Mercy or “The Law” – God or Man?

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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I am writing to you, directors, staff, associated contributors, and volunteers working together at and for EWTN and Catholic Media on the topic of Pope Francis in general, and in particular, regarding the critical stance being taken most notably from what could be called an “elite sector” in Western society. This criticism may best be symbolized in the title question “What about Pope Francis vs His Critics – Mercy or “The Law”?”

Almost from his very first day in office, Pope Francis has enthralled many while also irking others. Born 17 December 1936, Jorge Bergoglio lived and served as a Jesuit, mostly in Argentina, for 55 years until his election as Bishop of Rome, the 266th Roman Pontiff, the 265th successor of Saint Peter, on March 13th, 2013, just two weeks after Pope Benedict XVI’s historic resignation on February 28th. He immediately manifested preference for the poor, the suffering, the marginalized, and those who are neglected, abandoned, and cast aside.

Then, just two and a half years later, Pope Francis inaugurated the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, a period of prayer from 8 December 2015, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, to 20 November 2016, the Feast of Christ the King. During this time Pope Francis called on all the clergy to extend God’s mercy to the faithful, encouraging people to trust in God’s mercy and come back to the reception of the sacraments. He made it easier for priests to show mercy over making strict applications of the law. He also created numerous opportunities for the faithful to obtain plenary indulgences.

Ever since then, in particular, a resistance movement has arisen among both laity and clergy, including prominent bishops and even cardinals, that is highly critical of Pope Francis, going so far as to hold him as incompetent and in contempt of his role as Pope. As we step back to take a wide view of the situation, what becomes most apparent is a series of parallels with the People of Israel, the Apostolic Age, and Church history.

While they were in the desert and on the way to the Promised Land, the People of Israel complained about their harsh conditions and on numerous occasions declared loudly and long that they were much better off in Egypt, asking Moses to bring them back. They preferred going back into slavery rather than rough it for a while on the way to the fulfillment of God’s promises to them. They preferred the familiar to following God.

Much the same happened during the Apostolic Age. Even as Saint Paul brought the Good News to the pagan world and welcomed many converts to faith in Jesus Christ, there was no lack of Jewish Christians who not only wanted to keep the practice of The Law, but also insisted that all male pagan converts be circumcised and obliged to follow all the demands of The Law as well. They preferred a familiar Moses to following Jesus.

Paul called those people “Judaizers” and “circumcisers” and denounced them for preferring the old life of law and order rather than following Jesus and putting their trust in Him. They preferred the familiarity of The Law to this new adventure of trust in God’s mercy and they were loath to no longer live by their own will but in God’s love and mercy with trust in the Holy Spirit. They were afraid to leave the familiarity of “The Law”.

This same tension persisted throughout the history of the Church founded by Jesus Christ on his Apostles as well as the history of the People of Israel. Jesus calls us all to put our trust in God the Father and in Him, his Son, whom the Father sent into the world. Being baptized, receiving the Holy Spirit, and living a new life required leaving behind everything of the old way of living, including habits of sin. During the first millennium, countless people, including Emperor Constantine, uncertain of being able to follow the Gospel thoroughly, delayed being baptized. Later on, it was the Sacrament of Confession that people delayed until their death bed, when the forgiveness of sins could only be given once in a lifetime as a “second chance” after Baptism.

God in Jesus Christ offers humanity a new life of communion in the Most Holy Trinity; so why would we want to go back to a life of slavery under the scrutiny of The Law which no one was able to observe perfectly anyway? It can only be the allure of control, or of the illusion of control. It doesn’t take long before those who prefer to have everything “under control” try to “take charge” rather than obey and put their trust in God.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day, as those who preceded them also did, stood firmly on The Law because it gave them control over the people and the affairs of the Temple. They could judge who was faithful and who was not, who were the pure and impure, and rule their society accordingly. They didn’t have to rely on God. It also hearkens back to the day when the people demanded of Samuel a king like the other nations all around them. God replied to Samuel that it was not the prophet that the people had rejected, but they were rejecting God as king over them in preference of a human king. It has always ever been about control.

It is not a small thing to call into question the Bishop of Rome at any time in the history of the Church. It is even bolder if not arrogant to do so in our time; when the popes have been men with incredible credentials, experience, and wisdom. In the face of all these detractors, I feel rather powerless. Who am I, anyway? I'm nobody, with no doctorate but only a B.A. in English literature with double minor in philosophy and theology 50 years ago, a civil and also an ecclesiastic Bachelor of Theology., and an M.A. in Pastoral Studies, General Ministry 40 years ago, a retired priest doing part time ministry in Montreal, Québec.

I know that saints and servants of God like Catherine de Hueck Doherty, the Foundress of the Madonna House Apostolate, would react strongly to those who criticize and spread doubt about the Pope. They would declare loudly that "the voice of the bishop is the voice of God". If, as his detractors claim, Pope Francis is the product of a false or flawed election, if he is either incompetent or stupid, if he really is leading the Church and the world astray; then Jesus has gone on vacation, or is asleep as He was on the boat, or has resigned as Lord. These scenarios are unthinkable. It would be to claim that Jesus is no longer faithful to his promise as recorded by St. Matthew at the end of his Gospel; that He would be with us until the end.

It could be said that the trend to denounce Pope Francis is rooted at least in part in a white elite – both clerical / religious and lay / secular in the U.S.A. deeply invested in their long experience of power, influence and control as churchmen and churchwomen in their society; as well as having a long history as a nation of dictating to the whole world what is required of them in order to align themselves correctly with “American interests”. Pope Francis challenges them, as Jesus did, and they hate him for it. In this sense, they are doing to Pope Francis exactly as the Jewish religious leaders did to Jesus in his day. Why people anywhere have uncritically joined this trend, I don't know and can't understand, but perhaps it's not for me to know.

All this confusion and controversy around Pope Francis has to do, at least in part, with the possibility of admitting to Holy Communion people whose marriage situation is irregular. As I understand it, Pope Francis wants us to get close enough to people to "get dirty", that is, to be affected by their struggle in order to come to understand their plight more closely, specifically, and intimately. Only then can we bring some clarity from the Gospel to them and help them learn to discern God's will for them. This process of discernment cannot be done in a "cookie cutter" kind of way, but only one unique person at a time. We are not to tell people what to do or have the temerity to claim to discern for them or on their behalf, but what God does expect us to do, in charity and humility, is to help them become more familiar with and understanding of the Scriptures, our faith Tradition and the teaching of the Church since the Apostles, and to help awaken their conscience to discern God’s will.

In some cases, such as when a party has been abused or victimized by a divorce, that is, abandoned by their former spouse, and they clearly bear no part of responsibility for the divorce; if the person is manifestly being called by the Lord to Communion and have a great need of the Bread of Life, a pastor could very well receive them after a good confession. Of course, the pastor would have to do all he can to help the person take the steps necessary for them to have their status clarified or regularized, such as through the nullity process, but this is not always possible for people, for one reason or another, or their life situation may not afford enough time.

It seems as though it is due to such cases that Pope Francis wants us to understand the Church more as a field hospital than a museum or an organization for the rewarding and acknowledgement of the worthy. As pastors, we are called to serve people personally, one person at a time, rather than "rule from on high" and try to make sweeping policies. We are not to “parade in public” as the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, lawyers, and priests did in Jesus’ day, and strutting about lording it over ordinary people, most egregiously the poor.

Those who take objection with Pope Francis want a universal "one size fits all" moral policy, perhaps so as to avoid the trouble of "getting dirty" by getting “too” close to people and their miseries. I believe many of them are sincerely troubled by the state of the world, of society, and of the suffering of souls, and they want to help, but they are impatient with this personal pastoral approach. They are highly resistant to and intolerant of Pope Francis’ unrelenting insistence that we all “go to the peripheries” where people are judged, condemned, pushed, isolated, relegated, and abandoned by our obsession with law and order. We demand an expedient universal and legal solution; maybe afraid people might abuse God's mercy and try to enjoy grace and sin simultaneously.

I believe that Pope Francis trusts us to have more judgment than that and he expects us to discern such cases of abuse and to personally warn people to repent such attitudes and behaviors. It seems clear enough from Pope Francis' preaching and talks that he is more than well versed in our Catholic tradition and moral teaching and never provides shadows or opportunity to misinterpret God's will or his laws. On the contrary, Pope Francis is known for giving very practical counsel in his homilies, talks, and encounters.

I believe one reason that Pope Francis irks many is precisely because he is addressing our inclination to be parsimonious with God's mercy; whereas God in Jesus is extravagantly generous with his mercy. The sincerity and authenticity of Divine Mercy as Jesus revealed Himself to Saint Sister Faustina is such that his voice would shame anyone trying to abuse his mercy, so warm and personal is his invitation to come to Him. God is quite capable of scrutinizing souls and He doesn't need us to probe people's consciences. The “scrutiny” of the Holy Spirit, reaches deeply into human spirits and consciences, for the Spirit is (Heb 4:12-13) “penetrating indeed, (and) the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.”

It is sufficient for us to declare the Good News, all of it, to allow ourselves to be touched by the miseries and troubles of souls, and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. God's ways are far above our ways, and He is patient towards souls so that they might repent willingly and enter into his love and mercy. There are those who are impatient with the Lord's ways as they are with Pope Francis, and they would want to "lay down the law".

This is how I understand the controversy between mercy and laying down the law. Pope Francis' call for us to "do mercy" and "bring God's mercy" to people and to the world in no way trumps or cancels the moral law or the Church's tradition. They are both essential and complementary. As a Church for centuries we were simply too heavily leaning on the side of law and order, with abundant threats of hell fire, and without mercy.

While it may be true that people generally have lost a sense of sin as such, they are not without having troubled consciences. They tend to know when they are being too selfish or unkind to others, when they have “messed up” and are not their best selves, and even when they may not be honest and true towards God. When we walk kindly with people and show them that we genuinely love them and are worthy of their trust, all the painful truth tends to come out. I don't think we will help souls is we demand the Pope apply generalizations about morality and the conditions of souls in a “one size fits all” manner more suited to the marketplace.

The more we encourage doubt about the moral leadership of Pope Francis; we will actually do more harm to souls. His entire approach is to call everyone, from the most learned to the least, to understand and to practice the discipline of discernment. It is the only way for people to find their way to God; lest we intrude between souls and God pretending we know better than souls how to discern the will of God for them.

When pastors tried to do that in the past few centuries, they merely succeeded in showing people that their clergy were unworthy of trust. For generations clergy would not let people discern in their own consciences, not trusting them to do it. It was felt that only those well versed in moral theology could discern what is right and wrong in specific instances. People were taught to go ask the pastor, rather than use their own judgment. We can see today the result in the almost universal abandonment of the Church by people in many places.

When we take too much place in people's interior lives, we actually move in on the private place within souls that the Most Holy Trinity reserve to them. That is a serious offense against souls and against God, and I believe it is this danger that has been troubling me about this whole controversy over Pope Francis' pontificate. Our distrust of Pope Francis reveals our unwillingness to fully trust in God and his reign in hearts, minds, and souls. We don't trust that God is managing very well; so we feel He needs us to step in and make things clear. This controversy isn't really about Pope Francis, but about us and our unwillingness to really trust in God and obey Him even in these matters. We are unwilling to be lambs as Jesus was, with complete trust in his Father. As we have clung for centuries to our hegemony over the entire world; so now we want to push the Lord aside and take over management of the Kingdom of God.

This worldwide controversy is about power and influence, prosperity, affluence, wealth, and control. By analogy, nations like the U.S.A., Canada, and the other G7, and even China; all carry the conviction that their understanding of the world and the way things should be is the only way. They are blind to how they "shout over" the voices of the poor, little, and less powerful nations; like rich, healthy, and powerful people do over the timid voices of the poor, convinced that they know better. This is the cause of many conflicts worldwide.

All the while, all too often, leaders of nations and rebellions are blind, as we are blind to the ways in which we exploit the poor and enjoy too much of what the Creator intends for all to enjoy. I've heard Raymond Arroyo and other commentators on EWTN and other mass media criticize Pope Francis, and they seemed to me to be the picture of this blindness of the affluent, blinded by their own self interest and that of their class.

In all of this, I don't hold myself guiltless; on the contrary, I struggle with being a citizen of this nation in Canada that continues arrogantly in its self-assurance to enact policies and behaviors that remain to this day very much in the "colonizing" mentality of the first Europeans who came here and had a "free for all" with the abundant resources they saw in this land, among which native peoples trod with reverence. Since then we have very irreverently trodden down on them in our greed to grab all the goods that we can as quickly as we can.

Among those who go with this currently trending discourse that is critical of Pope Francis; it is felt that his insistence on extending the mercy of God to contemporary society coincides with a failure to clarify the moral demands of the divine law as revealed in the Scriptures. This trend in the broader Catholic culture seems to look nostalgically to the anathema statements of many of the councils which preceded Vatican II and regrets the “softer approach” taken since Vatican II in an effort to present the Good News to contemporary society in a manner which can capture the mind and heart of people much as Jesus did during his brief ministry on Earth.

This line of thinking goes something like this: “What is the use of proclaiming God’s mercy to people who have no sense of sin? Convinced as they are that they have no sin, they have no sense of being in need of God’s mercy.” This view is held to show the need to proclaim loud and long the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, and to make practical applications to ceaselessly denounce all contemporary behaviors that go against God’s law, much as the religious leaders did in Jesus’ day. It is felt that people can only begin to understand their need of God’s forgiveness and mercy once they realize they are breaking God’s law. So, all those who hold this view are understandably critical of Pope Francis, in part due to the fact that they do not understand what he is trying to do or why he is trying to do it. They want the highest voice in the Roman Catholic Church to never tire of proclaiming the demands of moral law and consequences people must expect to suffer for each transgression.

Pope Francis is not of the view that the Church needs to “lay down the law” so that people can come to realize that they are breaking it. On the contrary, Pope Francis is of the view that the Holy Spirit is already at work in people’s spirits and consciences, and they already have a sense that all is not well in the kingdom of Denmark. Human beings today, as in all generations, realize full well that, for all their posturing and demands, they are not satisfied or at peace or entirely happy. Something is missing in their lives. Pope Francis teaches and models St. Ignatius’ method of discernment of spirits to help people learn to distinguish the voice of God.

Pope Francis’ view of life and of ministry, of the Church’s mission, is that we must follow in the steps of Jesus and “go out to the peripheries” in order to encounter people up close, to walk with them, get to know them, and as they discover that we are genuinely interested in them and their welfare; they will open their minds and hearts to us, much as Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman did with Jesus. Only then, only once they put questions to us, can we find words to speak the good news to them, as is done by good Christians everywhere.

The Holy Spirit at work in them will draw them to listen to the Holy Spirit speaking through us, but only once they know that we truly love them. The first thing people need is the love and mercy of God, and for many if not most people, they will only get their first glimpse of God’s love and mercy when we show them God’s love and mercy by loving and having mercy on them ourselves. People only need to be exposed to God’s life-giving love and mercy once in order to be touched by God. Only then can they want to know what God wants and how they can please Him. Only then will morality and a moral life make any sense and seem good to them.

Our Church took the “law and order” approach for centuries, and for the most part, it produced people who were literate to some degree in Christianity but who did not know God or his love and mercy. Once the trials and temptations of modern progress came, they did not last, like the seed thrown among thorns or in rocky soil. Not having root, they dried up and left the Church or the faith or God. Look at Quebec and Ireland, among other places, even including the U.S.A. Jesus did not form disciples by preaching morality but by loving them. He called them to follow Him and showed them how to love and care for the sheep. He corrected them in very personal ways and was patient and understanding with them to the end, showing them love to the point of death.

There is one author who has known Jorge Bergoglio personally, and who understands the depths of Pope Francis’ theology and pastoral approach and who has been able to trace his interior and ecclesial itinerary and demonstrate with specific applications in real instances what it is that Pope Francis has been doing since his election and how and why he is calling us to join him in this approach or mercy to people today.

In “The Great Reformer. (2014) Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope” Austin Ivereigh traces Jorge Bergoglio in his journey through life, vocation, and ministry, drawing out the unifying threads whereby God formed him to become the universal pastor needed by our Church today. Ivereigh is a Catholic “British writer, journalist, and commentator on religious and political affairs who holds a doctorate from Oxford University.

His work appears regularly in the Jesuit magazine America and in many other periodicals.” He published a sequel in 2019 titled “Wounded Shepherd. Pope Francis and His Struggle to Convert the Catholic Church”. In this second work, among other things, the author addresses Pope Francis’ statements, actions, and positions that became controversial in the media or for Catholic critics or both. He explains with great insight what the Pope is doing and why he is doing it; as well as why he generally does not rebut his critics directly, but takes note of them and on occasion says something about those situations when and where he thinks it is appropriate. In this sense, Pope Francis deliberately walks in the steps of Jesus who was also generally “silent as a lamb before its shearers”. As a man of discernment, he ever seeks to do everything for the glory of God.

It would be wise for those who are critical of Pope Francis to read these two volumes before continuing to lead people to join them in doubting the Pope’s reliability. It is ironic that, as a Jesuit, Jorge Bergoglio is far better educated and far more deeply formed and spiritually mature than the vast majority of us, and even than his fiercest critics. It very much seems a case of the more ignorant being critical of one who is far wiser, precisely because they are not capable of understanding him, his approach, or his motives. That is what happened to Jesus and how He was treated by the religious leaders of his day, who were also far less intelligent and far less “formed spiritually” than Jesus, and hence quite incapable of understanding Him. Ultimately, this is a question of humility, docility, willingness to learn, and willingness to listen and obey; as Jesus did his Father.

This seems to be the inevitable pattern of the original sin, that we human beings, creatures who are the works of God’s hand, turn around in judgment and accuse our Creator, precisely because we cannot reduce Him to the narrow confines of our understanding. Since He doesn’t fit our categories; therefore He must be wrong, He must be guilty. Pope Francis doesn’t fit our categories; so he must be wrong and incompetent.

My distinct impression is that Pope Francis has more confidence in us than we are willing to have in him. He knows that there is already sufficient record of God’s laws in human culture and society, in terms of the Ten Commandments, but in other terms as well. What is most lacking is sufficient tangible and personal, up close demonstration of God’s infinite love and mercy. Jesus seems to agree because He troubled Himself to form and establish Saint Sister Faustina Kowalska as “his secretary of Divine Mercy” for the world in the 1930’s.

What seems obvious in Pope Francis’ approach as Bishop of Rome and universal Pastor is that, in his view, looking at the Church in the world as a whole, we clergy are far too inclined to “lay down the law” from the comfort of our residences, as from behind our fortresses, rather than get “out there” where we are most likely to “get dirty” and “take on the smell of the sheep”. Were we to really walk with people – those farthest away from God and the Church especially – and genuinely listen to them and care for them; they might meet Mercy.

Pope Francis is calling on all the clergy, all the missionary disciples, and all the laity of the Church to “go out to the peripheries”, to find the lost sheep, to care for those “beaten up and left for dead at the side of the world’s roads”, “do mercy”, and become God’s mercy for them. Once they are touched by the love and mercy of God and discover that He is real and that He truly loves them; their spirits will perceive the Holy Spirit and want to know all that pleases and all that displeases Him, all that promotes life and all that harms life. Of course, we must all continue to preach the Good News and to proclaim God’s law and explain it on a regular basis, but our focus is not to be on “laying down the law”, but rather on becoming and doing Divine Mercy. Rather than try to “line people up in the sights” of our “morality guns”; we are called by the Lord Jesus to approach people humbly and with open faces, empty hands, and broken hearts.

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My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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