Francis of Rome

GUEST EDITORIAL BY MICHAEL SHACKLETON

When he was interviewed last month for the Jesuit publication La Civilta Cattolica, Pope Francis admitted to its editor, Fr Antonio Spadaro SJ, that he did not know Rome very well.

This was, of course, a mutual sentiment. Rome did not know Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio very well.

The new pope is not a native of Europe, nor did he do his studies in Rome, like so many of his predecessors.

While the city and the Catholic world are attempting to take the measure of the man, it is evident that even before he and the other cardinals had gathered to elect Pope Benedict’s successor, Cardinal Bergoglio had a clear idea of what kind of papacy he would like to see in future.

Coming from Argentina’s vast archdiocese of Buenos Aires where many people exist in the poverty trap, the cardinal lived frugally, cooking for himself in a modest dwelling, avoiding the trappings of his status whenever possible.

He used public transport and mingled with people on the streets.

He was hardly touched by the “engine room” feel of Vatican officialdom and had no career aspirations there.

If Rome had known more about this unpretentious prelate, it might not have been taken aback, as it was, by his choice of the name Francis. He appears to have intended to present the Church with a forceful reminder that St Francis of Assisi and his impoverished lifestyle should be the model for the Church today. This was his first salvo, hinting how he intended to recast the image of the Church.

Shortly afterwards, in another interview, with Eugenio Scalfari for Rome’s newspaper La Repubblica, he admitted that love for temporal power is still very strong within the Vatican walls and in the institutional structure of the whole Church.

By means of interviews Pope Francis is showing his hand gradually. He is not declaring any formal teaching or discipline. It is as if he is presenting points of view that have made him restive, and been on his mind for some time.

In the interview with Fr Spadaro he commented that the first reform he desired was in attitude, meaning that the Church’s frame of mind has to be that of simplicity and compassion.

The ministers of the Gospel, he said, must be men who can warm the hearts of the people.  He wanted these ministers to descend into their people’s night, but without getting lost. “The people of God”, he said, “want pastors, not clergy acting like bureaucrats or government officials”.

His determination to reform the Roman curia was plain when he told Fr Spadaro that the curia was at the service of the pope and the bishops, and its offices must not run the risk of becoming institutions of censorship.

“The Roman congregations,” he said, “are mediators, they are not middlemen or managers.”

The implication is that attitudes must improve in this respect and a sense of a people-friendly service prevail. There ought to be a mentality of rejuvenation, repositioning the Church again as a caring and welcoming community of love.

This innovative “man-on-the-bus” style of communicating the Bishop of Rome’s opinions and asides is so different from what the Church has been used to.

All at once, we are warming to the Holy Father as a person more than as Supreme Pontiff. He is identifying himself with ordinary Catholics, calling himself a sinner in a conversational and open way.

Clergy and faithful have begun to understand that Pope Francis is looking forwards and not backwards, to the future and not to the past.

We can expect him to make his views more explicit and authoritative as his papacy settles down.

We can expect bishops and theologians to be energised by a new fervour and the Church to be led by a Franciscan spirit to discover new paths of simplicity and care for humanity and creation.