A Church reluctant to change

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A Church reluctant to change 

27 September 2017

The Francis papacy

Why has there not been more progress in taking up the priorities which Pope Francis has defined for his papacy? Since his election in March 2013 Francis has published four major documents that together clearly map out his programme. The apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium is a vibrant, inspiring call to create a Church that is of and for the poor; the encyclical Laudato Si’ spells out a moving and beautiful theology of the environment; and his second exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, addresses issues in sexuality, marriage and family life with freshness, realism and compassion. There has also been the bull Misericordiae Vultus, which initiated the Year of Mercy, reinforcing “mercy” as the theological hallmark of this extraordinary papacy.
Yet how much of this has filtered down to the parishes? Attention has too often focused on a number of controversies triggered by some of his words and deeds. The latest attempt to undermine his authority comes in the form of a “filial correction” published by 62 theologians who not only accuse Pope Francis of spreading heresy, but wag their fingers at him as if he were an errant schoolboy. “Most Holy Father”, they declare, “the Petrine ministry has not been entrusted to you that you might impose strange doctrines on the faithful, but so that you may, as a faithful steward, guard the deposit against the day of the Lord’s return …” The organisers apparently had difficulty collecting more than 62 signatures; not one diocesan bishop was prepared to join them.

The alleged heresies concern Pope Francis’ endorsement of the commonplace pastoral practice that, in certain cases, Catholics who have divorced and remarried and not had their first marriage annulled might be encouraged, after due discernment and in consultation with their pastors, to receive Holy Communion. The signatories do not doubt that this is what Francis intends to be understood by readers of Amoris Laetitia, even though some conservative Catholics – who can therefore take no comfort from the 62 – maintained that this could not be what he means. The controversy around a handful of passages in Amoris Laetitia can only distract from the many profound teachings that the Pope has proposed, not only in his key documents but in the way he speaks and acts. There are those only too happy to be distracted because they do not like his overall message. They are the stony ground on which these seeds of faith have fallen.
Pope Francis has clearly decided that certain neglected teachings of the Second Vatican Council need to be presented anew. Two of those are collegiality and subsidiarity, which means giving bishops and lay people much more freedom for initiatives favouring the Gospel. He has also made clear what those initiatives might be. There has been a wonderful sense of relief in parts of the Church. But the response, among cardinals, bishops, religious and lay people, has been, for the most part, lacklustre. At its grass roots the Catholic Church in 2017 is much as it was in 2007, or even in 1997. John Henry Newman said “To live is to change ... and to be perfect is to have changed often.” Why is change not happening?