Cuba USA

The Latin America and Rebel Pope

By Manuel E. Yepe

source Manuel Yepe word press

A CubaNews translation.

Argentinean Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first non-European on the papal throne in over a thousand years, has quickly become a favorite of Catholic religion –with over 1,300 million faithful in the world– and even more so of non-believers and the media.

When he was elected pope, Bergoglio was 76 years old –and had previously spent almost his entire life in Argentina. In less than three years in office Bergoglio, the Jesuit, has divided the Catholic rank-and file into admirers and critics of his promise of renewal, reform and a more contemporary Catholic Church.

His first steps aimed at tidying up the finances of the Vatican Bank and against the ossified work systems in the Holy See created confusion in the Curia and the highest circles of the Vatican. This is discussed in a substantial article by Walter Mayr published on May 23, 2015 in the German magazine Der Spiegel with the title: The Rebel of St. Peter's Square: Where Is Pope Francis Steering the Church?

According to Walter Mayr’s article, Pope Francis, who has negotiated between Cuba and the United States and called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas an "angel of peace",is simultaneously fighting on three fronts: against the claims to power of his council, the Curia; against ostentation and pomp in the clergy; and for a radical return to the Gospel.

“When Bergoglio announced the beginning of a new era on March 13, 2013, things were going badly for the Catholic Church. Its image had been shaped by scandals involving child abuse, corruption and money laundering, document theft in the papal apartments and intrigue in the Curia. The Cardinals chose Bergoglio to be the successor to Ratzinger for this reason: The unblemished "Pope from the end of the world" was supposed to clean house.”

Pope Francis is letting outside experts reorganize the scandal-rocked Vatican Bank. He is having the reform of the Curia pushed through by cardinals who previously had little to do with the governing body.

“And this pope is political. He takes positions, including uncomfortable ones. He gets involved. Before negotiating rapprochement between Cuba and the United States, he held a four-hour prayer vigil for peace in Syria. He scandalized Turkey by describing the Armenian genocide as just that, and provoked Israel by acknowledging Palestine as an independent state.”

According to Mayr, Francis is for a church where power emerges from the bottom to the top and not the other way around. This is a tacit declaration of war against the Vatican Curia.

The pope is fond of saying in his sermons that the Catholic Church needs to get closer to the people and that a spiritual leader needs to be a shepherd living with the smell of the sheep.

The Pope doesn’t like being protected in the Apostolic Palace and instead resides in the Santa Marta guesthouse. He lives modestly in a three-room mini-apartment.

Francis works restlessly, like someone who doesn't have much time left to implement his plan. The truly revolutionary part of his daily routine are his off-the-record meetings with the public, which he organizes by circumventing the Curia, using his phone, pen and paper himself.

His more decisive agenda is expected to be set by the Synod of Bishops in October. At that point, a discussion is to take place about the future of the family, its position towards homosexuals and the question of whether divorced people who have remarried should be allowed to receive communion.

Francis has less experience with Western-style social economics and social encyclicals in the Catholic Church than he does with poor Latin American neighborhoods. He says he doesn't have any interest in constantly "addressing abortion, homosexual marriage, and contraception." But he also knows it will not suffice to criticize the dispute as has been done before. This could explain why he is too conservative for progressives, and too noncommittal for conservatives.

For a long time, the American and European wings of the church were dominant in the Vatican, but their power is eroding under Francis. This is not without logic, either, given that more than half of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics live in the southern hemisphere.

Francis has made the church more international and the clout of the Latin American wing of the church is growing within the Vatican. When it comes to issues like marriage and the family, that branch has to set different priorities than the European one.

According to Mayr, Francis meets occasionally with his predecessor Benedict XVI who inhabits another apartment in Vatican City.

“They meet up from time to time, dining together or exchanging thoughts. Reports about differences between the two are officially denied. Publicly, the pope speaks only positively about his predecessor. He says having Benedict XVI is like having "a wise grandfather at home."

Francis is 78 years old and has lived for decades without part of his right lung. He also struggles with back pain. He has publicly stated that "my pontificate will be a short one."

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