Attacks on Pope Francis

This may be the most startling comment to emerge on last month’s Synod on the Family: “Never in my lifetime have I heard of bishops and cardinals being so disrespectful of a pope, challenging his organisation of this synod, even a few referring to him as a Protestant and threatening a fractured Church if he goes against their wishes.”

These are the words of Jesuit Father Thomas Reese, a popular American priest and media commentator. Fr Reese is not usually given to exaggeration, so his testimony likely draws from personal experience.

If Fr Reese’s observation corresponds with the facts, then it seems apparent that Pope Francis is facing a kind of opposition within the hierarchy unlike any of his recent predecessors. Indeed, in the past bishops who might have stated their opposition to a pope in the ways Fr Reese describes would have been subject to very stern rebukes.

Of course, Pope Francis has encouraged robust and open dialogue, and he has responded to certain areas of criticism, such as the letter written to him by 13 cardinals regarding procedural points of the synod.

It is not permissible, however, to attack the pope ad hominem, such as malicious remarks about his fidelity to Church teachings which find their ways onto right-wing websites, even in South Africa.

The pope is the Vicar of Christ. On certain issues we may freely disagree with the pope, and any pope—but when we do so, we must do so with respect for the man and his office.

In some quarters, Pope Francis does not receive the proper respect. This in turn diminishes the office of the papacy, with implications for popes in the past and in the future. If contempt is allowed to be levelled against one pope, it can be levelled against all popes.

The ferocity of the ideological opposition to the Holy Father is converse to the intense love most Catholics have for him. To them, Pope Francis inspires the three heavenly graces of hope, charity and faith.

The papacy is not, however, a popularity contest. As a pope, Francis cannot please everybody. Just as the popes who preceded him faced those who disagreed with them, so must he.

As a pontiff who is opening doors, Pope Francis knows that he can expect support as well as opposition at every level of the Church. There will be those who trust that the pope is being led by the Holy Spirit, and those who do not.

For any leader, criticism is part of the deal. But the quality of the criticism must be judged as much by its content as it is by the tone in which it is delivered.

Another test of that may come soon, when Pope Francis issues his apostolic exhortation on the family synod.

That document will likely cover all the major issues contained in the synod’s final document, but as it was in the synod, two issues will dominate the public discourse: the pastoral care towards homosexuals and Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.

It is the latter issue especially which might reignite sharp divisions. Pope Francis has not made it a secret that he sees merit in admitting at least some divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to the sacraments from which they are presently barred.

Should it turn out that in his apostolic exhortation the pope, following the extensive collegial consultation with the world’s bishops, exercises his prerogative to reform the process by which divorced and civilly remarried Catholics may have access to Communion for, then it will be permissible to state one’s disagreement with that decision.

But there is a caveat: those who will register their disagreement with the pope, and those who do so on any number of issues, must do so not in the manner of dissent and hostility, never mind by fostering division and rebellion. Their disagreement should be stated in a spirit of appealing to the teaching authority of the Church, the magisterium at whose head is the pope.

Alas, it seems unlikely that those who criticise the pope in disrespectful terms will moderate their impudence.

For those who love the Holy Father, there is an obvious retort to those who evidently do not: to pray fervently for Pope Francis, that the Lord may give him the fortitude to continue his selfless and loving service to the People of God in the name of Our Lord Jesus.