It is tragic that some Catholics hate Pope Francis and wish him dead.
Christ was a scandal, a stumbling block. As far as his
earthly neighbors could tell, he was merely a man of flesh and blood, and yet
he dared to forgive sins with the authority of God. He dared to uphold that he
had come down from heaven and was the Son of God. Asserting his authority to
judge all the nations at the end of history, he upheld our relationships with
other human beings as the deciding factor in whether we might merit everlasting
glory in heaven or everlasting torment in hell. At the Last Judgment, the least
of our fellow human beings in need will have been as “vicars” of Christ, and
Christ will judge our care or neglect of them as care or neglect of himself as
our Lord and God. [See Mt. 25:31-46]
Forty days after he rose from the dead, he ascended into
heaven. He did not leave behind for us anything he had written. Instead of
leaving us a book, he chose to leave behind and send to us our fellow human
beings.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and
on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” [Mt. 28:18-20]
They— mere human beings— were to dare to speak for him, just
as he, a man of flesh and blood, dared to speak as God. The scandal that was
Christ would continue in the scandal that is the Church and the human beings
that make up the Church.
After he ascended into heaven, the first act of the human
beings Christ left behind for us was to be of one accord with each other and
devote themselves to prayer with each other. [See Acts 1:14]
The second act of those human beings was to renew their own
number by seeking to replace the apostle Judas who had committed suicide. They
had the replacement, Matthias, join the apostles in being human witnesses of
Christ who gave witness to being God as a flesh-and-blood human being. In the
original Greek language of the book of Acts, the role or office of being such
an apostolic witness is called episkopen, meaning literally
“overseeing,” and being the Greek word from which we derive the word “bishop.”
Call them apostles, overseers, or bishops— but they are still
human beings, and Christ wants us to accept the testimony of human beings, just
as he wanted his earthly neighbors to accept his own human, flesh-and-blood
testimony that he was God personally come down from heaven.
Since
creation, until the end of time, and into the everlasting Kingdom, everything
for us as we stand before God is about relationships with divine persons and
human persons; it is all about love of God and love of neighbor.
One
of those human persons is our neighbor Pope Francis.
Some Catholics who pride themselves on conserving tradition
have now been contradicting traditional respect for the person of the pope in
their own words. Some of them make foul, derogatory comments about Pope
Francis, and they express the wish that he should die as soon as possible.
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a
liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God
whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves
God should love his brother also. [1 Jn. 4:20-21]
The New Testament testifies that St. Peter— the first pope—
was unfaithful to Christ once Christ was arrested. While Christ was under
trial, Peter lied to save himself when accused of following Christ, and he went
into hiding. The risen Christ brought Peter back. However, Peter’s imperfections
did not all go away. Later, he and the apostle Paul were at odds over certain
issues of religious observance and doctrine.
Peter was not perfect, yet he was a vicar of Christ, not
merely as chief of the first apostles and holder of the keys of the Kingdom of
Heaven, but a vicar of Christ as much as the least of Christ’s needy brothers
and sisters.
Traditional and conservative Catholicism has long jumped to
the defense of the pope as the Vicar of Christ, but now some Catholics who
trumpet themselves as tradition-loving conservatives spout open hatred for the
present Vicar of Christ. Number 936 in the Catechism of the Catholic states the
traditional Catholic teaching as follows.
The Lord made St. Peter the visible
foundation of his Church. He entrusted the keys of the Church to him. The
bishop of the Church of Rome, successor to St. Peter, is “head of the college
of bishops, the Vicar of Christ and Pastor of the universal Church on earth”
(Code of Canon Law, canon 331).
Number
896 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of Catholics as following
with close attachment the bishop (and the pope is a bishop):
The Good Shepherd ought to
be the model and form of the bishop’s pastoral office. Conscious of his own
weaknesses, the bishop can have compassion for those who are ignorant and
erring. He should not refuse to listen to his subjects whose welfare he
promotes as of his very own children. The faithful should be closely attached
to the bishop as the Church is to Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ is to the Father:
Let all follow the bishop,
as Jesus Christ follows his Father, and the college of presbyters as the
apostles; respect the deacons as you do God's law. Let no one do anything
concerning the Church in separation from the bishop. In the Creed at Sunday
Mass, Catholics profess “one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” We are
liars in professing this Creed if we cannot embrace with respectful faith that
the apostolicity of the Church depends both on having had apostles in the
beginning and on still having apostles in the persons of Pope Francis and the
bishops.
The Creed is not the only moment at Mass when we profess that
the Church is one and apostolic. The Canon or Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass
also always professes the same thing.
Here is where it appears in the Roman Canon or Eucharistic
Prayer I.
To you, therefore, most merciful Father, we
make humble prayer and petition through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord: that
you accept and bless these gifts, these offerings, these holy and unblemished sacrifices,
which we offer you firstly for your holy catholic Church. Be pleased to grant
her peace, to guard, unite and govern her throughout the whole world, together
with your servant Francis our Pope....
All
other Eucharistic Prayers that may be used instead of the Roman Canon express
the same thing. Here are two more examples.
In Eucharistic Prayer II.
Remember, Lord, your Church,
spread throughout the world, and bring her to the fullness of charity, together
with Francis our Pope....
In Eucharistic Prayer III.
Be pleased to confirm in
faith and charity your pilgrim Church on earth, with your servant Francis our
Pope....
Every Eucharistic Prayer ends with a doxology and the
faithful answering the Eucharistic Prayer with “Amen.”
To attend the Mass, profess its Creed, say “Amen” to its
Eucharistic Prayer, and receive the Eucharistic Body and Blood of Christ which
we have by virtue of priests ordained by bishops in union with the pope, but to
openly, disrespectfully, and hatefully denigrate the pope and wish for his
hasty death is to turn one’s participation in the Mass into a grave lie.
One
might as well be Judas Iscariot at the Last Supper.
