I think Rodrigo Guerra, in his memoriam, does a good job explaining what Pope Francis took in the attacks from US critics:
—excerpt:
“…Over the years, our correspondence deepened. I shared concerns with him — sometimes personal, sometimes about the Church — and he would write back, his opinions scrawled in his tiny handwriting. Today, as I reread some of those letters, I’m moved by their charity and insight. He was always a pastor, always near.
I was deeply struck by how much he detested the kind of extreme conservatism that quickly hardens into pseudo-orthodox rigor, moralism, or far-right politics. Yet just as striking was how wary he was of Gnostic or Pelagian-style progressivism, which strips away the supernatural heart of the Christian faith and turns it into something bland and shallow, dressed up as “modern.”
The fact that Pope Francis was criticized by both progressives and ultra-conservatives did not mean that he liked to sail in lukewarm waters. Francis was a radical — but radical in his bold affirmation of forgiveness, compassion, and mercy as his method. He was radical in his rediscovery of a truly evangelical, non-worldly way of life.
He was deeply moved by missionaries who lived among the poorest of the poor. He admired those willing to take risks, venturing to the Church’s geographical and existential peripheries. He once told me that what is true, what is of God, is born from the people, from the heart of the Church, from the final frontier. Conversely, what is born solely from ideas — no matter how perfect — has no life and eventually dies.
Pope Francis was no postmodern irrationalist. He loved doctrine, but he rejected easy, bourgeois intellectualism. He cherished closeness to God in prayer, and at the same time, he cherished closeness to his people, whom he saw as a true theological presence. Again and again, in season and out of season, he insisted on the need to be people of prayer, of compassion, of “incomplete thought” — able to learn and be surprised by the truth of the world and of God….”
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7 Responses
I agree it was a wonderful memoriam that truly captured Pope Francis’ approach. It was a personal honor to be on the same page with Rodrigo Guerra as he is a man I truly respect.
Bravo to you both!
Right Wing Catholics have allowed politics to seep into their Catholicism. They want to purge the Church of what they view as “Leftist influence.” Thus, helping the poor and less fortunate, which Jesus preached tirelessly, takes a back seat to punishing immigrants, gays, divorced people,etc. To listen to them, allowing divorced Catholics to take Communion is like denying the divinity of Christ. There is little compassion for the less fortunate, but rather just a grim desire to punish.
The most bizarre thing about MAGA Catholics is this weird devotion to Donald Trump. They have this child like faith in him. They regard him as some sort of sage. If you question why, they become hostile. How dare you question him?
It’s a strange phenomenon.
I have to wonder if it comes from the same place as sedevacantism. If you read their apologetics, they basically believe that a true Pope never, ever says or does anything wrong and his every word and gesture requires absolute, unconditional obedience. However, the sedes have come to the conclusion that the Popes since Vatican II (and even a good bit before that, depending on who you ask) have in fact said and done things that are wrong. Ergo, those Popes must not be true Popes and the One True Church has been reduced to the independent chapels of their various doubtfully ordained cult leaders.
MAGA Catholics essentially did the same thing: They may or may not have explicitly rejected Francis as Pope (although a good number of them ultimately did – e.g., Abp. Carlo Maria Viganò, Fr. David Nix, Patrick Coffin, et al.), but they basically decided he was wrong about…pretty much everything and transferred their blind, unquestioning loyalty to President Trump instead. I think, in both cases, it ultimately comes from a place of fear: On some level, they don’t really believe that God is in charge and that “all things work together unto good to them that love Him,” so they need some kind of physical, this-worldly God-figure to cling to – whether it be a “wandering bishop” or a talking Cheeto.
I think you’re right about these things preceeding from a place of fear, despite trying not to give that appearance. I saw this during the lockdowns: a scrupulous fear overriding concern for others and betraying a lack of faith, ultimately. Like for instance, a member of our parish, whose wife attends Mass, whereas he hasn’t much since COVID. I saw him at Mass once since then, wearing a “faith over fear”shirt. (Pre COVID, he attempted to convince me of the truth of Q Anon, the only person who ever did that)
It would be more succinct to say that right wing Catholics have allowed very minor traces of Catholicism to seep into their politics.
And they don’t see Trump as a sage but as the true head of the trinity. There is no way to explain it other than messianic adoration
If the Far Right and the Far Left are both screaming at you, there is a good chance you’re doing something right.