Is the Pope Catholic?

Homily for Ordinary Time – 26th Sunday Year B 2015

Numbers 11:25-29 James 5:1-6 Mark 9:38-43,45,47-48

Introduction

“Is the Pope Catholic?” That's a dramatic way of saying, "Yes, of course."  If I were to ask you if you are going to see the Saints game today, being the diehard fans you are, most of you would probably say: "Is the Pope Catholic?"

The visit of Pope Francis is certainly a source of joy and pride for many Catholics.  But this joy is not universal.  Some people are really having difficulty with some of the things that Pope Francis is teaching, especially his message of mercy, compassion and inclusion, wondering if he is Catholic.

Scripture and Theology

Like Pope Francis, Jesus was not always universally understood or well received, because of what he taught.  In today’s gospel, for example, John informs Jesus that someone who is not part of their group is out there driving out demons in the name of Jesus.  John even says that they tried to stop this man.

But instead of receiving kudos from Jesus for stopping an impostor, Jesus says: “Do not prevent him.”  According to Jesus God can work even through those who are outside their circle.  “For whoever is not against us is for us,” Jesus says.

I doubt that this teaching was well received by John and his fellow disciples, who probably thought that only they, the inner circle, could do God’s work.

We can surely relate with how the disciples felt.  When I was in grade school, my sister and I used to compete at doing well in school.  One year, when I was top of my class, to my great delight she did not do too well.  But when we brought home our report cards, mum gave gifts to both of us for doing well.  Like the elder brother of the Prodigal son, I was dismayed and thought, "How unfair!"

As I grew older I came to understand my mother's lesson which is also Jesus' lesson: none of us has exclusive rights to God’s grace and love.

Moses, in today's first reading has a similar lesson for Joshua.  Joshua wants to stop two men, who had not officially received the Spirit of God, from prophesying.  But like Jesus, Moses does not presume to limit God’s power.  In fact he wishes that all the people had God’s spirit so that they would speak in God’s name.

And so, Pope Francis is in very good company.  The Pope continues in the great tradition of Moses and Jesus, when he teaches that God’s love and grace are at work even beyond our small inner circle.

Christian Life

I know that American Catholics have a robust tradition of being independent-minded.  How should we handle what is for some of us a difficult situation?

We might be tempted to reject and abandon the Pope, like the disciples who left Jesus when he taught about the Eucharist.  We might be tempted to be like the Catholic congressman who boycotted the Pope's address to Congress.  We might be tempted to write off the Pope, so that if he were to cross Lake Pontchartrain by walking on water, we would say "The pope can't swim."

As faithful sons and daughters of Christ's Church, this cannot be our attitude.  Rejecting the vicar of Christ and his message is not an option.  Rather we must make every effort to wrestle with and try to understand even what sometimes seems like a tough message from the new sheriff in town.  Let me offer three suggestions that might help us to do this.

My first suggestion is that we get the Pope's teaching directly from the horse's mouth.  When we get it second hand through the secular news media, it is almost always already distorted.  If you have been listening to the news pundits, you would think that Pope Francis is a registered Democrat, while Pope Benedict is a member of the Tea-party movement.  And after Pope Francis spoke to Congress, he was claimed and criticised by both sides.  The left painted him as breaking with Catholic teaching on abortion, clearly ignoring what he actually said: “The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development”?  The right on the other hand said that the Pope was against business, even though the Pope actually said: “Business is a noble vocation, directed to producing wealth and improving the world.”

In this age when we have Catholic TV and radio, the Vatican website, we have no excuse for receiving the Pope’ teaching regurgitated for us by MSNBC or Fox News, the Huffington Post or the Drudge Report, who do not share our faith.  With a little effort on our part, we can find the authentic teaching of the Pope, a teaching that is truly Catholic, and has been taught by Popes for 2000 years.

My second suggestion is that we read and hear the Pope's teaching without ideological blinders.  We are first Catholic, before we are Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Progressive, Black or White, American or Ugandan.  When we read and hear his message through these ideological prisms, we get only part of the picture.  But if we read and hear the Pope with Catholic eyes and ears, we see that what the Pope teaches is not really new.  Perhaps some things were not always emphasised with the same passion or highlighted by the media in the same way; but everything he teaches is right there in the Bible and in the Catechism.

Let me give three examples:

1.    His teaching on welcoming immigrants, helping the poor and serving the most vulnerable has earned Pope Francis the name of socialist, even communist.  But  the Pope is only teaching a theme that is repeated over and over again in both the Old and New Testaments.  How could he not teach what Jesus says so clearly in Matthew 25? "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me."

2.    The Pope has also come in for some harsh criticism for his plea that we care for the environment.  But he is only teaching the message of Genesis, which calls for a responsible stewardship of the earth’s resources, a use which only cultivates but also preserves.  Moreover, he is concerned for the poor countries who are already facing the effects of bad stewardship. 

3.    The Pope has also been accused of being too cosy with Muslims and people of other religions.  But like Jesus in today's gospel, he makes the distinction between those who are against us and those who are not.  He rightly condemns Islamic extremism and terrorism, without making the common mistake of assuming that all Muslims are terrorists.

We must not see the Pope's teaching in terms of the "either . . . or" mentality of ideologies, but rather in the venerable Catholic tradition of "both . . . and."

My third suggestion is that we allow ourselves to be taught by the Pope, whom the Spirit uses to teach us in both old and new ways.  The saying goes that if you are green you can still grow; but if you are ripe, you can only rot.  Like the prophets of old, each of whom had a unique message from God, all our popes have had special messages for us, as does Pope Francis.  For example:

·        He has taught us that being pro-life requires that we fight against abortion, but also against all other dangers to life: euthanasia, suicide, the death penalty, unjust war and even poverty.

·        Pope Francis has also passionately taught us that while family and marriage are indispensable to society, we must like Jesus seek out and find ways to help those who are in difficult situations: those whose marriages have broken down, single-parent families, people with same-sex attraction.  Like Jesus, the Pope wants the Church to be, not only a Teacher and Judge, but also a Mother and Physician.

Can we allow the Pope, to teach us something new?

Conclusion

Last Thursday, as I watched the Pope address Congress, like Speaker Boehner, I could not stop tearing up and was really proud to be a Catholic.  For there I saw my papá, my father (that is what Pope means) standing before the world's most powerful people.  And despite his heavy accent, despite his unfamiliarity with the English language, he confidently preached the gospel in its fullness and breadth!

I believe that I was able to wrestle with and yet understand the message of Pope Francis, because I followed the three suggestions that I have just offered you.  First, getting his message directly from the horse's mouth, second doing so without ideological filters, and third and perhaps most important of all, listening to him with the ears of a child listening to and learning from his papá.

That's how I know, that like Pope Benedict, Pope John Paul II and others before each in their own way, Pope Francis is Catholic!