Can Pope Francis Change the Church?

[cbayer]

http://www.thenation.com/article/176348/pope-franciss-big-tent#

He’s saying the right things. Will the US Conference of Catholic Bishops listen?

Frances Kissling September 25, 2013


Pope Francis waves as he arrives to lead his Wednesday general audience in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican September 25, 2013. (Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi)

“A new pope will change nothing. Not a woman, not an African, not a Latin, not a nice guy. In fact, if anything is to change, the first thing that needs to happen is no pope, and certainly not an infallible one.”

So I said at the height of the hype that surrounded Pope Francis’s election. Church watchers noted that he was a humble man who cooked for himself, took public transport and lived in an ordinary apartment. But despite Francis’s example, no cardinal has followed his lead and moved out of his palace or given up his limo. He challenged the use of church property for profit, telling refugees at a pastoral meeting in a Jesuit center in Rome that “empty convents and monasteries should not be turned into hotels by the church to earn money.” Without doubt that’s what Jesus would do—but it’s unlikely that the pope’s words will lead the bishops to be so generous. US bishops are more likely to seek government funds to feed the poor and shelter the homeless than sell off their considerable real estate holdings. After all, about 54 percent of Catholic Charities’ funding comes from federal and state governments, not church coffers.

But let’s not quibble. Good things are happening. The pope has reined in the Vatican bank, moving it toward compliance with European standards of transparency. He’s the first pope to appoint a formal advisory council of cardinals and laud collegiality in decision-making. And he warmly received theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez, an early proponent of liberation theology. (As far as progressive pope watchers are concerned, his only widely noted lapse seems to be his decision not to drop the investigation of the US Leadership Conference of Women Religious and board the nuns’ bus.)

But then Pope Francis went beyond making symbolic man-bites-dog news in a 12,000-word freewheeling, but clearly strategic, interview that appeared in Jesuit magazines around the world. The pope offered an astonishing window into how he sees the church hierarchy—that is, the bishops, who are by tradition feudal princes in their dioceses—and where that hierarchy is failing. He made clear that the bishops are not the church; the church is us—and it is a big tent. “This church…is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people,” he said. “We must not reduce the bosom of the universal church to a nest protecting our mediocrity.”

more at link

[Kelvin Mace]

1. No, he can't and I am not sure he wants to

He has said a LOT of encouraging things, but has done little to actually change the church. The church continues to stonewall sexual abuse investigations and still inserts itself selectively into politics (in favor of right-wing causes while opposing and punishing those engaged in left-wing causes.

[cbayer]

2. I'm not sure whether he wants to or not either, but he is certainly changing the tone.

That could lead to a change in direction, but that's not going to come quickly or easily.

He's got massive troops under him, like the American bishops, who are going to be highly resistant to any kind of change.

[Kelvin Mace]

11. As they say

talk is cheap.

[cbayer]

12. Talk is not always cheap. Sometimes it can be brave and progressive.

Particularly if one has a very large bully pulpit.

[Kelvin Mace]

14. Then I would amend the statement

"Promises are cheap, following through, expensive".

[cbayer]

15. And on that we agree.

[okasha]

9. He's been in office a whole six months,

and he hasn't managed to reform the church from top to bottom. Obviously he has no intention of doing anything.

He has changed the policy on sex abuse investigations. He has just removed a Peruvian bishop who is under investigation and handed him over to the police.

[Kelvin Mace]

13. Gosh one whole Bishop

Meanwhile, stonewalling to keep records secret in multiple jurisdictions across the U.S. continues unabated.

He's the Pope. All he has to do is order the records released and they must be released. He hasn't so it is business as usual.

[MellowDem]

10. Honestly, he has said nothing encouraging...

with regard to doctrine. Everything he has said fits Catholic doctrine, none of it challenges those doctrines. His tone and demeanor are less openly hostile, but the doctrine is the same. Which seems like PR.

[Goblinmonger]

3. Yes, he can but he won't

It would require him to make statements ex-cathedra that the conservative powers that put him into power would have a stroke over. Never going to happen. And I really don't think if he were as liberal as the current PR campaign is trying to make that the conservative cardinals would have voted for him. I'm talking all of this as a PR campaign which will result in basically no changes to the RCC other than a few meaningless bones being thrown out.

[trotsky]

4. Has he had a chance to appoint any cardinals yet?

Where the rubber really meets the road is to see what kind of men he appoints to the group that will select the next pope. Any minuscule change Francis might actually succeed in making could be easily rolled back by a more conservative successor.

[hrmjustin]

5. Well We shall see in his appointments.

[cbayer]

7. That will be very telling. I'm also curious as to how much reorganization he will

introduce.

[hrmjustin]

8. It would be good for the church that all these top postitons not be fulled with bishops.

I hope he eliminates some offices that they don't need and I hope he listens to the people when appointing Bishops.

[Laelth]

6. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth