Pope faces acid test as he fights to rid church of sex pests

Pope Francis speaks during his weekly general audience at St. Peter's square in the Vatican, on September 26, 2018. PHOTO | TIZIANA FABI | AFP

What you need to know:

  • Cardinal Bergoglio became the first Francis, after St Francis of Assisi, the patron of animals known for his service to the poor.
  • The sex abuse crisis has been turbo-charged to the Centre of his papacy in a way that even a battle-hardened Jesuit could not have foreseen.

Pope Francis is facing strong opposition from anti-reformers who are not happy with the way he is leading the church amid a surge in sex scandals

Five years into his papacy, Jorge Mario Bergoglio has studiously remained true to his long-standing reputation as a charming, liberal-leaning and unorthodox Pontiff – the kind of which has not been seen at the Vatican.

When he was elected the 266th Pope in March 2013, he soon found out that despite kicking off a series of firsts, which pointed to a tectonic shift at the Holy See, he would be reduced to wrestling with the same old challenges that have burdened his predecessors in the last millennia.

The liberals in the 1.2 billion-strong church welcomed his papacy, hoping for a breath of fresh air right from the curia to the churches and Catholic institutions throughout the world.

Yet the disbelieving ultra-conservatives shuddered at his election and immediately began plotting how to block or temper his liberal bent.

CONTROVERSY

To set the tone for a papacy of surprises and many firsts, Cardinal Bergoglio became the first Francis, after St Francis of Assisi, the patron of animals known for his service to the poor.

Most of his predecessors chose to revolve around the usual monikers – John, Paul, Pius, Benedict, Leo and Gregory.

He also is the first from South America, the first from the Jesuit order, the first to be elected after a papal resignation, (his immediate predecessor Benedict 16th resigned in 2012, citing poor health), and the first from outside Europe since the Syrian Gregory III, who reigned in the 8th century.

Yet for the 81-year-old, the adjective that aptly captures his essence especially since assuming St Peter’s throne, is controversial.

For controversy seems to follow him from the pulpit, to his tweets (he is the first tweeting Pope) to interviews with journalists, his encyclicals and even off-the-cuff remarks.

The storm that has recently hit the Catholic Church globally over numerous child sex abuse cases by the clergy has only served to shine the spotlight on his leadership against the backdrop of the values that have underlined his papacy so far.

JESUIT

He has relentlessly extolled the virtues of mercy, forgiveness, humility and service to the poor but he has found himself at the centre of a storm that poses the greatest threat to his credibility yet.

However, as Prof Lawrence Njoroge says, the Pontiff, who prefers to be referred to as simply the Bishop of Rome, is not afraid of controversies or hostilities from within and without the church.

“His background as a Jesuit puts him in good stead to confront old challenges and new hostilities towards the Papacy. Jesuits have a strong legacy in an education rooted in discovery and exploration,” says Fr Njoroge, a professor of Ethics and Development Studies at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

“The Pope will not shy away from controversies or uncomfortable realities. He approaches issues in a pragmatic way that encourages open debate about issues that the Church has found discomfiting through the years,” he adds.

Fr George Macharia, a Jesuit priest studying for his doctorate degree in Austria, says: “Pope Francis is not moved by the public anger and expectations but in a process that takes care of the victims and perpetrators of sex abuse scandals. He is supremely self-confident and yet he has the audacity to listen even to his enemies.”

VICTIMS

He adds: “We have a Pope who is facing grave challenges in the church especially with regard to the abuse cases, and yet he still insists that the solution does not come from him alone but through a process of consultation on what needs to be done.”

On a visit to Ireland recently, Pope Francis came face-to-face with protesters holding vigils for victims of sex abuse and met some of the victims.

Though he promptly apologised for “abuse of power” and begged forgiveness for clergy who had failed to report cases of abuse or failed to sympathise with the victims, he found himself in a rather hostile situation.

At the end of his trip, a prominent Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, a former Vatican representative in US, asked him to quit together with other cardinals and bishops who he claimed had hushed up the misdeeds of Theodore McCarrick, a former cardinal of Washington accused of sexually abusing seminarians and a child perennially.

COMPLICIT

Vigano’s 11-page letter accused the Pope of being complicit in sex abuse scandals.

“Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick’s abuses and resign along with all of them,” wrote Archbishop Vigano last month in the 7,000-word letter. Pope Francis has not directly responded to the letter.

Away from the sex abuse scandals, Pope Francis has courted deeper controversy within the church by saying that divorced and re-married couples should be allowed to receive Holy Communion, (although the church believes in the dissolubility of marriage) seeking more inclusion for homosexuals and allowing priests to grant absolution for abortion, all of which contradict Catholic teachings.

For Pope Francis, it seems the gloves are off and his reform agenda is now openly under threat from Catholic conservatives.

The sex abuse crisis has been turbo-charged to the Centre of his papacy in a way that even a battle-hardened Jesuit could not have foreseen.

Perhaps he has what it takes to calm growing hostility in the church.