As I read this thread a few thoughts crossed my mind. Some are actually questions.
Don’t you folks think that maybe such terms as “liberal” and “conservative” or even “traditional” smack of politics? I’m always afraid that we may be carrying language into the Church that comes from the political sphere. I realize that there is a Christian Tradition. However, different popes are going to focus on different aspects of that tradition.
This leads me to my second thought. It was something that the Holy Father said in Light of the World. He was asked about following in the footsteps of Bl. John Paul. He said that those were very big shoes to fill and he was not even going to attempt to do so. Here is the catch, which makes perfect sense. He said that every pope comes to the table with his gifts and his own agenda. He sort of joked and said that those who did not like his agenda should not blame him, but the cardinals who elected him. He went on to explain how the Holy Spirit does not micromanage the pope. The pope loves Jesus and knows Jesus. Therefore, he cannot teach anything contrary to Jesus. However, this does not mean that the popes have a single agenda that is transmitted from one generation to another. Each pope sees something that he feels needs to be addressed.
Pope Paul VI said something similar about his own papacy when asked about following the footsteps of Bl. John XXIII. He said it a little differently, but it came down to the same thing. He spoke about the life experiences and education of the pope. His own background was that of a diplomat and a lawyer. He was not a theologian and he was not about to write theology. He had tons of experts to do that. He wrote and then gave his writings to his theologians for review, to make sure that they were correct. His strength was in dealing with the legal dimension of Catholic life. Therefore, he set upon the task of rewriting Canon Law. He died before he completed it. Five years after his death, Bl. John Paul promulgated the new code. The hard work had been done by Pope Paul. Bl. John Paul’s team came in and tied the loose ends.
John Paul was a pastoral pope and a spiritual theologian. He had spent his life working with the spiritual life of men and focusing on such things as belief systems, the anatomy of the soul and the anatomy of the Christian life. His papacy was all about bringing men in touch with the interior life, thus his writing show how profoundly he goes into such topics.
He was also a youth minister and very much a priest to the younger generations. From his seminary days, he worked very closely with university students and he would later work closely with youth groups in his homeland. He too has a great deal of diplomatic experience. He decided to set out on a mission to the young. He certainly influenced them. We have a whole generation of men and women religious who are very much the John Paul II brothers, sisters and nuns. We were inspired by the presence of this man. There was something about him that moved us to want to be like him. Then we have a whole generation of John Paul II priests. You find them mostly in the developing nations of the world. Bl. John Paul inspired them with his opposition to Communism and Liberation Theology. He showed these young men that the Church could stand up for justice without losing sight of Christ. In fact, Christ demands justice. As we can see right here on CA, on EWTN and other mediums, there is an entire generation of younger lay Catholic leaders, scholars, apologists and theologians whom Bl. John Paul inspired by his presence.
As we look at popes, we notice how each brings to the table his gifts and applies them to an area of the spiritual life that needs to be addressed. There is no way that any pope is going to address every area of the Church’s life. Therefore, I don’t really hope for a conservative, liberal, progressive, or traditional pope. I pray for a pope that will use his gifts wisely. At the end of the day, every human being, even the pope, can be tempted to waste grace.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
. Ok where to begin…well I’m not gonna get on this too much because the SSPX has been touched on so much here that the moderator would probably shut us down, but let’s just say, if they are in communion with Rome why do they need to sign a doctrinal preamble in order to become canonically regular? Vatican II was NOT bad, what was bad were the things that modernist Catholics did to the Novus Ordo Mass that the Counsel never even intended to happen. I’m sorry but to be Catholic means to follow the example of obedience set forth by Jesus, who was obedient to death on a cross. You can’t just jump ship because you don’t like what’s going on, I agree with a lot of what the SSPX says, I disagree with a lot of what they say too, but how are we supposed to change the modernists if we leave the Church and go worship in our own Church and never set an example for the people that don’t know any better?
But our current Holy Father has been a blessing to us all