Pope Francis creates space without changing Catholic teaching

The choice of the cardinals for a progressive pope from Latin America came as a surprise ten years ago. “In Vatican City, that choice broke with 35 years of conservative rule,” says American Vatican watcher John Allen. Francis was a change in style and substance. “He is a white man, but he is not from the West.”

Two out of three Catholics in the world do not live in Europe or North America, and by the middle of this century that will be three out of four. Allen: “Francis is the voice and face of a Church that is no longer predominantly white, wealthy and Western, but of a poor developmental Church of color.”

In addition, Francis is also a progressive – at least, by Catholic standards. Of course, he’s not a secular liberal who believes in abortion or same-sex marriage, Allen says. “But within the Catholic Church, he has pushed a progressive agenda with strength and conviction. That makes him a hero to some and at the same time explains the heavy opposition to him.”

Three taboos that fell under Pope Francis.

Not locked in an ivory tower

Every Sunday afternoon at noon, Pope Francis addresses the crowd in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican City. The square then fills up, certainly not exclusively with believers. Francis’ blessing is invariably followed by the set formula: “Dear sisters and brothers: boon pranzo [smakelijke lunch]!. And don’t forget to pray for me.”

It typifies Francis’ humility. “He is like that, always very much himself,” says Antonio Spadaro, editor-in-chief of the Jesuit magazine La Civilta Cattolica, who has known the Pope well for ten years and accompanies him on every journey. “That pastoral attitude towards others is the core of his pontificate, and everything else flows from it.”

He immediately came across as the parish priest of the whole world, agrees John Allen. “As an accessible man, who understands that your life is not always a bed of roses, and who does not want to judge you, but who wants to help.”

From the beginning it became clear that this church leader would not lock himself up or allow himself to be locked up in an ivory tower. He decided that the Apostolic Palace was too big for him and moved into a small room in the Casa Santa Marta. Many visitors stay in this transit house for religious. There the Jesuit Bergoglio, accustomed to community life in a religious order, feels at home. He has lived in the same room for ten years.

Every three or four years, Francis elects a new private secretary, who schedules the papal appointments, to prevent one person from over-determining who he meets or not. He wants a Church that, like himself, is outgoing. In his own words: “Away from the center, and towards the periphery.”

His first trip outside Rome was therefore to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, which receives many boat people. “As the son of Italian immigrants in Argentina, Bergoglio is particularly concerned about the fate of migrants,” says Belgian theologian and philosopher Emmanuel Van Lierde, author of the recently published book Pope Francis. The Conservative Revolutionaryfor which he has interviewed Francis twice.

Get rid of financial mismanagement

On the financial front, Francis’s reforms bore the most fruit. “At the Institute for Religious Works, say the ‘bank of the Vatican’, a clean sweep has been done,” says Van Lierde. After being scrutinized by outside experts, the institution, formerly associated with corruption cases, is an ordinary, healthy savings bank, only for those who work in the Vatican.

Huge steps forward have also been made at the Secretariat for the Economy, comparable to a Ministry of Economy and Finance. The secretariat finally oversees all finances of the Vatican, where the same accounting program is now used everywhere and in a transparent manner.

Approach to the LGBT community

Debate was curbed under the previous two popes. “But this pope does not like great truths that would be fixed in advance,” says Emmanuel Van Lierde. By questioning things, without necessarily coming to a conclusion, this pope was regularly accused of a ‘Jesuit trick’.

For example, he commissioned a study twice to see whether women could also become deacons, but he did not take any action afterwards. And after the bishops at the Amazon Synod, in 2019, explicitly called for the ordination of married men as priests, especially in remote regions, Francis afterwards did not change canon law or policy.

He does not suddenly allow contraception, but says that “Catholics do not have to behave like rabbits”

He did seek rapprochement with the LGBT community. “When someone is gay, seeks God and lives honestly, who am I to pass judgment?” he said in 2013. Three years ago, Francis added that gay couples should also be able to conclude a cohabitation contract. Although Francis remains against gay marriage, with that statement he went further than all his predecessors.

He often makes strong statements in interviews. In 2015, for example, he said that “Catholics do not have to behave like rabbits.” He is not saying that contraception would suddenly be allowed for Catholics, but he makes it clear that there are also natural ways of family planning. In this way, Francis creates space, while the official doctrine does not change.

Sexual abuse not addressed

“His outreach to the LGBT community, concern for refugees and leadership on climate change all illustrate his deeply progressive agenda,” Vaticanist John Allen summarizes Francis’s pontificate.

There were also some adjustments in the ‘purely Catholic’ area. Francis is the first pope to make it clear that divorced and civilly remarried Catholics may receive communion. And the classical mass in Latin is being severely curtailed, after his predecessor, Benedictus, had created more space for that primal traditional rite.

The biggest dark side, however, is that even this reformer fails to really forcefully tackle sexual abuse in the Church, or to enforce a culture change at the top. His legacy is mixed on that front, says John Allen. “On the one hand, he committed the Church to a zero-tolerance policy. On the other hand, some priests are dealt with very severely, and others not at all.”

The special court that had to judge bishops who abused their office died a quiet death. A child protection committee was set up, but with an unclear statute. And if a bishop is dismissed before retirement age, says Van Lierde, you can guess why. “There is still no transparency.”

He wears the tensions like a coat, which he takes off in the evening when he goes to pray in the chapel

Antonio Spadaro Jesuit about the Pope

When his predecessor Benedict died at the end of last year, his private secretary Georg Gänswein opened a frontal attack on Francis before the pope emeritus was buried. Conservative opposition is fierce, but “tensions and resistance are part of any pontificate,” says John Allen. “Only in this digital age everything immediately goes viral.”

But does that really affect him? “He is certainly not isolated,” says Allen. “Francis has assembled a team of supporters, in the Vatican and among bishops worldwide, who are very strongly on his side and endorse his program.” Allen can’t think of one decision Francis didn’t make because he would have felt held back.

“In Argentina he has also experienced many tensions in the past, during the military regime and later as archbishop of Buenos Aires,” says Jesuit Antonio Spadaro. “He can take a beating. He says he wears the tensions like a coat, which he takes off at night when he goes to pray in the chapel. The Holy Father himself says: I eat well and I sleep well.”