Two Popes

Jimmy O’Connell

One thing one notices when one compares Pope John Paul II with Pope Francis is that personality and character determine the tone and future of their papacies.

John Paul came from a deeply Catholic country that was oppressed by Russian occupation and Communist rule. He adopted a hard-line approach to governing because that is what he did as a Polish Bishop in order, as he saw it, to maintain Catholic power within a country that was attacking its institutions.

When he became Pope, he did not change his attitude to secular authority, painting western democracies with the same brush as communist dictators. He assumed that western governments were out to undermine the Catholic Church. His character and personality were based on control and fear, or at least suspicion, of any philosophy or theology that did not adhere strictly to a traditional, even Medieval, view of the world, meaning the secular world.

His need for control, his inflexible personality, set the tone for his papacy, which suppressed any effort to re-imagine the Church in the 21st century. Therefore, his attitude to the role of women in the Church, for instance, maintained a medieval flavour, one that refused any compromise. His most used word in this context was ‘no’. No, to women priests; no, to abortion; no, to gay marriage; no, to LGBT+ rights; no, to divorce; no, to any hint of Liberation Theology, no, to investigating sexual abuse in the Church; no, to any bishop, priest, or layperson, questioning his papal authority.

Pope Francis was different. He was a Jesuit, therefore Jesuit trained. The Jesuits are known for their intellectual rigour but also intellectual flexibility, openness to new ideas, to research, to dialogue and to the Gospel as a document sympathetic to the needs of the poor, the oppressed, and a challenge to power structures based on riches and the consumerist society.

Francis, as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, lived a simple life, used public transport, was more comfortable in the company of ordinary people and ill at ease in the presence of those in power. All you have to do is look at the photographs taken when Donald Trump visited the Vatican in his first term, and JD Vance when he met Francis during his last days.

We learn that although the Church has negative views of gays, lesbian, and transgender persons, Francis welcomed them when they visited, helping to ensure that the transsexual community, transsexual workers in Rome were taken care of and received whatever medical attention they needed during Covid; his concern continued afterwards with many in the community meeting with him, each time being shown humanity and respect. Also, he phoned the parish priest of a Church in Gaza each night in order to support and offer comfort to his community.

But what about policy? Unfortunately, as happens in most big organisations, the bureaucracy, in Francis’s case, the Curia, stymied progress. But, once again, his personality came to the fore. For example, when he and the Archbishop of the Anglican Church were discussing ecumenical cooperation and setting up committees to study future cooperation, both declared that they faced opposition to any change. Francis’s comment to the Archbishop, I believe, could become the modus operandi of a future popes. He said to the Archbishop, ‘We will go ahead with whatever is best for both our Churches and we will wait for the bishops and the theologians to catch up.’

Here, personality trumped policy. Maybe this approach offers hope for the future. Maybe the next pope will be in the mold of Francis, but on the other hand, one can usually, at least up to now, count on the bureaucrats to throw sand into the works.

Jimmy O’Connell is a member of Inklings Writing Group, meet who on Tuesdays at 11am and on Wednesdays at 7.30pm in the Annebrook House Hotel, Mullingar. Aspiring and fun writers welcome.