Six years ago, just about this time of year, I was working on what turned into a small e-book,
5 Keys to Understanding Pope Francis, who was a very new Pope at the time (the book was recently retired, or I'd link to it). Especially after the events of the past three weeks with social media headlines from extreme left and right, I thought it was time to offer five MORE keys to understanding Pope Francis.
These keys come in part from my own reflection, in part from seeing the misinterpretations that have gained way too much traction in social media, and in part from the genuine questions that have come my way from Catholics in the kind of churchly circles I tend to swim in: liturgically sedate, doctrinally unadventurous, conventionally pious. (Let me state from the outset, for the benefit of any who are tired of finding themselves on the receiving end of veiled criticism, that I do not intend these words in any negative sense whatever: I am trying to be
dispassionately accurate about things I am actually
passionate about!)
1: Pope Francis is Latin American.
This means he is deeply familiar with expressions of
faith integrated into a Catholic culture that is, some might say, "colorful" (in more ways than one). We "hear" that culture in the chords of Mexican mañanitas; we see it in the way the Sign of the Cross is made (with the thumb and forefinger forming a cross that is kissed at the "Amen"); we touch it in the textiles with woven patterns that often go back centuries; we feel it in the heat of a thousand candles burning not only in shrines before fully-clothed statues, but in home shrines (fire hazard be damned). In the most middle-of-the-road parish in Brazil on the most ordinary Sunday in Ordinary Time, the proclamation of the Gospel is preceded by a festive procession with loud and joyful acclamations, song, full-bodied movement through which every member of the assembly welcomes the Word of the Lord and declares his or her readiness to hear and obey that divine message.
For the Latino Catholic, the liturgical assembly is a community in a real sense of the word: the family does not go to Church simply to fulfill an obligation to go to Mass. Going to Mass
is gathering as a family to hear the Word of God and respond together; to receive Jesus and to spend time, even a lot of time, with his people. The children run freely and play together after Mass (often during the Mass they are left free to walk the aisles and look at the statues, or visit another family in their pew); the adults are glad to share traditional food and drinks afterwards, catch up on news and ask or receive needed assistance. There is no rush to return home.
 |
Heading to a DÃa de los Muertos
parade in Albuquerque. |
These are aspects of "popular" religious culture in the sense that it is imbued with the native spirit of the various indigenous societies that first encountered the Gospel in the 16th century: it bears the mark of the ordinary "people" (
populus) and their history, purified of elements that were found directly contrary to the Good News. (Where things were ambiguous, that ambiguity was taken in the most positive sense and steered toward the Gospel...as much as possible, as with the
DÃa de Muertos.)
North American Catholics who live in areas like San Antonio, Southern California, Miami, Chicago, parts of New York City are familiar with these living cultural traditions. Outside of these areas, they may seem like artificial add-ons, especially when they touch the liturgy. But for Pope Francis and other Latin Americans, these are
normal and authentic ways of celebrating the liturgy and living parish life, not forced efforts at local color or "inclusivity."
But there may be a bit more, because...
Pope Francis is Argentinian.
This summer I learned a little something from an Argentinian sister about her co-nationals. "Generally, Latino people are demonstrative," she said, "but we Argentinians tend to be more reserved. As a culture, we are not emotionally expressive." I suppose I would say that this makes the Argentinians seem more sophisticated. And Argentina's 20th century history was ... interesting, to say the least.
At any rate, Pope Francis' Argentinian culture might be important for another reason than people thinking he might be aloof when he is really just in "neutral." But Pope Francis's words have been unusually harsh when it comes to one group. He will "encounter" anyone and everyone, and is willing to "dialogue" with all types. Yet he seems completely unwilling to engage with priests and seminarians who promote what many North American Catholics think of as "solemn" liturgies, especially the Latin Mass according to the 1962 missal. (There is official dialogue with the breakaway traditionalist group started by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.)
What gives?
As archbishop, Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio had a strong track record of being with, for, and among the poor. It was his responsibility to provide for basic instruction in the faith, offer the sacraments, console the sorrowing, support the weak in a major city in which millions barely survive in a completely broken social order, and he was known for having time for the city's poorest.
This is just
speculation on my part, but what if
in Latin America the population that tends to favor solemn high Latin liturgies has also tended to be comfortable enough to
have liturgical preferences in the first place, whereas the majority of people are barely getting by? I can see that Pope Francis would not be particularly interested in what might seem to be arcane in-house matters when as a bishop he had to deal with the moral and pastoral implications of overcrowded slums, drug (and human) trafficking, and the desperate lives of the hopelessly poor in a country with rampant political corruption--all things that he can now see on a much vaster scale now from Peter's chair.
There is also the unfortunate reality that hypocrites like the disgraced founder Marcial Maciel (and other moneyed [politically-aligned?]
parties sponsoring "pious" organizations) with large numbers of followers in Latin America seem to have cultivated qualities that we can see make Francis bristle with irritation: "rigidity" in manners, impeccably high taste, scrupulous observance in liturgy and traditional piety. It could be that Francis is personally impatient with preoccupations that seem to him, from his experience of
specific cases, not matched by authenticity and a serious commitment to social justice and which may be tainted (even if third-hand) by the grossest betrayals possible*.
I am
not saying that concern for justice is not there, just suggesting that the Pope's
personal experiences in the Latin American context may have something to do with his apparent disinterest in church traditions (small "t") and the concerns of people who are passionate about them.
So what I am getting at is, if you are one of those high-liturgy-loving Catholics (
I am!), or a Saturno-wearing priest (
not me!), don't take it personally that the Pope doesn't have time for your special interests. Don't wince at the brusque remarks about rigid seminarians or clericalism. This is
not about you or us (he doesn't know you, right?). If he doesn't engage in dialogue with this one sector of the Church, it is perhaps because he feels he has already experienced enough of it for a lifetime. Jorge Bergoglio may have been as burned by his experience 30 years ago as some of us were by the liturgical opposite. (Hey, we're in the Northern Hemisphere, so things get reversed!)
Tune in later this week for another key to understanding Pope Francis!
Here are all the "5 (More) Keys" posts:
Key #1 (Pope Francis is Latin American)
Key #2 (Pope Francis is not afraid of chaos)
Key #3 (Pope Francis Trusts in the Holy Spirit)
Key #4 (Pope Francis is Catholic)
Key #5 (Pope Francis is the Pope)
*Several less famous but popular religious communities and movements founded over the last several decades in Argentina, Peru and Brazil have recently been suppressed or are currently under investigation for all manner of sexual abuse and malfeasance, including money laundering for drug lords. Some of these groups were (are?) noteworthy for their outward asceticism.
So today's feast of the Holy Name of Jesus means something to me personally. 
