Posted by John Derrig
Some Catholic friends have told me pope Francis is a liberal, too "woke", a heretic, and even a false pope.
I respect my friends' opinion and I think this video addresses these criticisms simply and clearly. The video focuses on this basic criticism:
"The pope is confusing. He is a weak and divisive leader that is causing the faithful to go astray because he doesn't know how to directly teach the tradition of the church."
The presenter points out these four sources of this criticism:
- Poor catechesis
- His style is different
- Ambiguity is a part of life
- The ill will of Francis' enemies
The middle two are most compelling for me. Pope Francis' style is not based on top-down authority. For me this style was evident from the very beginning: Francis chose to live in a humble room rather than the vatican palace and drove a car that was small and not new. Francis allows and encourages dialog and does not censure theologians or bishops unless it's absolutely necessary. This fact seems ironic to me: Francis gets lots of criticism, in part, because he allows it.
The synod of synodality seems a good example of this style. As the presenter points out:
"The pope wants an active, vocal church that works together. He wants bishops to express the needs of their own diocese, theologians to raise difficult questions, lay people to feel part of the conversation."
Finally, the section on ambiguity seems self evident to me:
"The human experience is complex, which means that there will always be some level of ambiguity to any answer we give".
Unfortunately, many want simple, black-and-white, definitive answers. As an old parishioner I find most of life richly complex, ambiguous, and challenging. In fact, this very complexity is often a source of joy.
