By Pat Bortscheller
Guest Column
(Editor’s note: The author, who serves as lecturer for the Knights of Columbus of St. Mary Parish in Pella, gave this reflection to his fellow Knights after the death of Pope Francis. The Catholic Messenger shares this edited reflection with his permission.)
Pope Francis, who passed away April 21 at the age of 88 was the 266th Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, ruled for 12 years and was the first from the Americas. He was also a Jesuit. This describes our pope in a very narrow sense. With the passing of every significant leader, reflective judgment of their time in power takes place. What was accomplished? What was left undone? What was the high point and what was the lowest moment? Should the leader of the Christian faith be viewed and reviewed in the same way as secular and political leaders? How is a man charged with moral leadership to be judged for his time in office?
Did he create and preserve unity in the Church or did he sow division? Did he modernize the way the Church operates or were the changes a disregard of tradition? Was there new interpretation of faith and morals that invited those on the periphery to join the inner circle or was the code of Christian conduct diluted? The answers to these questions depend largely on the positions you take on a number of social, political and spiritual matters.
Pope Francis affirmed that Christian marriage is a covenant between one man and one woman. He also gave permission for clerical blessings of individuals in a same-sex relationship. He held up Church teaching that ordination to the priesthood is limited to men and gave his opinion that the same holds for deacons. He appointed women to high-ranking positions within the Curia, stressed the equality of the sexes and the need for female leadership at all levels and throughout the Church.
Our pope was not a socialist, but he advocated for the fair sharing of wealth so that all may live with dignity. This extended to immigrants and migrants who are often treated as subhuman by their new neighbors. He spoke of each nation needing to have fair and just immigration policies — even policies that place limits on the number that can be properly allowed in and cared for. He did not and could not support mass deportations, citing them as inhumane especially in the cases of family separation.
Early in his pontificate he said his pastors should “smell like their sheep,” stressing that the clergy were not to view themselves in higher regard than the congregants they served. He also referred to the Church as a field hospital. A place to triage the wounded who entered so that they could be appropriately cared for. He urged us to meet people where they are at and not to hold them to a standard of holiness that they had not yet attained. He reminded us that we’re all sinners in need of redemption, including himself.
Pope Francis asked us to defend the beauty and health of mother earth, to care for it and to share her riches equitably among all people. He placed God’s creation, most importantly, its poorest and most needy souls, at the center of his papacy. Regardless of our political leanings, social views or personal moral code, perhaps that’s the best way to remember our Holy Father and his mission as pope.
And so we pray for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
