Francis: Profile Of A Pope, Part Five
There is very little doubt that in his two years as leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis is having an impact on the world’s thinking in regards to reform in the church. Some think everything is changing. But is anything really changing?
“Speak freely of everything you believe,” said Pope Francis while addressing a gathering of highly placed church leaders. That includes issues such as divorce, same sex marriage, even marriage for priests and nuns. In a series of exclusive interviews, Bishop John Wester of the Utah Catholic Diocese, who has personally met with Pope Francis, has stated that this is is indeed a reform in attitude in the church, if not necessarily in church teachings.
Change may depend on the practical needs of people. “Definitely he’s listening,” Bishop Wester said. “The teaching is very beautiful. Marriage is a beautiful sacrament in the catholic church, and so anything we say about the divorce end, of course you’re making a statement about the marriage end. So if we make it very, very easy, let’s say, on this end, then we’re starting to diminish what what we’re really saying marriage is.”
However, Wester emphasizes that there are areas that they may be able to do something to help. For example, the annulment process. “Perhaps there are ways to re-look at how we do the annulment process,” Wester said.”Could we make it quicker? More pastorally available to people? Maybe there’s things we could do without major changes to doctrine, but still that could help us to help people pastorally. “Wester believes there will be steps to taken to help people in this regard, though he does not know what they will be.
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“To me, Francis is saying clearly that the sacraments are for the nourishment of the people,” Wester explained. “To build up the body of Christ, the church, to help people especially when the need it. And so he wants to make the sacraments available to people when they need it.” Wester said that as a new pope, Pope Francs had to indicate his full support of the procedures that had put into place to eradicate sexual abuse.
“Now, obviously, as long as there’s human beings and original sin, we are going to have to deal with this problem,” Wester added. “But the point is, you know, that the pope sees that this is a very huge issue and that this this must be addressed very transparently, forthrightly and clearly and in a way that makes it clearly that we need to protect children and young adults, and young people, and that we want to do everything we can to provide a safe environment.”
As far as the issue of marriage for priests and nuns, Wester says that Francis has signaled that he is willing to talk about it, but Wester wants to make it clear that in no way has he seen Francis even hint that he is going make any changes in that regard. “I think he’s just really proclaiming a gospel of mercy, of love, of compassion, forgiveness,” Wester said. “These are the themes that he’s proclaiming.
Wester does not believe that it is as much a matter of the church getting away from this belief as it is that the were not effectively communicating it. “I think people were hearing more strident kind of things,” said Wester. “They were hearing more ‘thou shalt not,’ more than ‘I love you. I am with you, trust me.'”
Pope Francis is scheduled to speak to a joint session of Congress on September 24th, where the pope’s emphasis on helping the poor is already stirring complaints among Republicans, in particular, Pope Francis’ placing priority on helping ease the suffering of immigrants.
