Francis’ Government: What is the driving force of his pontificate?
This article is recommended by Soline Humbert – “I think it gives a good insight into Pope Francis’ approach to reform.I found it very informative and food for thought, others may too…”
After seven years of this pontificate, what is its driving force? Some commentators and analysts have wondered if Francis’ drive still exists; others have tried to reflect on its substance. The question could be re-phrased as follows: What kind of government does Francis exercise, and how do we interpret it in the light of these seven years? I intend to address this question here, examining the meaning of his way of governing, which comes from his personality, his own life and formation.[1]
Francis’ Government: What is the driving force of his pontificate?
To be honest I found this extremely hard going – much harder than it needed to be, given Francis’s own far greater clarity. ‘Heal the wounds’ sums up both style and and substance and points immediately to communion – a stage we never get to in Ireland. A deep estrangement, born of fear of opening an unplumbed depth of woundedness, had paraysed ‘the institution’ long before the virus hit us, and now the latter has provided the perfect excuse for inertia as ‘the will of God’.
Confined now to our ‘cells’ the patience of God when it comes to movement in Ireland seems unreasonable, given the normal life span. We are facing declericalisation as the only apparent ‘cure’ for Irish clericalism, so ‘the church’ of Ireland’s future is difficult to ‘discern’. How much time is left for our hierarchs to ‘get’ what Francis is doing and saying?
As for the Amazonian Synod,I am afraid Brendan Hoban was right. He said Querida Amazonia could have a same fate as Humanae Vitae (see his article published on 28th Feb). Really?
Well, while the Vatican hesitates whether or not to restore discipline of the apostolic Church (female diaconate, married elders), as requested by 80 % of synod fathers,life goes on with challenging pastoral realities now made harder by the pandemic (violence against indigenous tribes,record deforestation,etc.)
At first glance,there may appear to be no link between these events,but not quite.
Pentecostal churches are increasingly spreading through the Amazon basin,attracting fishermen,peasants and even Aboriginal people.Every year several famílies pass on to evangelicals be it in cities or in remote corners. However,in a region where Sr Dorothy Stang and Fr Burnier were martyrs, these evangelists dismiss efforts to preserve the rain forest and indigenous cultures as mere leftist ideology. Of course, right wing politicians support them.