24 and the Pontiff

Last week was pretty momentous on this side of the computer. I turned 24 on Tuesday. The day was pretty unremarkable for the most part. I was at work, on site. I have been on site a lot recently. I have been doing punch lists for an 11-story apartment building that is almost completed. Basically, I have to go around into every unit and mark everything that is wrong with blue painter's tape. An employee from the contractor firm walks with me and inputs everything into a system so that it can be fixed by the appropriate subcontractor. It's not the most fun. However, it does get me up and out of the office. After work, I had a nice dinner with three good friends at a French restaurant. It was a wonderful treat.

On Wednesday, the Holy Father, Francis, celebrated Mass on the east portico of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. During Mass, His Holiness canonized St. Junipero Serra. I was way in the back of the congregation, but I had a clear sight line to the altar (designed by several of my colleagues here in the School of Architecture). The Pope looked fairly tired (I don't blame him), and his voice was quite soft, but it was an extraordinary event.

Francis, Francis, Rebuild My Church

I had thought that the services of my Papal Speculatron 3000 had been exhausted after the smoke cleared form the Conclave in March and all speculation about who next would be seated on the Chair of Peter was ended in the person of Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio. However, his tour-de-force papacy has so far kept the speculators of the world busy! These are interesting times when traditionalists, women's ordination advocates, and the writers at the always dubious HuffPost Religion Pages can all say with equal amounts of dread and eagerness, "What will the pope say next?!"

The ripples that spread throughout the sphere of the mass media from Rome, where the pope is known as Papa Chatterbox, have been a-rufflin' feathers lately. But, despite all of the punditry, analysis, and a fair dose of simply lazy reporting, there is something interesting going on here. If I might role out and dust off the Speculatron for a moment (though it did lead me astray by predicating a Bagnasco Pontificate, probably because he's the one Cardinal who looks most like he could be a Bond villain), I think it's interesting to contemplate what the pope could be doing.

It doesn't take a genius to realize that the Church has suffered, repeatedly, from some terrible scandals, which have done grievous damage to the souls affected, and, indeed to the credibility of the message proclaimed. Add a press eager to caricature Benedict XVI as a stuffy, out-of-touch, nostalgic ultraconservative, and you have nearly a decade of headlines describing the Church's teachings as "reactionary" and so forth.

I know what I'm doing. Really, I do.

His Holiness of Our Lord, Francis, certainly knows these things. He's a crafty Jesuit after all. I think, what the pope has been doing, is starting from the very building blocks of Christianity and attempting to re-evangelize a world that has gotten so busy caricaturing the Church that they forget what she teaches and who she professes as Lord. It's been a long time since the Church has been front page news. Francis, the evangelist-in-chief, is not going to be changing the doctrines of the Church (sorry New York Times, HuffPo, Slate, et al). But, perhaps, the things he does choose to emphasize and develop will plant a seed of thought into a person's mind that may one day flower into an embrace of the Church of Christ. Perhaps one fallen-away person will hear the pope's reminders of God's infinite mercy and will be emboldened enough to return to the Church. Perhaps one gay Catholic will be reminded of God's infinite love for all persons, and will reconsider the Church - not in spite of her doctrines, but because of them.

Folks, we in the West live in a post-Christian world. The old structures of religion, which were once such pillars of community life have been eroded, not without the help of many misguided Christians. The pope, my Speculatron confirms, is grasping for a way to interact with this world. Part of the pope's job is to say "no". His office is, by its nature, conservative. But, perhaps what the pope can do, and can call the rest of us to do, is to remind the world, not of the No's, but of the phenomenal Yes of God. Yes God is all-merciful, yes God is all-loving, and yes God wants you to embrace him in His Body, the Church. Catholicism is not a free-for-all, but all of the doctrines of the Church, though the world may not understand, come from God's desire for your good, and his abundant love for you.

First Impressions

I think the pope has carefully provided a positive first impression of himself while he has the world's attention (apart from those of a more traditionalist bent who are breathlessly watching every twitching finger of the papal court for signs of the imminent implosion of All That Is Catholic And Traditional and who bemoan the fact that His Holiness does not have the correct number of angels dancing on the heads of the pins of his pallium - I digress). Media coverage has been widespread and generally positive concerning the Supreme Pontiff. He looks friendly, he acts without arrogance, and he has expressed a genuine love of the poor. I have a hunch, given the cleanup that needs to happen in the Roman Curia - the central government of the Church, that Pope Francis may be storing up some positive press for the future. In our information age, when images can be spread around the world in an instant, the Pope has carefully crafted his first - and most memorable - impression. That way, when he goes to work cleaning out the Augean stables in the Curia (and perhaps in the Jesuit order as well? Dare we hope?), he will have some public good will stored up.

I am not suggesting at all that the Pope is being disingenuous in any way. I think that what we are seeing is a true portion of his character, but, that said, I think like all human beings he is a creature of complexity. Having read through some of his statements and homilies from when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, I can say with confidence that this man has a backbone and says what he means when the appropriate time comes. He is a staunch, vocal, and straightforward defender of the faith. This, as well as his affable public image, will serve him well when the hammer needs to be brought down on certain things in Rome.

At least, that's my first impression. I could be completely wrong.