I love this cartoon, and I'm sure Pope St Leo the Great would probably like it too.
St Leo is of course one of our most extraordinary popes, hence the rare title of "the Great" was given to him. Renowned for his strong and wise pontificate, he was an insightful and brilliant theologian - hence his being numbered among the Doctors of the Church. His famous "Tome" written for, and read at, the Council of Chalcedon sought to settle the Christological question of his time, that of Jesus' divinity and humanity. Leo taught with the authority of the successor of St Peter and as Vicar of Christ that the Lord was fully divine and fully human. The response from the Council Fathers was simple: "Peter has spoken". For this we can honour Leo as "the voice of clarity" in the midst of confusion, and in this we can see one of the responsibilities of the popes.
Whenever I think of Leo my mind always turns to Pope Benedict XVI whose theology and teaching was clear, insightful and beautiful. So we must thank God that we had the joy of, perhaps, experiencing in some way what the people in Leo's time experienced.
May Pope St Leo watch over the Pope and the Pope Emeritus, intercede for them and help them fulfill the call of God.
Tomb of Pope St Leo the Great in St Peter's Basilica (in the altar)
above it a marble relief depicting Leo with Attila the Hun
Lest you think I am a groupie of Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith, I promise you I'm not, and I feel I have to say that as I draw your attention to another of his articles in the Catholic Herald. I just find that he writes an awful lot of sense.
Fr. Lucie-Smith's most recent offering is his reaction to a piece in The Guardian in which Pope Francis is praised at the expense of Pope Benedict. Nothing new there, I hear you say. A certain group of people have been bashing Pope Benedict since the election of Pope Francis and using the new Pontiff and his personal way of adapting the Papacy to his own lifestyle as a means to expose Benedict as some sort of Renaissance Prince incarnate. Well The Guardian fuels this view in its article, and Fr. Lucie-Smith takes exception to it.
Here is the offending paragraph: "Not that his (Francis's) position on abortion, or homosexuality, or women priests, differs substantially from Benedict XVI.He remains socially conservative. But the mood music is altogether different and not just because of his personal charm and the decision to eschew all the fancy ecclesiastical haberdashery and grand palaces. Pope Francis has regularly excoriated economic injustice and the global inequalities created by unrestrained capitalism. And his message on Syria has been unusually direct in opposing the prospect of US intervention. On Saturday he told a congregation praying for peace in the Middle East: "Violence and war lead only to death, they speak of death! Violence and war are the language of death!""
Fr. Lucie-Smith takes exception to the remarks concerning the Pope's vestments and the Pope's being socially conservative which he calls "two basic errors of misunderstanding", errors that are widespread both inside and outside the Church. The first is typical. People seem to equate dressing in vestments as somehow not being humble, simple or even authentically Christian. Dress tidily as a priest or bishop and you're told you're distancing yourself from "the people". It seems for a priest or bishop that the only way of being authentically Christian, in the eyes of some, is to dress in dirty clothes and wear only a dirty, unironed alb with a rainbow stole hanging off you to one side. Scruffiness is not a sign of authenticity - indeed it can be a sign of other things. Wearing the clothes of one's office does not offend humility, simplicity or Christianity. As Fr. Lucie-Smith points out, Jesus wore good clothes - his seamless garment was an expensive piece of apparel for the time, so much so the soldiers had to gamble to see who got it.
The second error is that which brands Christian moral teaching as somehow regressive and secular trends as progressive. As Fr. Lucie-Smith correctly points out it is the secular morality which is regressive, dragging sentient and rational human beings back into an unthinking and primitive approach to life, sexuality and society. The ancient Spartans used to dump their new-born children if they thought they were not healthy or fit enough for Spartan society - the living baby was thrown down into a cavern. Other ancient societies left their disabled children out for wild animals to kill and eat. Modern secularists have a procedure where such children are not even born but are torn apart in the womb and then the remains are dumped. And this procedure is defended by denying basic scientific and medical facts about the existence of a individual human being in the womb. Nothing progressive about that. Nor is there progress in the idea that we can be sexually irresponsible and do what we like as long as it is between consent adults (and what is consent anyway?). The current epidemic of STDs and HIV/AIDS is a good indication that perhaps that approach to sexuality is not healthy, rational or "safe".
Modern men and women may not like to hear this: but we are not progressive. We have wandered back to the Stone Age when it comes to morality and life. Just because we are technologically advanced does not mean that we are morally advanced, we are not. We have just thrown off responsibility, respect for life and reason and now pride ourselves as being beyond it. We had better read a little history - for other civilisations did that too and they came to a bad end. Our modern society could be heading for one too. Human society cannot exist in a moral vacuum for too long .
And as regards the Pope's humility: a few months ago Pope Francis was praised for eschewing the Papal cars and deciding to use a Ford Focus, it was a sign of his humility. A friend of mine who worked in Vatican for a few years during Benedict's pontificate commented on this by pointing out that Benedict didn't even know the make of the car he was in - he was just told to get into it and he did. That's humility too.
You may remember I wrote a post on Pope-Emeritus Benedict as being a possible "martyr pope", well today we celebrate the feast of the last official martyr pope of the Church (so far): Pope St Martin I, who died in captivity in 655. He was imprisoned by the Emperor Constans II because he tried to implement the Lateran Council of 649. The Council was convened by the Pope and the Emperor was not impressed since he thought he was the only one entitled to call Church Councils.
The Council was called to discuss the heresy of Monothelitism (which maintains that Christ has only one will), a heresy that Constans not only held, but decreed that it could not be discussed at all. However Pope Martin and a number of theologians, chief among them St Maximus the Confessor, realised that the Church had to deal with the issue and reiterate the Church's orthodox teaching. The Church teaches that Christ has two wills: a divine will and a human will, and while both are in complete harmony, they are still separate. The Council upheld the teaching and the emperor was not happy.
In response to the Pope's actions and the Council, he had Martin kidnapped and imprisoned in Constantinople. For three months the pope endured dreadful conditions as he awaited his trial. At the trial he was not allowed a defence, he was found guilty of treason and sent back to prison. After another three months he was exiled to the Crimea where he died as a result of ill treatment and neglect on the 16th September 655.
People wonder why the Pope has his own country, the Vatican City State, and is not subject to any ruler or government: so he can teach the Gospel and lead the Church without interference. It is not about kingly pomp and Church nationalism: it is about being free to proclaim the truth.
May Pope St Martin watch over the Holy Father as he carries out his Petrine ministry.
The boys over at Creative Minority Report are featuring the trailer of a new movie about the Papacy - "We Have A Pope".
It's an Italian comedy in which the newly elected pope has a nervous breakdown as soon as he's elected. The cardinals, in desperation engage the services of a psychoanalyst to see if he can help the new pontiff to embrace his office.
I suppose there will be different responses to this, and as I have not seen the movie I cannot comment one way or the other. There are reviews which are positive, and others not so.
The basic storyline is very interesting though, and it might actually help us Catholics to appreciate the Pope more. In the movie Conclave you see the various cardinals praying not to be elected: "Please Lord, not me!" I'm sure in an actual conclave that actually happens as, I'm sure, the opposite too. While conclaves are secret, we have all heard stories of newly elected popes expressing fear as the burden of the office is placed in their shoulders: the "Salle di lacrime" , the Room of Tears, is aptly named apparently.
The call of the office of pope is one in which the holder is called to what can be for many, a living martyrdom. Cardinal Ratzinger, as was, just wanted to retire, and as when Blessed John Paul died he thought the time had come. It was not to be so; he had to put aside his own desires and step into the shoes of the fisherman.
To see, in this movie, a newly elected pope cowering in fear may not be edifying for the faithful, but it might just give us an insight into what happens in a man's heart when God plucks him out of the comfort of the college of cardinals, to bear the burden of the Church and her universal mission.
Of course, there is something else which doesn't seem to be present in the movie: the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. If the man embraces the will of God with humility and putting his trust in God, the Holy Spirit will give him the help he needs to serve as pontiff. The election is also a call to greater faith and as well as greater love.
I think we should say a prayer for the Holy Father:
Almighty and Everlasting God, have mercy on Your servant Benedict, our Supreme Pontiff, and direct him, according to Your loving kindness, in the way of eternal salvation, that with Your help he may ever desire that which is pleasing to You and accomplish it with all his strength. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lord Jesus, shelter our Holy Father the Pope under the protection of Your Sacred Heart. Be his light, his strength and his consolation.
Pope Benedict XVI sits on his cathedra in his Cathedral, the Basilica of St John Lateran
The Liturgy is always relevant and offers marvellous commentary on our lives and times at any given moment - hence the need to respect the integrity of the liturgy and to ensure that it is celebrated properly. Today's feast is so timely for us in Ireland - the feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica - that feast which celebrates our unity in the Church and our union with the Pope. As you know the Basilica is the Pope's cathedral, and it is the Mother and Head of all the churches in the city and the world.
As our government is trying to dismantle our country's formal links with the Church, we Catholics in Ireland are reminded that, regardless of the nature of the relationship between the civil authorities here and the Holy See, we are still members of the Church, in union with our Holy Father, Pope Benedict, the Vicar of Christ on earth, and that that relationship remains unchanged and as close as ever.
This may sound like treason, but it is not meant to be, but our first loyalty as Catholics is to Christ, and then to his Vicar on earth. Earthly states will pass away - none of them can offer us life beyond the grave no matter how great or noble they are. Earthly distinctions, loyalties and nationalities all pass away when we die - they are no more, and at the end of time nations will pass away.
When we stand before God we will not be asked if we were good citizens, a good Irishman who obeyed the civil authorities all the time, or a good English woman who honoured the Queen, or a patriotic American who put his hand on his heart at the National Anthem and defended the President. No, at the end God will examine us on our lives of faith, hope and love, on our allegiance to Christ and our love of neighbour. As St Peter reminds us we must respect our native land, "honour the emperor", he said, the representative of civil authority, but as St Thomas More said, we may be the king's (the state's) good servants, but ultimately we are God's first.
If ever there should come a clash between the civil authorities and the Church, while we respect the civil authorities, our first loyalty is to the Church. Now that doesn't mean that we ignore the sins committed by members of the Church, nor cover up as happened in Ireland with the abuse scandal - we take action and cooperate with the civil authorities to bring those who committed such crimes to civil justice, since such evils should have no place in the union of Christ's faithful. There should be a relationship of cooperation and mutual respect between Church and state. As citizens straddling both, we do our best to be faithful Catholics and good citizens, and in a real pluralistic democracy it is possible to live as such. It is when the state tries to usurp the place of the Church that troubles emerge. When the state wants to be the church, to undermine the loyalty of the faithful to their faith to have it for themselves.
Personally, I think this is what the Irish government is trying to do now. In this secularist age, the government is trying to redirect religious devotion and faith from the Church to the state, so that the teachings of the state have their first loyalty. Breaking with Rome is the means to affecting this. Once the union has been broken, a state church can be established, and then the source of union will be the state, of which the government is the head.
This is an old tactic which has been employed by civil authorities for centuries - in England twice - under Henry II and Henry VIII and his heirs; in Europe in the various kingdoms which became Protestant at the Reformation, and in Italy time and time again as petty lords sought to control the papacy and the bishops. As we read Church history we may feel uncomfortable with the image of the Pope on horseback leading his troops into battle and playing the role of a king, but in reality at that time it was the only way of making sure the Church could not be dominated by secular rulers. That the Papal States had to exist as an indication of how real was the danger of secular interests undermining the teaching of the Church. The election of the warrior pope, Julius II, was not an accident of history.
And this is why the Church has its own country, the Vatican City State - the Pope is subject to no secular ruler, he is monarch of an independent, sovereign state so he may be free. It is no wonder then that aggressive secular states do not like the Vatican, and do not like to be reminded that they have to deal with it according to certain established norms. That may sound unchristian and pedantic, but in reality, at the end of the day, it guarantees the freedom of the Church and her members.
Thomas Peters has an interesting post on this today. He sees that the so-called liberals favour this development, choosing to follow the magisterium of the state in opposition to the Magisterium of the Church. I am inclined to think he has a point there. The liberals, you see, are left wing, Marxist, socialist, and the ideology of the left is all about more state control - investing everything in the state. The great Marxist experiment proves the truth of this - the Soviet Union. While that civic entity has passed away, its supporters are still trying to realise the Marxist dream. So I suppose their attempts to bring the Church into line under the state and to adopt the state's moral agenda is consistent with their ideology. Of course the Church resists and takes a stand, and then the state throws a hissy fit, Premiers have tantrums in national parliaments and governments downgrade diplomatic relationships.
Anyway, today let us remember our Holy Father and pray for each other, the members of the Church: united in Christ and in Peter.
Now, as we raise a toast to the Holy Father and the Church, I think it is time for a little bit of MacMillan and his rousing antiphon Tu Es Petrus, performed during the Holy Father's visit to Britain. Turn it up, sit back, knock off the shoes, take out the rosary and say a decade!
