I was driving in snowy conditions this morning, on my way back from my overnight job, when a story about Pope Francis came on. In it, NPR's Linda Wertheimer was interviewing Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, the newly elected head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
It was an interesting interview, where Kurt was asked about several issues regarding the new pope, including the questioning by some that he seems to have Marxist leanings. Here is some of what Kurtz had to say in response (the link to the full transcripts of the interview can be found at the bottom of this blog entry, if you are interested):
"When he went to Assisi, I guess that's been about three months ago, and people asked him, are you going to ask the bishops or the cardinals to do something different, he says, I'm going to ask all of you to do something differently. And he, in a very beautiful way, but a way that disarms people, says, I want to follow Jesus Christ and I want to live a humble life."
Kurtz continued, responding specifically to mounting criticism against this Pope, specifically that some have made comparisons to him and Marxists:
"Well, I think what our holy father is talking about, first of all, is we cannot look at people as consumers and as producers only. And that means that as individuals, as a church and as a society we need to address the inequalities that exist within our world that often, obviously, hold people back because of the great poverty in which they live....But the truth is also that, as our holy father said, it's very easy for economies to forget the person and to see only the economic process, and he's challenging us."
Pope Francis, then, is not trying to argue or start conflict.
Kurtz emphasized that when Francis talks "about economy, the joy of the Gospel, he basically is saying, listen, if I've offended anybody, that's not my intention."
He summarizes what he believes to be Pope Francis's position, paraphrasing him:
"My intention is to work with all people and to call forth the best of humanity."
Trying to unite, and bring best out of people. That is his focus. In the process, he seems to be trying to deemphasize the more divisive messages that the Church has been known for, in order that the focus be on what he seems to truly believe is the biggest problem that the world faces: economic inequality.
When he has been criticized by some of seemingly Marxist leanings, he has not backed away. Here, according to a Time piece ("Pope Francis: I’m Not a Marxist The Pontiff discusses his criticism of capitalism, plans for reform and world suffering By Courtney Subramanian @cmsubDec. 15, 2013), Francis explains in his own wordshis response to such allegations:
“The Marxist ideology is wrong. But I have met many Marxists in my life who are good people, so I don’t feel offended,” Francis said.
He does not leave it there. He brings his message of focusing on economic inequality by explaining the consistencies with the Church teachings, and again, pulls the plug on suggestions of his being a Marxist:
“The promise was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, benefiting the poor. But what happens instead, is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger nothing ever comes out for the poor. This was the only reference to a specific theory. I was not, I repeat, speaking from a technical point of view but according to the church’s social doctrine. This does not mean being a Marxist.”
Then, is his message being received?
I return to what Kurtz was saying in the NPR piece, where he says that the Francis is "engaging" in a way that is new, but essentially reiterating an old message. What might also be new is the renewed, enthusiastic response by many former practictioners, who just might be willing to take a look a the Church again:
"So I see our holy father as engaging the world. In that sense it's new. In that sense I think there's new opportunities for people who may have dismissed the church or dismissed their religion or their religious faith for some time to take a new look and to come back. I wouldn't underestimate the new strategy, the fact that things are said in a new way and they can captivate people and touch the hearts of people."
It seems to me that he has a more unifying message than we have heard from the Vatican in a long time. For that matter, he is indeed emphasizing Church teachings, and not simply focusing on exclusionary aspects, and condemning those that the Church views seemingly in terms of enemies and sinners.
And his message, which some suggest have Marxist leanings, are in fact, entirely consistent with the message of Jesus himself in the Beatitudes, and the Sermon on the Mount. For that, I applaud him. I have a Catholic background, and although I am not likely to become an active churchgoer and believer necessarily, I actually admire Pope Francis, and respect his message, as well as his approach of not simply flinching in the face of criticism.
He sees unbridled capitalism as a problem. In fact, he views it as an evil, and he is not afraid to say it. It is not wrong for him to point out that this is not in keeping with the Church's traditional beliefs. In fact, I think it was wrong of other religious leaders of the Church in the past to either ignore, or simply gloss over these enormous issues of fairness, and of good and evil.
Finally, this is Pope Francis's birthday, and I hope that this Pope had a happy birthday! He turned 77 today.
Here are the resources that I used in writing this piece on Francis I:
From NPR - "Archbishop Kurtz: Pope Francis Is 'Engaged' With People", transcripts of programming aired December 17, 2013:
http://www.npr.org/2013/12/17/251833643/archbishop-kurtz-pope-francis-is-engaged-with-people?ft=1&f=1016
"Pope Francis: I’m Not a Marxist The Pontiff discusses his criticism of capitalism, plans for reform and world suffering By Courtney Subramanian @cmsubDec. 15, 2013:
http://world.time.com/2013/12/15/pope-francis-im-not-a-marxist/
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