My complaint, is that he says things that can be easily misconstrued as giving aid and comfort to relativism.
Bottom line with this thread is that if you don’t have a great background or knowledge of The Jesuits or The Franciscans you will not understand Pope Francis and where he is trying to lead the Church.
I think I am more afraid of those who claim they understand Pope Francis and actually consider that they do in the sense that Pope Francis is saying something different from other Popes and the Church had for 2000 years.
That to me indicates a wrong understanding regardless of whether you went Jesuit school or a Dominican one.
Let’s begin with the end. Pope Francis has not said anything that has not been said by the Church before… His language and his pedagogy is very Jesuit. His priorities are very Franciscan. It makes for a rather interesting combination that we have never seen before.
Remember, the last religious pope that we had was in the 1700s. Every pope has been a secular priest. As strange as it may sound, even though secular priests do not share a common school of spirituality, because they’re not part of any community, they were formed in a common school of theology, which was Thomist. Religious were not, except for Dominicans. Religious were formed in the schools of their orders. There is a misunderstanding on the part of many people. When Church law declared Thomas to be the standard for theological formation, it was never applied to all religious orders. Religious orders were older than the law. Most religious houses of formation went down the middle. This certainly influences how priests and brothers from religious orders organize their thoughts and prioritize their mission.
There is another important factor here. That factor is pedagogy. Ignatian pedagogy is very particular to the Jesuits. I don’t think that anyone else but the Jesuits use it. Pedagogy is the method or the mechanics of how you deliver a message. Ignatian pedagogy has rules that the Jesuits must follow. Interestingly enough, St. Ignatius never wanted his order to be boxed in to saying things the way that other orders said them. He gave them a system that they follow to this day. To those who have been exposed to it, it all sounds very familiar. To the majority of Catholics it can rattle them.
One of the strengths of Ignatian pedagogy is that it is very focussed. It only deals with a few ideas at a time. The speaker, teacher or preacher does not try to exhaust his subject. He picks two or three points, not usually more than three, and speaks about those. This means that there is always more to be said on a subject; but the Jesuit is not going to address it at that point in time.
Pope Francis is a very candid speaker. Often he makes statements that are perfectly orthodox, but he’s not too concerned about the wording, because the other person will know enough to know what he means and how he feels. The Jesuit mindset is that one does not have to repeat over and over again what has been said. To some this sounds like his minimizing the importance of what was said. Nothing is further from the truth.
The truth is that in Ignatian thought there is no reason to tell you that milk is white, because you have seen mike before. He’s make a comment about milk that is not familiar ans leave you the task for finding sources to fill in the blanks.
I’ve had people say to me that the pope has to be more pope than Jesuit. To which I say that this is easier said than done. I’ll use my example. I find that personal examples help others understand.
I run a large ministry for an archdiocese. I founded the ministry. When I founded the ministry, its goals, philosophy, its methods, its focus and the model that we use to serve is the exact same model used by St. Maximilian Kolbe. During this time and even up to his inquiry for canonization some thought that Maximilian bordered on idolatry. It took many Franciscans to convince the cardinals at the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of the Saints to convince them that St. Max was not a heretic or an idolater. He was being very much himself and much of his language came from Duns Scotus.
In the meantime, people will misunderstand, because it’s a different language and a different set of priorities. But one has a duty to one’s religious tradition, even when one is pope. The papacy is an office. Being a Jesuit is a covenant that defines who you are and how you approach things. As long as you approach situations in a way that does not change the faith, you’re good. You simply pray that whatever you say will bear fruit in due season, not necessarily today.
It’s very important not to jump all over every word and sentence that a Pope makes until one is absolutely sure that the pope is wrong and one is right. One has to assume that he is being a Jesuit. There is no mistake here. Pope Francis is very much a part of the Jesuit Order and at age 76 is not about to change this. He can only do what he knows how to do well using the skills that he knows how to use and the priorities that his beloved St. Ignatius would have in mind.
