Ever
since Pope Francis took over the leadership of the Catholic Church, the
attitude of Catholics and people of other faith in the
world positively changed towards the Catholic church. The world
started seeing a genuine prophet who wanted to ‘rebuild the church’ after the
model of St. Francis of Assisi whom he has taken as his model and patron.
He was more concerned about living as a true disciple of Christ than
worshipping him by keeping up the traditional dogma and unproductive rituals.
He wanted to imitate the example of the good shepherd who always led the
sheep from the front, setting personal example of simplicity. Hence he asked
the leaders of the church to be shepherds with the ‘smell of the
sheep’.
Soon
after a few days of his election as the Pope, the inclusive statement he
made on God was against the fundamentalist and traditional view.
His statement “my God is not a Catholic God” surely shocked the
traditionalists. On another occasion he revealed his compassionate heart
for the homosexuals when he said, “who am I to judge them?” Following the
example of Christ and spirit of the Gospel, he wanted to open the doors of the
church for divorcees and those married outside the church.
Traditional theologians
feel that the Pope is spreading heresy and “posing a
danger to the faithful”. Don’t these self-righteous defenders of
faith see the empty churches in Europe because people were fed up of
the dogmatic theology and oppressive laws? From the day one after his
election, Pope Francis is winning millions of hearts for Christ.
He
appealed to the priests and bishops all over the world to wash the feet of
women on the Holy Thursday in the church as a symbolic act of service. For
centuries, only men’s feet were washed by the celebrant. It was a
revolutionary step to remove the discrimination against women.
However, the orthodox, rather self-righteous, bishops of Syro-Malabar
church in Kerala refused to follow the example of Pope Francis.
(Despite
being a priest of Syro-Malabar diocese I had introduced this practice for the last
30 years)
Ever
since his election, Pope Francis is in the media.
The Pope’s humanitarian and prophetic stand on various international
issues has made him popular among people of other faiths.
He not only spoke against terrorism but
showed compassion by welcoming Muslim refugees, who were victims of terrorism,
to Vatican. In India many Hindu fanatics also started speaking
positively about Pope Francis. He criticized proselytization
as a crime. He is correcting the mistakes of imperialism of the Catholic
Church and making it more spiritual. His initiative for a joint
celebration of 500 years of Martin Luther and reformation is a step in
this direction.
The
Pope was honest and humble to ask pardon for the sexual abuses committed by
Catholic clergy and directed stern action against such priests. He
did not tolerate extravagant ways of bishops either. He asked a Bishop in
Germany to resign for constructing an expensive residence for him. He
criticised bishops who make unnecessary trips outside the diocese neglecting
the pastoral care when he asked them not to be “airport bishops”. However,
many bishops in India are not bothered about the simplicity of the Pope and go
on enjoying the pleasure of building palatial houses and multi-million
churches.
Through
his encyclical on consecrated life, “Joy of Love”, the Pope has asked
religious to be more humane and joyful in their consecrated
life. His call to give up “funeral face” in the convents
communicates urgent and radical reforms which are needed
to make consecrated life more relevant to the times.
Throughout
the history of the world, prophets were confronted by traditional
theologians and high priests, accused of heresy and were murdered. The
religious fanatics, kings and vested political leaders had always joined
hands to murder the prophets who acted as conscience of the society. Socrates,
Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi, several progressive authors, journalists and
social activists were eliminated.
When
Jesus Christ launched a new way of spiritual movement challenging the
institutional Jewish religion he was accused of blasphemy and sedition and was
crucified. Thousands of prophets who spoke against superstition and
commercialisation of religion were condemned as heretics and burned alive.
Those who burnt these heretics alive were canonized for defending the
superstitious dogma and oppressive
laws.
There
is no wonder that a few theologians and high priests in the
Catholic church are accusing Pope Francis of spreading heresy. The
letter they have written to him to protest is termed as “filial
correction”. While these theologians and defenders of faith question
the prophetic role of Pope, they should analyse their actions and
statements on the basis of the life and teachings of Christ. The
fundamental question the disciples of Christ should ask to test their actions
should be this: ‘What would Jesus do if he were here? What is the mind of
Christ? What is the heart of Christ? Before looking into dogma and
canon law we need to look into the Gospels to know the mind and heart of
Christ.
The
decline of the Church in Europe and many other parts of the world is due to the
drifting away from Christ and his teachings. The rigid theology and inhuman
laws forced people to quit the church. The important mission is to make all the
people in the world disciples of Christ, not members of the institutional
and imperial church. People should be helped to follow THE WAY; the
way of love, forgiveness, freedom, equality, compassion, justice, inclusiveness
and pluralism. Pope Francis is making sincere and radical efforts to
reinvent the Catholic church as THE WAY. This way will end all violence
and hatred; this way will unite the whole human family as a civilization of
love!
If
Pope Francis is accused of spreading heresy he is only following the example of
Jesus Christ who was accused of blasphemy. This is an encouragement to
those who want to be true to their prophetic call, “..... I have appointed you
to be a prophet to the nations” -- Jer 1:4.
(Published
on 23rd October 2017, Volume XXIX, Issue 43)
