Pray for Protection of the Pope

We must pray for the protection of Pope Francis.

It is clear already that the new Bishop of Rome will not docilely follow the practices and conventions of his immediate predecessors.

His decision not to wear the customary red papal cape before stepping out on the loggia of St. Peter's the night of his election was the first sign that, in the words of Italian journalist Massimo Franco, "the end of the Pope-King and of the Vatican Court is over."

Jorge Brigoglio's previous life-style (his simple accommodations, his riding the bus to work, his pastoral ministry even as cardinal) will obviously carry over into his lifestyle as pope.

It has been reported that when he walked into the papal apartment his initial reaction was, "There's room for 300 people here --I don't need all this space."

The new bishop of Rome sounds more like Jesus of Nazareth and Francis of Assisi ("Go sell all that you have and give to the poor...Take nothing with you on the road...Deny yourself").

Pope Francis explained his choice of the name. He said that a cardinal from Brazil urged him not to forget the poor. That encouragement led him to reflect on Francis of Assisi and three aspects of the saint's life: self-imposed poverty, love of peace, and concern for the environment.

We must pray for the protection of Pope Francis.

As beloved as he already is, Papa Francesco will inevitably face rejection, ridicule, and even persecution for being different. Bullying simple souls is no more a stranger on the world stage or in Church circles than it is on a school bus or playground.

Some well-meaning souls will reject his way of doing things on the grounds that he undermines the dignity of his office and the authority of the Church.

Some will ridicule him for "catering to the poor," for reflecting the pastoral more than the dogmatic, for threatening the mindset of the more "conservative" members of the Church.

Some will persecute him for his perceived involvement or lack-of-involvement  in response to Argentine politics, for whatever he decides to do about the scandals in the Curia, for his response to pedophilia and its cover-up.

I fear for his life. We must pray for the protection of Pope Francis.

It is common knowledge that anyone who dares raise his head above the crowd has placed himself in danger.

"They" killed Archbishop Oscar Romero, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Sister Dorothy Stang, lay-missionary Jean Donovan, even Jesus of Nazareth.

Pope Francis' walking among the people, shaking hands, kissing babies, and simply being accessible put him in danger.

We do not pray that he change his modus operandi. May it continue. May his pastoral sensitivity pervade the Church. May his intention to pass on an optimism and hope to younger generations who are looking for spiritual guidance be realized. May his papacy bring about that new Pentecost so intently hoped for at Vatican II.

We must, however, pray for his protection.

Francis the Fourth

Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio surprised us all when he took the name "Francis" as Bishop of Rome and pope of the Church.

Cardinal Albino Luciani broke with tradition in 1978 when he took a double name; he chose "John" to honor Pope John XXIII and "Paul" to honor his predecessor Pope Paul VI.

If our historical record is correct, Pope John II (533-535) was the first Bishop of Rome to change his name (unless you count Jesus' changing Simon's name to Peter); he had been Mercurius, and it must have seemed inappropriate for a pope to have the name of a pagan god.

In 938 the Bishop of Pavia in Italy, Peter Canepanova, was appointed pope by the emperor; out of deference to St. Peter, the new Bishop of Rome changed his name to John XIV. Sergius IV in 1009 also had "Peter" as his baptismal name and did not want to have the same official name as the Apostle.

Gregory V (996-999), the first German pope, changed his name from Bruno, and Pope Sylvester II (999-1003), the first French pope, changed his name from Gerbert. There has been the suspicion that both did so in order to sound more "Roman."

The last two popes to keep their baptismal names were Adrian VI (1522-23) and Marcellus II (1555).

Taking a new name upon becoming pope is a custom, not a rule. Cardinal Bergoglio could have become Pope Jorge I. Instead he chose Francis, the first Bishop of Rome to have that name.

Since he is a Jesuit, Cardinal Bergoglio might have been influenced by the example of  Francis Xavier, who died in 1552, one of the original group of seven Jesuits ordained in 1537. Francis Xavier has been called "one of the greatest missionaries in the history of the Church." He is invoked as patron of foreign missions.

Francis de Sales, who died in 1622, is a bishop and doctor of the Church, remembered for his encouraging lay spirituality and for writing his classic Introduction to the Devout Life. He is patron of writers.

And, of course, there is St. Francis of Assisi, who died in 1226, the founder of  the Franciscans. This Francis is known for his simplicity, asceticism, humility, mystical experiences.

I like to think that all three in this triumvirate could be his inspiration.

Francis Xavier lived as a poor man in order to serve the poor. It is said that he slept on the ground and chose a diet of rice and water. He died at age 46.

Francis de Sales, known as a wise, learned, and gentle teacher, explained the teachings of the Church and Bible, urging the faithful to develop their spiritual lives.

Francis of Assisi, according to one story, heard God say to him, "Repair my church," and in his own unique way Francis did just that, calling attention to the church's failings and encouraging its reform.

If the qualities of each Francis surface in the pontificate of Pope Francis I, then the Church of the twenty-first century will have experienced another humble, wise, and reforming leader --just what we need in a church with "a disfigured face."

Perhaps Pope Francis will be added to the triumvirate, and become thereby Francis the Fourth. We must pray for him.

(Father Richard McBrien's Lives of the Saints and his Lives of the Popes are two excellent, easy-to-read sources for learning more about the leaders and inspirers of the Church.)

If I Were Pope...

As the cardinals prepared for the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, they met to assess the state of the Church and offer suggestions for the kind of leader needed to deal with the crises which the "disfigured face" of the Church is currently showing to the world.

Laity, religious and clergy around the world have likewise expressed their hopes and expectations for the new papacy.

Most of the priests I know have verbalized their wishes and prayers that the new Bishop of Rome will bring energy and credibility to the Church and its mission.

Among the wishful thinking were recommendations (in no specific order) which I have classified under the heading "If I were pope, I would..."

...auction some Vatican art treasures and give the receipts to help the poor (cf. Mk 10:21)

...ban the cappa magna (the long red cape or train some hierarchs wear) and simplify clerical and liturgical dress (cf. Mt 23:5)

...urge Catholics to focus on their relationship with God and their love for neighbor rather than their religious practices (cf. Mk 7:5-13)

...develop the responsibility and authority of bishops' conferences (cf. Lumen Gentium, 22-23)

...appoint a board of bishops (on a rotating basis) to oversee the work of the Curia (cf. an idea which surfaced during the Second Vatican Council)

...replace the current English translation of the Roman Missal with a translation developed and approved by the English-speaking bishops (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, 22.2)

...reaffirm the expectation that the faithful be actively engaged in the liturgy, fully aware of what they are doing (cf. Sacosanctum Concilium, 11)

...ordain women as deacons (cf. ancient Church practice)

...restate every human being's "right to freedom in searching for the truth and in expressing and communicating his opinions and in pursuit of art, within the limits laid down by the moral order and the common good" (cf. Pope John XXIII's Pacem In Terris, 12)

...reform the way the papal primacy is exercised without renouncing what is essential to its mission (Pope John Paul II's Ut Unum Sint, 95).

...respond to the victims of the abuse scandal, "do everything that we can to help, support, and heal them; secondly, that such acts be prevented by the proper selection of candidates for the priesthood, as much as possible; and thirdly that perpetrators be punished and be bared from any opportunity to repeat such acts" (cf. Pope Benedict XVI, Light of the World - A Conversation With Peter Seewald p. 28).

...revisit the requirement that limits Catholic theologians to explaining (but never exploring or questioning) the magisterium  (cf. the cooperation between bishops and theologians at Vatican II)

...declare a Year of  the Consecrated Woman, celebrating the vocation, ministry and heritage of religious sisters and nuns (cf. common sense).

The worldwide list of proposals and policies for the new Bishop of Rome would fill volumes. The expression of such hopes and dreams, however, seems to me a healthy sign --that laity, religious and clergy take the mission and ministry of the Church seriously and want very much to be involved in building the Kingdom of God on earth.  For that, "Amen, Alleluia!"

What Kind Of Pope?

I have heard the question asked dozens of times over the past several days: "What kind of pope do you want?"

Variations on that theme include: "What do you want the new Guy to do?" and "If you could choose the new pope, who would it be?"

The responses have been diverse:

"I hope the new pope can clean up the mess in the Vatican. He'll need to insist on transparency and honesty."

"The new pope will have to reform the curia if he hopes to have a successful papacy."

"We need a guy with some charisma --someone who'll restore confidence."

"We need a pope who will get us back on track --stop all this modernizing and get us back to the way the Church used to be."

"He should be a man of prayer, with a deep spiritual life, guided by the Gospel more than the human traditions of a stuffy old bureaucracy."

"I hope the new pope respects and promotes the direction set by Vatican II."

"The new pope is going to have to bring some new, younger people into the Church's leadership, like Cardinal Martini suggested."

"I don't have much hope for change. All the cardinals were appointed by either John Paul or Benedict.--it would take a miracle for us to get somebody who will really read the signs of the times and respond accordingly."

"I pray the Holy Spirit will choose someone who'll clean house."

"The new pope's got to ordain women as deacons, stop using the episcopacy as a reward or  some kind of  honor for officials in church bureaucracy, and finally respect bishops' conferences and collegiality."

"I really don't care who's chosen. He won't affect me. I go to church, say my prayers and try to live a good life. Popes don't do much for the average Catholic."

"Do you think it's too much to ask for another John XXIII?"

The National Catholic Reporter (March 1-14, 2013) published a list of cardinals the NCR considers "Top Ten Contenders." They are scarcely known to most Catholics, but with all the jokes accompanying his name, it is amusing that at the top of their list is Cardinal Angelo Scola, the Archbishop of Milan. (The amusement is in saying, "We now have  Pope Scola in the Vatican!")

Unlike the last consistory, this time there is no likely candidate. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was practically a shoo-in eight years ago. If the word "likely" were applied to the upcoming election, it would probably modify the noun "Italian."

In the meantime we wait and pray.

It Is Time To Pray

Catholics are encouraged to pray for divine guidance for the college of cardinals when they meet to elect a new pope.

It is our hope that the election of the new pope will be the direct choice of the Holy Spirit, but, given papal history, there is no convincing reason to maintain that this is necessarily so.

Pope Benedict was once asked whether the Holy Spirit chooses the pope. His answer was nuanced: "I would say that the Spirit does not exactly take control of the affair, but rather like a good educator, as it were, leaves us much space, much freedom, without entirely abandoning us. Thus the Spirit's role should be understood in a much more elastic way, not that he dictates the candidate for whom one must vote."

Then why pray? If even the Holy Spirit does not necessarily get the candidate she wants, what good is our prayer?

As I wrestle with this question, and indeed with the whole concept of prayers of petition, I begin with the notion that God does not like to do things for us. Rather, God much prefers to do things with us.

Many a grandmother brings her grandchild into the kitchen to bake cookies. Grandma could mix the dough and cut out the cookies more efficiently, more cleanly, by herself, but she willing puts up with the extra mess and misshapen dough in order to bond more closely with her grandchild.

God, I think, does much the same. The Father, prompted by love, prefers to have his children intimately involved in the plan and process of salvation.

There are various kinds of prayer: adoration, thanksgiving, contrition, and petition. Through the prayer of adoration we worship God, acknowledging awesome divinity. In prayers of thanksgiving we express gratitude for heaven's blessings. In contrition we admit our sinfulness and express a spirit of amendment.

But what are we doing in prayers of petition? We are asking God for something: maybe for health or wealth, for success or protection, or for any number of perceived needs.

Are we asking for these things because God is oblivious to our needs? Of course not. Do we pray for the restoration of a loved one's health because we need to earn God's intervention? That makes no sense, since God loves our loved ones more than we do.

If our prayer of petition neither wakens God to our needs nor earns a response, why ask?

Perhaps the first reason we petition God for anything is that such a prayer awakens within us a sense of our dependence upon the Divine One. By such prayer we acknowledge that we are not in control, that we are powerless in many situations of life. We are simply admitting the truth that we need divine providence, that it all depends on God.

A second reason for petition (indeed for all forms of prayer) is that in this exercise of raising our hearts and minds to God we are releasing into the world a force for good!

This reason may seem mystical, but it is not to be ignored.

We know that there is evil in the world. Recall the advice in 1 Peter 5:8, "Be sober and watchful, for your adversary the devil like a roaring lion is prowling about the world seeking someone to devour. Resist him steadfast in the faith..."

When grandmother cooks a pot of cabbage the aroma soon wafts from the kitchen into the rest of the house. In a similar way, when we do evil (when we sin) we release evil into the world. And, conversely, when we do good (when we love) we release goodness, a force that confronts and counterbalances evil.

All our prayers, including petition, release the force of good, and that force can influence the world and the mentality around us.

Since God does not like to do things for us (except in special situations --for God is God, and God does whatever God wants) but rather prefers to do things with us, God patiently waits for us to release goodness into the world, and allows the things of this world to be influenced by either the presence of evil or the force for good.

Our failure to pray does not necessarily shackle God's power nor prevent divine intervention. Nevertheless, if my interpretation of salvation history (including the history of the Church) provides a clue about God's modus operandi, I am persuaded that God often waits for us to do our part.

All prayer, especially petition, is to be couched in an attitude of  "thy will be done."

It may well be, however, that God's will awaits our cooperation.

It is, then, possible that our next pope is not necessarily God's choice. Our encouragement to pray for the guidance of the Spirit at the conclave is found in Luke 11:9: "And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

If our prayer releases a force for good into the world, may that force finds its way into the closed doors  of  the Sistine Chapel. May the "Extra, omnes" of the Master of the Papal Liturgical Celebrations drive out all evil forces from the conclave and let remain only the good ones, blessed by the Holy Spirit.

If we do not ask, we shall not receive. Let us release the good. It is time to pray!

Text of Pope Benedict's Resignation

Vatican Radio issued the following English translation of Pope Benedict XVI's announcement that he intended to resign on February 28, 2013:

Dear Brothers,
I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. 

After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. 

I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. 

For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.


From the Vatican, 10 February 2013

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

Women Deacons?

The Association of United States Catholic Priests (AUSCP) will likely entertain at its June meeting in Seattle a proposal supporting the ordination of women as deacons.

Obstacles to ordaining women as deacons include Canon Law 1024: "Sacram ordinationem valide recipit solus vir baptizatus," which is usually translated, "A baptized male alone receives sacred ordination validly."

Catholic doctrine maintains that the diaconate is conferred by a sacramental act called "ordination," i.e., the sacrament of Holy Orders (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1554). Canon 1024, therefore, precludes the ordination of women.

This current legislation is not irreformable. It can change, and likely will change when Church leaders accept the ordination of women as deacons as an idea and exigency whose time has come.

Misunderstanding may be an another obstacle. Many think that legislation allowing the ordination of women to the diaconate necessarily opens the door to ordination of women as priests.

Pope John Paul II effectively closed the door on ordination of women as priests when he declared in 1994 that the Church does not have the authority to ordain women as priests. His perception seems to be based on the New Testament evidence that Jesus did not choose women to be among the Twelve.

Accepting this papal clarification, however, does not rule out ordination of women as deacons.

 In 2009 Pope Benedict the XVI added a paragraph to Canon 1009: "Those who are constituted in the order of the episcopate or the presbyterate receive the mission and capacity to act in the person of Christ the Head, whereas deacons are empowered to serve the People of God in the ministries of the liturgy, the word and charity" (cf. Motu proprio "Omnium in Mentem,"  October 20, 2009).

Thus ordination to the diaconate does not, according to Church law, imply eligibility to ordination to the presbyterate. Phyllis Zagano, the preeminent scholar on the history of deaconesses in the early Church, notes that ordination of a man as a permanent deacon is a separate vocation and by no means implies he is a candidate for priestly ordination. Pope Benedict's decision to clarify Canon 1009 further supports the ontological  differences between the orders of diaconate and presbyterate.

Perhaps a bigger obstacle to ordaining women as deacons is fear. The fear may stem from concern about control of ordained women (who oversees women deacons and their ministries) or simply apprehension about something "new" in the Church's structure (though in fact deaconesses are not new).

Both the New Testament (cf. Romans 16:1 where Paul sends greetings to "Phoebe our sister who is a minister, i.e., diakonos, of the church at Cenchreae") and early Church writings give evidence that women deacons were present in the first centuries of the Church's history (cf. Constitution of the Holy Apostles, 8, 19-20, with its ritual for ordaining women as deacons).

When the proposal for restoring the permanent diaconate surfaced at the Second Vatican Council, two of the  reasons for its restoration are applicable to the ordination of women as deacons: 1) to counter the priest shortage, and 2) to strengthen with sacramental grace those already performing diaconal service. Karl Rahner reflects that same argumentation in his Theological Investigations, 10.11.

Resourcement (a return to the sources) was a guiding principle for the aggiornamento of  Vatican II.  The biblical movement, the liturgical movement, and the patristic movement which influenced the Fathers of the Council and the formation of the Council's sixteen documents also support the possibility of ordaining women as deacons.

The door to women deacons is not closed. It is, at the very least, slightly ajar. It would take only a nod from the pope to allow entry to the many women of the Church, religious and lay, who already shoulder the burdens of service and serve as liturgical ministers.

Rahner noted that Vatican II did not insist on any one set of tasks for the restored diaconate, and further suggested that it is not essential that today's form should have existed in the past.

Having studied the issue for years, Zagano concluded, "The ordained ministry of service by women is necessary to the Church, that is, to both the People of God and the Hierarchy."

There is a certain irony for those oppose women deacons: the only person in the New Testament who is specifically described as "diakonos" is "Phoebe our sister."