Just redirecting the office of the papacy back to the Catechism definition…
The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter’s successor, “is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful.”"For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered."403
Implied in that would naturally be adherence to the Gospels (and Catholic social teaching). However, his primary duty is to care for a Church united and universal, not more specifically or more preferentially a Third World Church.
From papacy to papacy, various popes have discerned their primary or most urgent roles differently, as times indicated. Naturally none of us knows what the new Pope will prioritize, but it is extremely doubtful that social justice in the Third World will be the first order of business. Any leader tends to tackle first the tasks in an organization which most threaten the survival or health of that (secular or religious) organization. I think it’s therefore safe to assume that Day One or Week One or even Month One will not include an address about social justice in the Third World, or any published agenda regarding that.
While serving social justice also has the potential to evangelize (!), do not assume that religions to which some 3rd-world citizens are turning are necessarily aiding the poor. Perhaps some are, but many are not. And the cold hard fact is that, while every head of every organization will seek to fulfill the organization’s mission/ideals (and that includes the Church, naturally), unless not prioritizing social justice is what is explicitly causing attrition of members (that isn’t what seems to be causing it – not in Africa, not in Latin America, not in the States anyway), then the head of an organization is more likely to try to plug up other holes so that he can prevent progress toward a
Titanic.
Relative to Church fidelity and identification/loyalty, Europe is seen as much more of a crisis point than is the Third World, at least at present.
In addition, every leader of every organization needs to address internal strife, particularly if it’s near the top of the organization and thus threatens the efficiency of the very head. Apparently (I’m no Vatican expert, but some experts have written & spoken about this), there is strife in the upper echelons of the Vatican, which would profit from either merely a firm hand & confident administrator, or specifically a ‘Vatican Insider’ who gets the way it works.
Every new leader also seeks to ensure that he is in control and perceived as in control by the body as a whole. Thus, attention to divisions within the episcopacy, and perceived “independence” (of some bishops) from Rome, might be something a new Pope will priortize as well. A Church unfied cannot be achieved if there are competing messages coming from middle management. Separately (but relating to order), the U.S. is the highest profile country in the globe. Therefore, the messages, events, & publicity proceeding from the American Catholic Church have an imbalanced impact on the Church Universal, versus, for example, the larger and generally more homogeneous Church of Latin America. That is why I do not think that addressing dissension within the American Church will be the lowest priority of the new Pope, if he hopes to be an effective leader for the whole Church.
Finally, every organization benefits from all its members, or most of them, being very clear about the purposes of the organization and supporting those purposes – being aware of what the purposes are, being aware of facts about the organization. Correspondingly, every organization is hurt by (weakened by) its members being ignorant of the core message(s) of the organization. While the Church is gaining in some regions, it is losing at a faster rate in other regions, and it is virtually losing members when ignorance results in disloyalty or lukewarm membership (such as in the States). Therefore, I believe that both catechesis and evangelization together (they are interdependent anyway) will be one of the priorities of the new Pope.
Haha, just my worthless two cents…
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