Martin Marty, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinity School, in his weekly online column called “Sightings” says: “I've been warned, and will heed the warnings, to expect a hard-liner on some controversial Papal Teachings and practices . . . I've been in the company of Those Who Do REMAIN suspicious of his ties to Communio e Liberazione, which in our company of scholars studying fundamentalist movements deemed a rare Catholic Fundamentalism.”
So I went to Google to find out about “Communion and Liberation.” I’m leaving the links in, but they might not travel.
One of the principal characters in papal intrigues is a man named Angelo Scola, Archbishop of Milan, another who once headed “Communion and Liberation.” (This group is quite different from the Liberation Movement, which is one of the reasons that Francis I speaks against Liberation Theology.) “After the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005, Scola was considered to be among the papabili as the only man who might reverse what Vatican insiders see as the decay of European culture. The conclave elected Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI.”
Wikipedia links this movement to “Agnus Dei”, to which the far right Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia subscribes. It may be that in its struggle to pull back from licentiousness and greed, the Catholic church may have chosen a broom so stiff that it will sweep away some of our civil liberties. If Francis I insists that Communion is the heart of the Catholic Church, what will happen to all the people who are technically prevented from accepting it? Will he go the way of his namesake saint (forgiveness and inclusion) or will he reveal an affinity for John Calvin, who constricted and darkened so many lives for centuries -- even now? It appears that the road forks towards the right.
Americans -- and remember that they are about half minorities now, just as they are about half female -- both of whom in a time of financial distress are far more likely to accept the ideas of a man who lives modestly and eschews Prada red slippers -- if he will take care of them. Churches are wise to be charitable, because it creates loyalty.
People do things for various reasons, but it is not clear that Francis I was an alternative to Benedict and Scola. He may, in fact, have been collaborating with them for his own reasons but, on the other hand, it may have been easier for Benedict to retire knowing that Francis would succeed him since he hasn’t got the image problem that Scola does, mostly because Francis is still largely unknown. Scalia was much admired by conservatives until he landed in the Supreme Court as the Great Dissenter, hamstrung by his own recalcitrance but able to block liberals so long as Clarence Thomas shuts his mouth and agrees.
On the other hand, there is part of me that admires anyone who stands for something clearly defined and acted upon in his own life. If Francis is foregoing all the pomp and circumstance, the reason may be that he needs the time and energy for far closer scrutiny and disciplining of other realities. Clearly there is a pressing list of issues that need attention and reform. Which items get priority and what curative actions may be taken is where the Devil enters with His Details.
In an effort to think about all this, I ordered movies about Saint Francis from Netflix. They’re quick and lazy ways to understand the Saint’s life, but also a way to see what the appeal is. Just looking at how many movies there are tells you something. The first two I’ve watched were both Italian, church-approved, each three hours long and including the same facts, but reconfigured to suit different tastes. “Saint Francis” (2002) and “Clare and Francis” (2007) surprised me when I looked at the dates of their filming because it is “Clare and Francis” that is a sort of Fifties romantic version and “Saint Francis” that is poetic: fire, water, wind, flesh and stone with a better wolf, though it’s sure not a big old Montana timber wolf. Both the Zefferelli version and the version with Mickey Rourke and Helena Bonham Carter have long waits attached. The attraction is, well, love without consummation: spiritual tumescence. Sounds like high school stuff used to be and romance novels still are. More Mother Teresa.
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