Pope Francis: Catolico Abierto
Having been a “lapsed” Catholic for many years, it was Pope Francis who inspired me to go back to the Catholic Church. I had become disillusioned with what I saw as the dogmatism of the Church when I was in college and for a long time thereafter.
In college, we had a subject called “dogmatic theology” and another subject called “apologetics.” Here we were taught how to respond to questions on dogma and other official doctrines of the Catholic Church which I thought had strayed too far from the basic teachings of Jesus Christ himself as written in the Gospels.
For a while, following Vatican 2, it seemed to me that the Church was becoming closer to Christ’s teachings. However, the Church being a human institution, reports indicate it was pressured by internal politics at the highest levels, by the conservative factions in the Vatican, to less liberalism.
Meanwhile, following Vatican 2, a synod of Bishops decided that the Church should be open to Asian methods of prayer. Because of this, a couple of Jesuits and a Catholic missionary nun, Sister Elaine McInnes, studied Zen under a Buddhist roshi (master) named Yamada Roshi and eventually became roshis themselves.
When Sr. Elaine was assigned to the Philippines, she was encouraged by the Jesuit Fr. Catalino Arevalo to teach Zen meditation in the country. They obtained permission from Jaime Cardinal Sin and so today, there are many Zen teachers in our country. Zen is non-denominational. Its practitioners come from various spiritual persuasions, including even agnostics.
Pope Francis opened the Church to love, forgiveness, and tolerance. He even made the statement that there are many paths to the same God. When asked why he allowed blessing of homosexuals, he replied “Who am I to judge?”
Rather than emphasize correctness of beliefs and doctrines, Pope Francis focused on positive attitudes as taught by Christ, who told a crowd of men who were condemning a prostitute: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” But he advised the woman to go and “sin no more.”
Pope Francis advocated peace among nations and people; and reminded world leaders of our obligation to care for our natural home, the environment.
The recent synod of Bishops went beyond promoting “closeness to the Church” among its members. It encourages the Church to become closer to the people.
Today, we are in a crucial situation. Does the next Pope continue the Church’s liberalism as begun by Pope Francis; or do we return to conservatism, doctrine, and dogma? We need to pray harder that the Conclave will select a Pope who will continue to build on Vatican 2, the way Pope Francis tried his utmost to do.
