It has been a year since Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI resigned the Petrine ministry and
nearly a year since Pope Francis began his papacy. It has been an interesting year for
the Catholic Church. Pope Francis’ leadership has led some to worry about the future
direction of the Catholic Church. Some of the louder voices cry that he is changing
Church teaching and others, he is “getting with the times.” It is true that taken out of
context some of his comments on matters of sexual morality and the sacraments may be
interpreted as changing Church teaching.
The Pope’s vision of pastoring is the interpretative key to understanding his teaching
and preaching. Pope Francis is a very pastoral pope. He has commented that shepherds
should “take on the smell of the sheep.” In an address to the priests of Rome on March
6th he emphasized the importance of priests being with their flocks, which involves
“a suffering with the people, like a father and a mother suffer for their children, and I
would say also with anxiety.”
This is very pastoral approach doesn’t change doctrine, but does change the Church’s
focus to the circumstances of each individual challenged to live Christ’s teaching.
This focus came out clearly in a response Pope Francis recently made on the subject
of contraception. On March 5th, an Italian newspaper printed the Pope’s response to
a question on changing the Church’s teaching in Humane Vitae. He stated that “the
question is not that of changing doctrine but of going deeper and making pastoral
ministry take into account the situations and that which is possible for people to do.”
It is easy to know the teachings of the Church, it is not so easy to reconcile ourselves with
those teachings when weakness, sin, broken relationships and personal woundeness
enter into the picture. Such circumstances demand a gentle, compassionate and patient
approach. The approach is difficult and not near as black and white as we would like.
I believe that the Catholic Church is being blessed and stretched right now with a Pope
who will reconcile many people back to God. He is challenging all of us in how we live
out charity towards our neighbor. He is also introducing a model of the Church that
looks different from the Church as the Perfect Society. This came through clearly in an
interview last year when he stated, “I see the church as a field hospital after battle.”
How would the model of the Catholic Church as a “field hospital after battle” effect the
way that we live and experience the Christian life?
Ad majorem Dei gloriam,
Fr. John F. Jirak
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