I wish I could give a cogent and well thought out treatise on the election of Pope Francis I, hereby and forever dubbed PF1 ( You heard it here first.) But I can’t, just as nobody else can. So instead of well-thought out, I give impressions, worries, and even a few thoughts.
First thought. Pope seems like a simple and humble man. I wish I was more like him.
In a time that seems to call for a fair amount of skull-cap cracking, his resume does not jump to the top of the pile. But by no means does that mean he is not up to the task. Bruce Willis didn’t send any Euro-weenie bad guys to their well deserved demise until they put him in a spot where he had no choice.
March 15, 2013 at 1:27 pm
What is so humble about a man who from the first moment he was elected showed disdain for tradition? Monsignor Marini went to a lot of trouble to arrange everything from proper clothes and vestments to procedures. And what happens…it's all ignored. I want a pope to look and act like popes have always acted. I can easily see this new pope in a tab shirt by next week. The liturgical renewal begun by Benedict XVI is clearly over. And before anyone goes crazy, truth is not disrespect or evil. I have not attcked the pope in anyway but when he is wrong, he is wrong. His first Mass in the Sisitine was terrible. First he looks miserable all the time and when he entered the chapel he was not happy with Monsignor Marinin and had NO TROUBLE making that known to him. So much for humility. Piero Marini dressed Pope Benedict up like a clown in the beginning but Benedict showed true humility and didn't make any changes right away. This new pope made changes from the first minute. That's called rudeness. If someone prepares you a meal you don't say "I don't like that, go and make me a sandwich". THAT is what this man is doing. Humility is not making a big show of it, true humity is doing your duty faithfully. Traditional minded Catholics who love the Church are in for a bumpy road. It's going to be guitars and dancing inside St. Peter's and Latin will never be heard again.
March 15, 2013 at 1:31 pm
Anon
You should really read the entire post before commenting. Really should.
March 15, 2013 at 1:58 pm
@Anonymous: You're insane. Get therapy.
March 15, 2013 at 2:49 pm
Isn't it simply:
Pope Francis? and not Pope Francis I?
-Mark
March 15, 2013 at 3:03 pm
He didn't pray at the tomb of Pius V. It was just on his way to see the altar where St. Ignatius said Mass on Christmas Eve, which is across from the tomb. Simple as that. He is a typical South American priest who hates tradition, that's what he is. He thinks vestments, chant, formality etc is silly and not in line with the Gospel. But would never wear a mozetta but he will grovel on the ground before a protestant minister to be blessed. Google the picture. That is who he is.
March 15, 2013 at 3:15 pm
The Vatican press office issued a statement saying that the Pope should be referred to as simply "Pope Francis". The spokesman said that he would only be referred to as Francis I after there is a Francis II.
March 15, 2013 at 3:28 pm
First. It's not "The First", it's just "Pope Francis". To suggest that there will be a Second at this point is to defy the humility that he has expressed at every turn.
To that humility, I sort of agree with anon. I agree Pope Francis is a very humble man, but humility is not simply refusing fanciful things. A humble man may not like to wear the fancy clothes of the papacy, but a truly humble man would acknowledge that someone crafted those things for him.
A humble man may like to take the bus instead of his car, but a truly humble man should also know that his driver just got jilted.
A humble man may like to tell the Argentinian Bishops to spend their travel money on the poor, but a truly humble man would acknowledge that those Argentinian Bishops want to be there to celebrate his installation with Joy.
True humility is about how you treat people, not what clothes you wear or how you get from place to place.
I admire Pope Francis, but I don't attribute all these actions to humility. He may want to demonstrate "simplicity" like Saint Francis, but Saint Francis did not accept the office of successor of Saint Peter. I would be happier if Pope Francis would humbly accept the papacy.
Just my 2 cents. I don't mean it to harshly.
March 15, 2013 at 3:29 pm
Fr Gabriel Burke on his blog reports that Pope Francis did pray at Pope Pius V 's tomb.
March 15, 2013 at 3:37 pm
A bit more…
I humble man can forego the Papal Tiara because it is a crown that symbolizes power. A humble man should not refuse the Shoes of the Fisherman when he is elected successor of Saint Peter.
Just my opinion.
March 15, 2013 at 4:55 pm
Anon and Chris,
I sympathize very much with your comments and agree to a large extent. However, just as there are multiple ways to embrace evangelical poverty, so too, humility. I think Pope Benedict, a man we were spoiled by, embraced Benedictine or monastic humility – accepting what was given, living out a kind of personal hidden-ness in the midst of the trappings.
But I think for Pope Francis, perhaps this would not be humility. His humility like St. Francis is a visible, in your face – shocking kind of humility. One more obvious, and more appealing to many, but also one that grates on us, much like I am sure those who knew real poverty in a monastery must have seen St. Francis' poverty and rejected it.
All this being said – I think Francis' humility is misapplied a bit within the context of the liturgy. At least that's how I feel about it, I don't know yet what I think.
I do know, however, that I couldn't care too bits for whether he wears his own shoes, or the red ones, but I do care that his pectoral cross is ugly. The liturgy should still elegant. I know this. It can be simple, I suppose, even for a pope. (although I don't like it) But if its not beautiful even while simple, its actually not good.
March 15, 2013 at 5:07 pm
Thanks Chris:
I think you're right, and I don't judge him for these decisions because they are so far on unimportant matters. Though they point to a trend that could be disturbing. On the shoes, they say he opted out of the shoes prepared for the next pope, choosing to continue to wear the shoes that some friends gave him before he left for the conclave. Now, why can he accept what those friends gave him, but can't accept what was given for the new pope? Ones that were already made…
Still… A little thing.
I guess the item that irked me the most was telling the Argentine Bishops not to come for his installation. It just seemed rude, in a "you're not invited to my party" sort of way. Why would he exclude them like that?
March 15, 2013 at 5:23 pm
Chris,
On the invite issue…I don't know. I'm willing to cut him slack on this for a couple of reasons.
1. I presume he knows the economics of Argentina, and he doesn't want to be flattered by all the hypocrite politicians who come over on the govt dime, but have no problem opposing the Church all the time.
2. He is probably going to go to Argentina in 3 months while visiting Brazil for world youth day.
3. It seems he really wants to establish his credibility with the Romans- that he is theirs, and this Church is theirs and if that means its their responsibility to fill the square, so be it.
March 15, 2013 at 5:30 pm
Unfortunately, these are not little things but powerful symbols supporting fundamentals of the Faith. They are not matter of personal style or taste.
March 15, 2013 at 6:24 pm
Chris,
I suppose you're right, but it's a bit weird to have an "I'm willing to cut him some slack" conversation brought on by someone's appearing to be humble. I just can't escape the feeling that If I have to cut you slack for your humility, then you're doing it wrong.
In the end, I hope you're right and I'm wrong, but I agree that if he starts doing these things with the liturgy, then I'm going to struggle a bit more with it.
March 15, 2013 at 6:38 pm
Lynda, I disagree on two accounts. First, I think that perhaps most of these things refer not to fundamentals of the faith, but instead refer to things that refer to things that are related to the fundamentals of the faith.
Wearing red shoes does not so far as I know, refer to the incarnation death and resurrection of our Lord, anymore than the color red does.
Secondly, lets grant that you are right. Lets say that many of these things have important symbolic value, insofar as they point to something important. But what good is a symbol if it no longer points, because no one can understand. In other words, the latin of Cicero is beautiful, but at this juncture, we should probably be ok with most people reading a translated version of it.
Finally, the question of symbolic value has to have a human scale. Let's face it, with the richness of our faith, everything could be invested with symbolic meaning. But, no human intellect can fully comprehend this. We can't appreciate all of the symbolism from the middle ages, and likely, they couldn't appreciate it all from the Patristic era – the human mind can only claim so much.
So at this point, the fanon, for example was not invested with meaning to some referent. Rather I trusted that Benedict connected it to the referent, and I just enjoyed that it looked beautiful.
Francis will probably get rid of a lot of symbolism….ok…this is not the worst thing. But if he rejects beauty in his liturgies, then I think it will be difficult for me to be thrilled with his papacy.
March 15, 2013 at 7:15 pm
Very good. You think Rocco Palmo will use it?
Jim
March 15, 2013 at 7:57 pm
By next week Francis will be saying Mass on a card table wearing clam diggers and a Harry Belafonte shirt, that's because he soooooooooooooo humble. And that is what humble popes do.
March 15, 2013 at 8:08 pm
Anon, at most, I would say that the new Pope's conception of liturgical humility is simply making the Papal liturgies not that different from the average parish liturgies.
I don't actually think he will go this far because…well its stupid to treat St Peter's like its St. Leopolds in Des Moines.
I mean, this is the the track that Paul VI was headed for, correct?
March 15, 2013 at 8:26 pm
How funny would it be if, after all these papal austerity measures, Pope Francis reinstituted the papal tiara and the sedia gestatoria?
March 15, 2013 at 8:33 pm
There are several pictures of Pope Francis as Abp of BA celebrating Mass, wearing very nice vestments and a pallium and censing the altar. As far as telling the Argentine bishops to stay home, I think he was telling them to take care of their flocks and responsibilities rather than jetting off when the vast majority of their parishioners cannot. He did not tell Argentinos not to come. There will be plenty of them there.