Pope
Francis: No More Business as Usual
By Daniel Burke, Belief Blog Co-editor
(CNN) - Pope Francis on Tuesday called for big
changes in the Roman Catholic Church – including at the very top
– saying the church needs to rethink rules and customs that are no
longer widely understood or effective for evangelizing.
"I prefer a Church which is bruised,
hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church
which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own
security," the Pope said in a major new statement.
"I do not want a Church concerned with
being at the center and then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and
procedures," Francis added.
The Pope's address, called an "apostolic
exhortation," is part mission statement, part pep talk for the world's 1.5
billion Catholics. Francis' bold language and sweeping call for change are
likely to surprise even those who've grown accustomed to his unconventional
papacy.
"Not everyone will like this
document," said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author in New
York. "For it poses a fierce challenge to the status quo."
And it's not just a verbal challenge, the Pope
said on Tuesday.
"I want to emphasize that what I am trying
to express here has a programmatic significance and important
consequences."
Since his election in March, Pope Francis, the
first pontiff to hail from Latin America, has made headlines by decrying the
iniquities of modern capitalism, embracing the poor and people with
disabilities and reaching out to gays and lesbians.
At the same time, the 77-year-old pontiff, has
sought to to awaken a spirit of joy and compassion in the church, scolding Catholic
"sourpusses" who hunt down rule-breakers and calling out a "tomb
psychology" that "slowly transforms Christians into mummies in a
museum."
"An evangelizer must never look like
someone who has just come back from a funeral!" the Pope said.
Officially known in Latin as "Evangelii
Gaudium" (The Joy of the Gospel), the 85-page statement released
on Tuesday is the first official document written entirely by Pope Francis. (An
earlier document was co-written by Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.)
Although Francis sprinkles the statement with
citations of previous popes and Catholic luminaries like St. Thomas Aquinas and
St. Augustine, the new pontiff makes a bold call for the church to rethink even
long-held traditions.
"In her ongoing discernment, the Church can
also come to see that certain customs not directly connected to the heart of
the Gospel, even some which have deep historical roots, are no longer properly
understood and appreciated," the Pope said.
"Some of these customs may be beautiful,
but they no longer serve as means of communicating the Gospel. We should not be
afraid to re-examine them. At the same time, the Church has rules or precepts
which may have been quite effective in their time, but no longer have the same
usefulness for directing and shaping people’s lives."
Such statements mark a sharp break from Benedict
XVI, a more tradition-bound pope who focused on cleaning up cobwebs of
unorthodoxy in the church.
By contrast, in "Evangelii" Francis
repeats his calls for Catholics to stop "obsessing" about culture war
issues and to focus more on spreading the Gospel, especially to the poor and
marginalized.
The outside world, particularly its economic
inequalities, didn't escape Francis' notice either.
In a section of "Evangelii" entitled
"some challenges to today's world," he sharply criticized what he
called an "idolatry of money" and "the inequality that spawns
violence."
The Pope also blasted "trickle-down
economics," saying the theory "expresses a crude and naïve trust in
the goodness of those wielding economic power."
“Meanwhile,” Francis said, “the excluded are
still waiting.”
But the bulk of Francis' statement addresses the
church, which, he said, should not be afraid to "get its shoes soiled by
the mud of the street."
The Pope also hinted that he wants to see an end
to the so-called "wafer wars," in which Catholic politicians who
support abortion rights are denied Holy Communion. His comments could also be
taken as another sign that he plans to reform church rules that prevent
divorced Catholics from receiving the Eucharist.
"Everyone can share in some way in the life
of the Church; everyone can be part of the community, nor should the doors of
the sacraments be closed for simply any reason," Francis said.
"The Eucharist, although it is the fullness
of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and
nourishment for the weak."
Even so, Francis reiterated the church's stand
against abortion, defending it against critics who call such arguments
"ideological, obscurantist and conservative."
"Precisely because this involves the
internal consistency of our message about the value of the human person, the
Church cannot be expected to change her position on this question,"
Francis said.
The Pope also reiterated previous rejections on
ordaining women, saying the topic is "not open for discussion."
But that doesn't mean the church values men more
than women, he said.
"We need to create still broader
opportunities for a more incisive female presence in the Church," the Pope
said.
Francis also said he expects other parts of the
church to change, and called on Catholics to be unafraid of trying new things.
"More than by fear of going astray, my hope
is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up within structures
which give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh
judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are
starving."
Francis didn't mention specific reforms, but he
suggested that it could include changes at the very top of the church.
"Since I am called to put into practice
what I ask of others, I too must think about a conversion of the papacy,"
he said.
The church's centralization, where all roads
lead to Rome, and the "we've always done it this way" type of
thinking have hindered Catholics' ability to minister to local people in
far-flung places, Francis suggested.
"I invite everyone to be bold and creative
in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of
evangelization in their respective communities," the Pope said.
Martin, the Jesuit priest and author, said he
could not recall ever "reading a papal document that was so
thought-provoking, surprising and invigorating."
"The document’s main message is that
Catholics should be unafraid of new ways of proclaiming the Gospel and new ways
of thinking about the church."
