Of Popes, Past and Future

 Jorge Mario Bergoglio has long been on my prayer list with a handful of other Christian voices, some of which I agree with, some not. But all those on the list have influence on the thinking of God’s people that could be turned to good or to ill. Satan would no doubt delight to see them fall (like Ravi Zacarias) and drag down with them the disillusioned. So I pray for steadfastness in faith, protection for families, sensitivity to the nudging of the Holy Spirit. (I pray that one especially for the one with whom I have strong political disagreement.)

 

This week Pope Francis met his Lord face to face. My husband, long involved in global theological education, has friends who knew and respected the man in Argentina. The media today is full of the pope’s humility and identification with the poor and marginalized. He appointed many of the cardinals who will elect his successor, younger men from the previously under-represented non-Western world. Recently I’ve been reading Custer Died for your Sins by Vine Deloria, Jr. Writing in 1969, his chapter on the church blames its failure to take root in reservation culture on white men hanging on to power, not trusting Natives with leadership in their own churches. That happened too long in Africa. We rejoice in strong African leadership in the Church today, and look forward to its influence in the Conclave to come.

 

A couple other books I’ve recently read are Kate Quinn’s Borgias series about Pope Alexander VI, told from the point-of-view of his concubine, Giulia Farnese. Yes, you read that right: his concubine. He was big on nepotism, too, placing his children in high and profitable positions from very young ages. This was the late 15^th century, and concubines and children of priests were not uncommon, although usually a bit more subtle. Giulia was fifteen at the time (although Quinn has her eighteen, no doubt to avoid issues of sexual abuse of minors). It was only after her wedding to handsome and charming Orsino Orsini that she discovered that he and her mother-in-law had conspired to give her to then Cardinal Rodrigo de Borja in exchange for career advancing considerations. Small wonder that Martin Luther nailed his complaints about the church to a door only a few years later.

 

The books (The Serpent and the Pearl, and The Lion and the Rose) are wonderfully researched and written historical fiction about a time period only a generation before my own Glastonbury Tor. The characters are delightful, and Quinn knows how to convince you of their steadfast belief in things inconceivable today--like the sale of women and church offices.

 

What a contrast Frances is with Alexander, the one named for a saint known for his identification with the poor; the other named for a world conqueror. One known for purity and humility; the other for pride, and ostentatious display. Alexander had the papal apartments redone with frescos showing his mistresses and children in heroic roles by the most celebrated artists of the time. Frances declined to live in the papal quarters and moved to a simple apartment in the Vatican instead. He wore plain white rather than elaborate papal robes.

 

There are 1.406 billion Catholics in the world today with the number growing on all five continents. The world is a different place even from what it was when Francis was elected in 2013. Let us pray that the God who knows the hearts of all will guide the selection of a man to lead in this troubled time. May he have the courage to speak truth and the grace to reach out in love. 

 

For that matter, may we all have the courage to speak truth and the grace to love.