Pope Francis and an Open Catholic Church

On his way back from World Youth Day in Lisbon, Pope Francis said that folks who aren’t perfect can be Catholics.

Since he was a tad more specific in how he expressed the idea, we got headlines like this: “Pope Francis restates Catholic Church is for everyone, including LGBTQ+ people” (ABC News).

This week I’m taking a quick look at the news, and a longer look at why I’m okay with being Catholic.

• Pope Francis and the News
• Being Catholic —
  • Two Millennia of Wildly Improbable Survival
  • Definitions
• — Acting Like it Matters
  • Happiness, Lust, Sin and Making Sense
  • Wheat, Weeds, and What Pope Francis Said
  • Not ‘Just Us’
• Sodom, Gomorrah, and Lot’s Guests — or — Evil is Not Nice
  • Responsibility

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Pope Francis and the News

Whether or not Pope Francis saying that folks who are not A-list material can still be Catholic is “news” depends on which definition is in play.

Among other things, “news” can be “a report of recent events”, “previously unknown information”, “something having a specified influence or effect”, or something else.

As I see it, Monday’s ABC News piece fits the first and third definition. Maybe the second, too, at least for some folks.

“Pope Francis restates Catholic Church is for everyone, including LGBTQ+ people“
Ines de la Cuetara, Phoebe Natanson; ABC News (August 7, 2023)

“LISBON, Portugal — In one of the most iconic moments coming out of World Youth Day, Pope Francis called on the hundreds of thousands gathered before him to yell back at him that the Catholic Church is for ‘todos, todos, todos’ — everyone, everyone, everyone.

“‘The Lord is clear,’ the pope insisted on Sunday. ‘The sick, the elderly, the young, old, ugly, beautiful, good and bad.’

“Taking questions from reporters aboard his flight back to Rome after a five-day trip to Portugal, the pope was asked how he could reconcile his ‘todos’ message with the fact that LGBTQ+ people are excluded from the sacraments. The pope answered the Church has laws, but is still a place for everyone….”

My hat’s off to ABC News. Although this piece mentioned the perennial pedophile priest story, there wasn’t the recital of past offenses that I’d expected.

That said, there’s plenty in the article for someone who’s looking for offensive tidbits.

“…On his first day in Portugal, the pope also met with 13 victims who were sexually abused as children by members of the Catholic Church.

‘Speaking with abused people is a very difficult experience,’ the pope said as he reflected on the encounter. ‘But it also does me good, not because I like to listen, but because it helps me take on their load.’

“He added the Church needs to ‘grab the bull by its horns’ when it comes to child sex abuse.

“The pontiff also shot down speculation that his eyesight was failing him, after he repeatedly abandoned his lengthy prepared remarks for shorter, off the cuff speeches. The pope told reporters he was just trying to connect with young people, who have a shorter attention span. He joked the homily can at times be akin to ‘torture.’…”
(Ines de la Cuetara, Phoebe Natanson; ABC News (August 7, 2023))

Taking a quick glance at those four paragraphs, I found four opportunities for being shocked, outraged and generally snitty. The pope:

• Admitted that children had been abused
• Claimed that listening to abuse victims helped them
• Said the Church should do something effective, regarding abuse
• Said that homilies (Catholic sermons) were “torture”!!!!!

The same person might not pick all four as a starting point for virtue signalling, and I’m wandering off-topic. Or maybe not so much. I’ll be talking about something that’s been inspiring ardent and angry rants — on assorted sides — for decades.

Another opportunity for displaying outrage was ABC News using the LGBTQ+ moniker, rather than LGBTI+, LGBTIQA+, or some other acronym that’s on a ‘preferred’ list.¹

So: how come I’m not horrified at what Pope Francis said?

Basically, it’s because I’m a Catholic.

I think what the pope says matters. And that beings me to “infallibility”, something I haven’t talked about much since 2017.

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Being Catholic —

Some folks, Catholic and otherwise, may believe that “infallibility” means popes can’t make mistakes, or be wrong about anything.

That’s not the way it works.

Which is obvious, given our history.

Over the last two millennia, we’ve had popes and bishops who were Saints, and others who were anything but.

Competition for bottom place is pretty tight: but Benedict IX deserves special mention, at the very least.

Benedict IX was Pope three times between 1032 and 1048. He was kicked out twice and sold the office once.

Make that allegedly sold. We don’t have solid documentation, which doesn’t surprise me. Even in the 11th century, leaving a paper trail for corruption on that scale would have been imprudent at best.

Back to infallibility.

Infallibility applies when a pope, acting as the pope, officially declares a doctrine of faith or morals “by definitive act”. (Code of Canon Law, Book III, 749 §1)

The College of Bishops can do the same sort of thing, with similar requirements.

When a pope declares a “doctrine of faith or morals is to be held definitively,” it’s infallible. (Code of Canon Law, Book III, 749 §2)

Infallibility also happens when bishops exercise the Magisterium in an ecumenical council, working with the pope. After that, the doctrine applies to everyone in the Church. All those conditions must be obviously met. (Code of Canon Law, Book III, 749 §2, 749 §3)

The idea of papal infallibility is old, even by Catholic standards. As a dogma it’s a fairly recent development. The First Vatican Council defined it in “Pastor Aeternus,” issued July 18, 1870. Predictably, some folks didn’t like it.²

Two Millennia of Wildly Improbable Survival

A few more points. Then I’ll get back to why I figure Pope Francis is Catholic.

“Morals” discussed in the Code of Canon Law aren’t limited to the zipper issues you see in tabloids.

It’s pretty much the same as “ethics.”

Rules like the Code of Canon Law are important, and serve to define how the Catholic Church works.

But I don’t think any set of rules could keep humans from mismanaging an organization into oblivion, given time.

We’ve had two millennia, and ample opportunities, to do just that. But despite occasionally corrupt management, the Church has endured major social, political, and economic upheavals — including the Roman Empire’s crumbling and the Renaissance.

Human institutions don’t do that.

After two millennia of wildly improbable survival, I’m inclined to believe the Church’s explanation for our continued existence.

We’ve had help.

“Divine assistance” is what holds up the Church. It’s also what makes papal infallibility work. (Catechism, 888-892)

That’s an extreme claim. But it explains how the Church survived Popes like Benedict IX.

The terms we use to describe this assistance have changed over the millennia. But we’ve known we wouldn’t be on our own ever since our Lord left. Before, actually. (Matthew 28:18–20; John 14:15–18)

Definitions

The Code of Canon law is important, but it’s just a sort of operations manual.

What, or rather who, is important is Jesus. He’s unique: human on his mother’s side. His life, death and resurrection gives each of us hope for eternal life. And that’s another topic.

I became a Catholic when I finally realized who currently holds the authority our Lord gave Peter; and that brings me to the Bible, the Magisterium and Tradition.

That’s Tradition, with a capital “T,” which isn’t trying to live as if it’s 1947, 1066 or whatever.

Our capital “T” Tradition is the Apostolic Tradition. It’s a “living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit,” passed along from the Apostles. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 75-79)

Our heritage of faith also includes the Bible and the Magisterium. All of which interact. (Catechism, 74-95)

The Magisterium is the Church’s teaching authority, which came from Jesus; and is maintained through the Holy Spirit. (Catechism, 85-87, 888-892, 2023-2040)

Reading, studying and understanding the Bible is literally Catholicism 101. (Catechism, 101-133)

I put definitions of Bible, Magisterium and Tradition in the footnotes.³

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— Acting Like it Matters

This Reuters/New Delhi Television article put a key point in their lead paragraph.

The Catholic Church is “open to everyone … but within the framework of its rules”.

“Pope Francis Says Catholic Church Open To LGBT People But…“
Reuters, via NDTV (New Delhi Television, a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company) (updated: August 7, 2023)

“Vatican City: Pope Francis said on Sunday that the Catholic Church is open to everyone, including homosexuals, and that it has a duty to accompany them on a personal path of spirituality but within the framework of its rules….”

As I see it, this should be obvious.

I don’t have to be a Catholic.

But if I say “I’m Catholic”; acting as if I take what the Church says seriously, or at least trying to, makes sense. To me, at any rate.

I don’t mind the Catholic Church putting up with folks who aren’t perfectly perfect, since I’m still working on one of the seven capital sins:

GLUTTONY: overindulgence in food or drink. Gluttony is one of the seven capital sins (1866).
(Glossary, Catechism of the Catholic Church)

Make that working on several in the list:

• Pride
• Avarice
• Envy
• Wrath
• Lust
• Gluttony
• Sloth/acedia

I’m getting opportunities to avoid wrath this week, thanks to another SNAFU involving prescribed medication. That’s a topic for another time.

Those seven sins are called “capital” because they lead, or can lead, to other sins/vices. (Catechism, 1866)

Happiness, Lust, Sin and Making Sense

I’ll be sharing some counter-cultural ideas, but not in a conventional way. So I’d better explain a few things first.

Wanting happiness is natural. That’s okay. But being rich, healthy, and famous won’t necessarily make me happy. On the other hand, there’s nothing basically wrong with health, wealth, or any human achievement. (Catechism, 1718, 1723)

Wanting happiness and truth is part of being human. Searching for both will, if I’m doing it right, lead me to God. (Catechism, 27-30)

Being human is not inherently evil. And we’re supposed to be sexual creatures. (Catechism, 2331-2379)

“Lust” is not religious-speak for experiencing human sexuality. Not for a Catholic. It’s a “…disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure….” (Catechism, 2351)

Sexual actions, like anything else we do, involve ethical standards. (Catechism, 2331-2391)

Everyone deserves respect and reasoned compassion, not unjust discrimination. That said, homosexual acts are a bad idea. (Catechism, 2357-2359)

That’s homosexual acts: not experiencing such urges.

“The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.”
(Catechism, 2358)

I don’t deal with that particular flavor of lust, but ranting against folks who aren’t just like me seems pointless. At best.

Sin is not defined as “stuff I don’t like”.

Sin is something that offends reason, truth, “right conscience” — and God. (Catechism, 1849-1851)

Humans and humanity are not rotten to the core.

Like all of God’s creation, we’re basically “very good”. But the first of us put our personal preferences over God’s will. That was a monumentally bad idea. We’ve been living with consequences of that choice ever since. God did not, however, change our nature. We are wounded, but not corrupted. (Genesis 1:27, 31, 3:1–19; Catechism, 31, 299, 355-361, 374-379, 398, 400-406, 405, 1701-1707, 1949)

Finally, Catholics aren’t Puritans.

“Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”
(“A Mencken Chrestomathy“, Sententiæ: The Citizen and the State. H. L. Menken (1949) via Wikiquote)

Although some of us act as if we were, and that’s yet another topic.

Wheat, Weeds, and What Pope Francis Said

I found a “working English transcription and translation of the press conference” on Vatican News.

One reporter specified that he was asking his question in Spanish. I don’t know what language had been used in other cases.

The point is that the text I had access to is a “working … translation”, so I figure some of the words and phrases aren’t quite what a native English speaker might use.

Anyway, I’ve put a longer excerpt from the Vatican News transcript in the footnotes.⁴

This one is on the long side, too, but I wanted to get the pope’s “everybody!” sound bite in context.

“Pope Francis: ‘I prayed for peace in Fatima without publicity’“
Vatican News (published August 6, 2023; modified August 7, 2023)

“…Q: Anita Hirschbeck – KNA
“Holy Father, in Lisbon you told us that in the Church there is room for everyone, everyone, everyone. The Church is open to everyone, but at the same time not everyone has the same rights, opportunities, in the sense that, for example, women, homosexuals cannot receive all the sacraments. Holy Father how do you explain this inconsistency between an open Church and a Church not equal for all? Thank you.”

“You ask me a question that concerns two different points of view: the Church is open for everyone, then there is legislation that regulates life inside the Church. He who is inside follows the legislation. What you say is a simplification: ‘They cannot participate in the sacraments.’ This does not mean that the Church is closed. Everyone meets God on their own way inside the Church, and the Church is mother and guides everyone on their own path. That’s why I don’t like to say: everyone comes, but you, this one, but the other one… Everyone, everyone in prayer, in inner dialogue, in pastoral dialogue, looks for the way forward.…”

“That’s why I ask the question: Why not homosexuals? Everybody! And the Lord is clear: the sick, the healthy, old and young, ugly and beautiful… the good and the bad!

“There is a kind of gaze that doesn’t understand this insertion of the Church as mother and thinks of it as a kind of ‘corporation’ that you have to do this, or do it in this way and not another way, in order to get in to….”
[emphasis mine]

There’s a lot going on here.

I’ll focus on the “everybody!” idea.

It’s not new. Jesus talked about not pulling up wheat along with weeds. (Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43)

And there’s this bit in Wisdom; discussing cosmic scale, God’s mercy and why the Almighty doesn’t promptly smite folks who don’t play well with others.

“Indeed, before you the whole universe is like a grain from a balance,
or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.

“But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things;
and you overlook sins for the sake of repentance.

“For you love all things that are
and loathe nothing that you have made;
for you would not fashion what you hate.”
(Wisdom 11:22–24)

Not ‘Just Us’

Non Sequitur’s Flo, a rescheduled Rapture, and Eddie’s bar tab may not seem obviously related to recent remarks by Pope Francis.

The connection is that Gnosticism — the word comes from ancient Greek γνωστικός, gnostikos, “having knowledge” — spotlights personal spiritual knowledge.

Sometimes it’s secret knowledge: making believers part of an exclusive clique.

And that reminds me of folks who feel they’ve got an inside track on the latest End Times Bible Prophecy.

Seeing the physical world as basically bad, not at all like nice spiritual stuff, is generally part of the package, too.⁵ Gnosticism is a can of worms I don’t have time for this week.

Here’s why I brought it up. What got me thinking about it, at any rate.

“…I don’t like reduction. This is not ecclesial; it is gnostic. It is like a Gnostic heresy that is somewhat fashionable today. A certain Gnosticism that reduces ecclesial reality, and that doesn’t help. The Church is ‘mother’ receiving everyone, and everyone makes their own way within the Church, without publicity, and this is very important….”
[emphasis mine]

I don’t know what the “Gnostic heresy that is somewhat fashionable today” is. But I’m not surprised that someone’s given the old ideas a fresh coat of paint.

Since Francis (in translation) said “I don’t like reduction”, I’m guessing that this flavor of Gnosticism is at least partly about being an exclusive group. Which, again, isn’t new.

My guess is that what Pope Francis sees as unhelpful is an ‘it’s all about just us’ attitude. Coupled, likely enough, given Gnosticism’s track record, with a fastidious distaste for icky physical things. Like humans.

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Sodom, Gomorrah, and Lot’s Guests — or — Evil is Not Nice

Although it’s been decades since a Bible epic featured a Sodom and Gomorrah story, I figure most folks in my culture recognize the names. I don’t particularly miss Bible epics, and I’m wandering off-topic again.

The silver screen adaptations are more-or-less-loosely inspired by Genesis 18:16–19:30.

I’ll focus, briefly, on what happened when Lot invited undercover angels to stay overnight.

That night, Sodom’s citizens surrounded Lot’s house. They demanded that Lot turn over his guests, “that we may have sexual relations with them.” (Genesis 19: 5)

Lot refused, offering his daughters as consolation prizes. That’s when Lot’s guests pulled him inside, blinding the mob with something resembling a flashbang.

Then they told Lot that they were a demolition team, and told him to evacuate. Lot and his daughters made it out, Lot’s wife didn’t.

The last I checked, we still don’t know exactly where Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other “cities of the Plain” were. Or even if the places actually existed.⁶ The post-strike assessment suggests that there isn’t much left to find:

“The next morning Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood before the LORD.

“As he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole region of the Plain, he saw smoke over the land rising like the smoke from a kiln.”
(Genesis 19:27–28)

So, how come God obliterated those cities?

My native culture’s answer is that the folks there were into unwholesome sexual practices. Which, given the Genesis account, seems likely.

But I’m pretty sure it’s not that simple.

Responsibility

The Genesis account also shows that Sodom’s citizens were actively violating rules of hospitality.

Isaiah 1:9–17 and Ezekiel 16:49 say social injustice, neglecting the poor, was the issue. Jeremiah 23:14 gives a short list of sins, including “…strengthening the power of the wicked, so that no one turns from evil….”

I’ll get back to the Jeremiah thing.

I could take my culture’s version of the Sodom and Gomorrah incident as a comforting reminder that I’m one of the good guys. Certainly not like the bad guys in those two sinning cities.

But I think Pope Francis made a good point, back in 2014.

Like everyone else, I can stand some improvement.

“‘Lent is a time for us to draw closer to the Lord,’ the Pope said. It is a time for ‘conversion’. In the day’s first Reading [Isaiah 1:10, 16-20], he said, ‘the Lord invites us to conversion; and interestingly he calls two cities harlots’: Sodom and Gomorrah. And he issues them this invitation: ‘Be converted, change your lives, draw near to the Lord’. This, he explained, ‘is the Lenten invitation: they are 40 days to draw near to the Lord, to be closer to him. For we all need to change our lives’.

The Pontiff noted how meaningless it is to excuse ourselves by saying: ‘But Father, I am not such a great sinner….’, for ‘we all have something inside of us and if we look into our soul we will find something that is not good, all of us’. Lent therefore ‘invites us to amend our lives, to put them in order’, he said, adding that this is precisely what allows us to draw near to the Lord, who is always ready to forgive….”
(“Christians without masks,” Pope Francis (March 18, 2014), via L’Osservatore Romano, Weekly edition in English, n. 12 (March 21, 2014))

Okay. I said I’d get back to Jeremiah’s “strengthening the power of the wicked”. Here it is.

When I decide to do something that offends “reason, truth, and right conscience”, I’m hurting human solidarity, wounding our nature and offending God. (Catechism, 1849-1850)

Doing so is a bad idea and I shouldn’t do it.

When someone else behaves badly, that’s their problem. But it may be mine, too.

“Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them:

• by participating directly and voluntarily in them;
• by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;
• by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so;
• by protecting evil-doers.”

(Catechism, 1866)

That’s why I occasionally talk about why bad behavior isn’t a good idea. Even though it’s not my favorite topic. Possibly because I’ve gotten well and thoroughly fed up with sanctimonious screed — old- and new-school — and that’s yet again more topics.

Allegedly-related posts:

• “Taking People, Pride and Dignity Seriously: June 2022“
  (June 11, 2022)
• “Wheat, Tares, Fear of the Lord and Working on Wisdom“
  (December 19, 2020)
• “Gnosticism“
  (April 21, 2018)
• “‘Renewed and Expansive Hope’“
  (June 18, 2017)
• “Respecting Everyone“
  (June 18, 2017)

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¹ Acronyms and news:

• Wikipedia
  • LGBT“
• “The ‘I’ in LGBTI stands for intersex. Here’s what it means.
  ShareAmerica.gov (June 14, 2016) (site is managed by the Bureau of Global Public Affairs within the U.S. Department of State)
• LGBTIQA+ glossary of common terms
  Australian Institute of Family Studies
• news
  Merriam-Webster.com
• The OECD work on LGBTI+ inclusion
  OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)

² A little Catholic background:

• Wikipedia
  • Ecumenical council
    • List of ecumenical councils
  • First Vatican Council
  • Papal infallibility
  • Pope Benedict IX
  • Second Vatican Council
• Book III — The teaching function of the Church
  Code of Canon Law, vatican.va
• Pope Benedict IX
  Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent

³ Definitions:

“BIBLE: Sacred Scripture: the books which contain the truth of God’s Revelation and were composed by human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit (105). The Bible contains both the forty-six books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament (120). See Old Testament; New Testament.”

“MAGISTERIUM: The living, teaching office of the Church, whose task it is to give as authentic interpretation of the word of God, whether in its written form (Sacred Scripture), or in the form of Tradition. The Magisterium ensures the Church’s fidelity to the teaching of the Apostles in matters of faith and morals (85, 890, 2033).”

“TRADITION: The living transmission of the message of the Gospel in the Church. The oral preaching of the Apostles, and the written message of salvation under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Bible), are conserved and handed on as the deposit of faith through the apostolic succession in the Church. Both the living Tradition and the written Scriptures have their common source in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ (75–82). The theological, liturgical, disciplinary, and devotional traditions of the local churches both contain and can be distinguished from this apostolic Tradition (83).”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, Glossary)

⁴ An excessively long excerpt:

“Pope Francis: ‘I prayed for peace in Fatima without publicity’“
Vatican News (published August 6, 2023; modified August 7, 2023)

“In his customary press conference aboard the return flight to Rome from Lisbon, Pope Francis spoke to reporters about a range of issues….

“…Here follows a working English transcription and translation of the press conference”

…

Q: Anita Hirschbeck – KNA
“Holy Father, in Lisbon you told us that in the Church there is room for everyone, everyone, everyone. The Church is open to everyone, but at the same time not everyone has the same rights, opportunities, in the sense that, for example, women, homosexuals cannot receive all the sacraments. Holy Father how do you explain this inconsistency between an open Church and a Church not equal for all? Thank you.”

“You ask me a question that concerns two different points of view: the Church is open for everyone, then there is legislation that regulates life inside the Church. He who is inside follows the legislation. What you say is a simplification: ‘They cannot participate in the sacraments.’ This does not mean that the Church is closed. Everyone meets God on their own way inside the Church, and the Church is mother and guides everyone on their own path. That’s why I don’t like to say: everyone comes, but you, this one, but the other one… Everyone, everyone in prayer, in inner dialogue, in pastoral dialogue, looks for the way forward.

“That’s why I ask the question: Why not homosexuals? Everybody! And the Lord is clear: the sick, the healthy, old and young, ugly and beautiful… the good and the bad!

“There is a kind of gaze that doesn’t understand this insertion of the Church as mother and thinks of it as a kind of ‘corporation’ that you have to do this, or do it in this way and not another way, in order to get in to.

“The ministeriality of the Church is another thing. [It is] the manner of carrying forward the flock. And in ministeriality, one of the important things is patience: accompanying people step by step on their way to maturity. Each one of us has this experience: that Mother Church has accompanied us and accompanies us in our own path of maturation.

“I don’t like reduction. This is not ecclesial; it is gnostic. It is like a Gnostic heresy that is somewhat fashionable today. A certain Gnosticism that reduces ecclesial reality, and that doesn’t help. The Church is ‘mother’ receiving everyone, and everyone makes their own way within the Church, without publicity, and this is very important….”
[emphasis mine]
(“Pope Francis: ‘I prayed for peace in Fatima without publicity’“, Vatican News (published August 6, 2023; modified August 7, 2023))

⁵ An old idea:

• Wikipedia
  • Gnosis
  • Gnosticism
• Catechism of the Catholic Church, 285, 465

⁶ Sodom, Gomorrah and Bible epics:

• Wikipedia
  • The Bible: In the Beginning… (1966 Bible epic)
  • Lot in Sodom (1933 experimental film)
  • Sodom and Gomorrah
  • Sodom and Gomorrah (1922 film) (1922 Austrian silent Bible epic Sodom und Gomorrha: Die Legende von Sünde und Strafe; released in English as Sodom and Gomorrah or Queen of Sin and the Spectacle of Sodom and Gomorrha)
  • Sodom and Gomorrah (1962 Bible epic) (1962 AKA The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah)
  • Sodom and Gomorrah: The Last Seven Days (1975 pornographic film featuring a space alien who looks like a chimp and talks like John Wayne)
  • Stun grenade (AKA flash grenade, flashbang, thunderflash, sound bomb)