The papacy, like the entire Catholic sacramental system, is an efficacious, objective source of grace, regardless of the good/bad qualities of the occupant. It too operates by the Catholic principle of "ex opere operato": by the nature of the act itself, not according to the quality of the minister himself. So, the Eucharist is the Eucharist, whether the priest is a saint-mystic or a wretch. Absolution of sin is efficacious, even if the confessor priest is himself in mortal sin.
Among the providential dimensions of the Francis Papacy is that it reminds us of this reality. We Catholics were spoiled by the previous six popes over the last century: four were men of exceptional intelligence and holiness; the last two were veritable doctors of the Church and remarkable saints. But Christ by way of the Holy Spirit guides the Church even when we have bad popes.
Think about your boss at work. I have had many bosses: some I liked and some I didn't like. But that hardly mattered. Work is about work; about getting the job done. It is not about likes/dislikes, feelings and emotions, making friends and making nice.
The Church is like work, or the military, or a strong football program: it is not about how you feel. It is about getting the job done. It is objective. It is external to the experiential self. But it is not extrinsic: it directs, inspires, instructs, heals and sanctifies...from outside.
Liberalism in religion is the turn from the objective to the subjective: to the feelings of the narcissistic, therapeutic self. This took over mainline Protestantism already in the 19th century. It has taken over much of Catholicism, the elites and the academia, over the last 60 years since the Council.
Catholicism itself, by contrast, is a bedrock of objectivity.
- Our dogmatic teaching is clear, certain, available and entirely objective.
- Our moral teaching is clear, certain, available and entirely objective.
- Our sacraments and rituals are clear, certain, available and entirely objective.
- Our roles within the Church...lay, married, priest, bishop, pope, religious, etc....are all clear, certain, available and entirely objective.
- Our places and buildings...churches, shrines, cathedrals, seminaries, monasteries, convents, schools, etc. are clear, certain, available and entirely objective.
I do not like Pope Francis...do not like the way he teaches, thinks, governs, and lots of things. But my "no like" doesn't matter. He is my pope. He is my Holy Father. He is the vicar of Christ on earth. He is, for me, notwithstanding his manifold flaws, a rock of stability, a guide, a source of grace.
The same can be said of my parish priest (liberal or conservative, holy or sinful, erudite or ignorant) and bishop. It is when the particular priest is particularly annoying, flawed, wrongheaded and dysfunctional that I remind myself of the boundless consolation of Catholicism: "ex opere operato." Christ gives his grace...infallibly and efficaciously...precisely through these weak vessels. And I thank God for this man who has surrendered his life to God for us. And I pray for him.
Of course I pray for the Holy Father, at least once daily, the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be at the end of each rosary.
I receive from his office or chair the many blessings that flow. For example, this is a Jubilee Year declared by him as a source of pardon, reconciliation, peace, indulgences, pilgrimages and more. We can only get something like that from the Pope. Every time he canonizes a saint we are drawn closer to heaven as heaven draws closer to us. He recently wrote a fine piece about the Sacred Heart. He welcomed a week or so ago Bishop Schneider from Kazakhstan, one of his most severe, if loyal, critics. The meeting went well according to the Bishop who emerged urging all the faithful to pray that the pontiff confirm us in the faith.
I cannot let my own feelings impede me from receiving from Christ the graces he is pouring on the Church from this pope. For one like me, so disappointed with this papacy, it is a salutary gesture of filial loyalty, trust and humility to cast aside my aversions and receive this Peter as our gift from Christ.
May our Lord bless and guide Pope Francis, strengthen all that is good in him, and protect him (in his weakness and vulnerability) from the errors to which he is prone. Thank God for the Papacy!
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