Pope versus Pundit

Putting the pope’s controversy in context

10/26/2020

Luke 13:10-17 Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath, said to the crowd in reply, “There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day.” The Lord said to him in reply, “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering? This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?” When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated; and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.

Today’s gospel of Luke 13:10-17, where Jesus cures a crippled woman on the Sabbath, provides an opportunity to make a few comments about Pope Francis’ controversial statements in a movie released on Oct. 21 at the Rome Film Festival. It was a documentary film called “Francesco” (Italian for “Francis”), about Francis of Rome, not Francis of Assisi. The gospel of Luke presents Jesus performing a miracle clearly not in conformity with the Jewish laws of the day, especially “resting” on the Sabbath, based on the 3rd Commandment of the Decalogue. Hence, the leader of the synagogue complains: “There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the Sabbath day.” Jesus, however, fires back: “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his ass and lead it out for watering? This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the Sabbath day from this bondage?”

The synagogue leader was right, but Jesus was more right. How so? The Jewish leader was appealing to the law of Moses, the 10 Commandments, but Jesus was coming to establish a higher law, without abolishing the former law but rather absorbing the former law. That is, Jesus had come to establish the law of love and mercy, the 8 Beatitudes, and he himself was its perfect embodiment. In other words, Jesus is the law of love on two legs.

And whenever anyone draws near to Jesus, they find the true “Sabbath rest” that Moses only saw from a distance, since he himself did not enter the Promised Land. Heb. 11:39 reads: “Yet all these [Abraham, Noah, Moses, etc.], though approved because of their faith, did not receive what had been promised.” This gospel passage seems to me one way to understand Pope Francis’ comments about the possibility of some recognition of people who live together – including (but not only) homosexual persons – that is, not abolishing the Church’s teaching on marriage but rather absorbing it into Jesus’ larger law of love, mercy and compassion.

Several people have emailed me in the past week concerned that the pope was changing the Church’s teaching on marriage or softening the Church’s stance on sexual acts only being proper in marriage and between husband and wife. One person sent me a Youtube video of a reporter summarizing the comments of Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Kazakhstan. The bishop pleaded with the pope to repent of his comments and he asked all Catholics to pray for the pope’s conversion back to the Catholic faith. Clearly, the pope’s comments are causing great consternation and even confusion throughout the Catholic community and worldwide. Perhaps a few facts will help dissipate some of the fog of fiction clouding this issue.

First, in a recent October 24 “America” magazine article, it was clear the pope had made his comments about recognizing “civil unions” not while he has been the pope, but while he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Obviously, what you say as an archbishop is very important, but not nearly as weighty as what words you utter as the successor of St. Peter. So, keep that in mind: the pope as pope, with his full authority as the Vicar of Christ, was not advocating for civil unions, much less a change in Church teaching on marriage, even though the documentary film portrayed it that way.

Secondly, the older I get and look back at my own personal history, with all its ups and downs, the more I appreciate the history of the Church, with all our communal ups and downs. I was recently reading about the disagreement between Pope St. Zosimus and St. Augustine in the 5th century. Pope Zosimus seemed a little soft on the Pelagian heresy that questioned if we really needed grace to do good works, and St. Augustine had to set the Catholic record straight. By the way, that is exactly why St. Augustine is called the “Doctor of Grace” because he defended the Church’s true teaching on the need for grace to do anything good. My point is that over the 2,000 year history of the Church there have been disagreements between popes and bishops; it has not always been a smooth road. But in the long-run the Holy Spirit is still guiding the Church down the ages.

Third, always consider the source of your information about current events. We sometimes naively think news outlets report the plain and simple truth, just the facts. We overlook the fact that people may have an agenda, and we are more liable to overlook their agenda because it happens to agree with our own agenda. Whoever agrees with what I think must be telling the truth, and everything else is “fake news.” Remember the news business is still a "business" and their objective is to make money (like all good businesses should), so they report the news in a way that will make you want to read more news. Fiction is far more entertaining than fact.

So, in summary, I think all the controversy over the pope’s comments – really the archbishop’s comments – is “much ado about nothing.” The Holy Spirit is still driving the bus. So, sit back, look out the window, and enjoy the ride.

Praised be Jesus Christ!