American Catholic Church we are used to. In general, the view of the Catholic laity of their church is that it is based on a body of laws and restrictions, particularly centered on sexual ethics. (Thus the double outrage when the violations of children by priests in a Church ruled by celibate men obsessed with sexual prohibitions.) They are not used to a Church speaking mostly of love, mercy, compassion, and focused on the people in the shadows — the poor, the ill, the handicapped, the prisoners, the old, and the dying. Focused on the family as the “factory of hope”. Focused on the individual above all.
For non-Catholics, this message seems to present a universal truth, a cure for loneliness, a reason for hope, a joy in living. The Francis phenomenon may also represent a longing by many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Americans for a spiritual uplift, a spiritual awakening.
This observation extends also to the huge crowds Joel Osteen and the other television and mega-church preachers host every Sunday, as well as the always sold-out homecoming concerts of Bill Gaither, and the overcrowded church services on Christmas and Easter. What else explains the 850,000 people lining the street on the occasion of the Pope’s last Mass in Philadelphia, when there was virtually no prospect of seeing or even hearing the ceremony? And the smiling faces and joyful atmosphere which ruled even the largest crowds?
Something big went on there — with Pope Francis I at its center.
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