After his elevation to the Papacy, Francis did something that was novel. He decided to started paying attention to people on social media. On one occasion he responded to a person who called out to him in a certain South American country, I forget which one. After appreciating that he was paying attention to social media especially in regard to places he would be visiting, I penned my own blog post considering that he would be visiting Uganda in November 2015.
In that blogpost, I pointed out (in summary) that the work of the Church was being hindered by an inadequate appreciation of the complexity of communication and a lopsided understanding of the the passion of Jesus as an act of obedience to God but is not as an action of his free will (I lay down my life for my own sheep). In so doing, I argued out that the agency of the Christian was being undermined along with it the teaching authority of the Church. If you wish to see how this “obedience” undermines the teaching authority, you need to read the article, but it does.
Although the Pope never responded directly to my blogpost (for prudential reasons). Judging from his public statements and actions which I closely watched there after, I believe he read it and acted accordingly. Today, I can testify that the reasons that prompting my writing of that blogpost were addressed beyond my wildest imaginations. Among the changes that I am happy about is the movements towards a synodal Church. The Church needs to foster listening to people not because the people are right and clergy wrong although once in a while that could be true. Rather, it is because the Church can only truly only know how to communicate the love of God by listening. And in fact listening is in itself a communication of the love of God, even when and especially when there is little understanding of the situation of which people are talking. We need Pastors to listen to their sheep and who open their hearts to God (open to see the good even in a terrible argument, so that they can give that good a chance to grow). Only by listening will they be able to see and appreciate the different paths along which God has destined each person to walk to salvation.
Pope Francis had an audacious and loving heart. It is one which pitched him against a class of clerics who consider themselves orthodox. People who in the words of the Pope place dogma above Faith without appreciating that Faith is the mother of Dogma. Among the most contested of his acts was Fiducia Supplicans which I have written a blogpost defending. The other I wish to speak out for is the issue of the Pachamama (Mother Earth).
I thank God for the gift of Pope Francis. For his deep love, deep faith and courage. In his advocating for the Church to be a synodal Church. He showed his deep understanding of the complexity of communication. Of the limitation that language possesses on our communication. Many people see in Pope Francis a “liberal” Pope. People who implicitly accuse him of resisting the Holy Spirit, but are not able to perceive that they too are capable of resisting the Holy Spirit. In Francis I see a great Pastor whose heart is after the lost and struggling sheep.
I have no doubt that Pope Francis is a Saint, now resting with the Angels and Saints. I am praying that God may grant the outpouring of his grace on the Church on the merits and suffering of his Servant Pope Francis. I pray that the strength of his great love which was so misconstrued while he was alive bring an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to illumine the hearts of many and bring healing to the Church.
And I pray that I too may receive the courage to serve in the capacities in which God has granted that I serve with the same depth of charity and dedication. To live and die in his service like Pope Francis.