Caution Francis Speaks: Mystagogy of Mercy? & Denouncing Demonization of Enemies
Francis to new Cardinals: be living signs of mercy
Francis created 17 new Cardinals on Saturday in St. Peter’s Basilica, during an Ordinary Public Consistory he had convoked for that purpose: 13 Cardinal-electors, and four Cardinals above the age of 80, who received the “Red Hat” in recognition of their exemplary service to the Church and witness to the Gospel.Listen to Chris Altieri's report:
The 13 Cardinal-electors are:
- Mario Zenari, who remains the Apostolic Nuncio of the beloved and martyred Syria (Italy)
- Dieudonné Nzapalainga, cssp., of Bangui (Central African Republic)
- Carlos Osoro Sierra of Madrid (Spain)
- Sérgio da Rocha of Brasilia (Brazil)
- Blase J. Cupich of Chicago (USA)
- Patrick D’Rozario, csc, of Dhaka (Bangladesh)
- Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo of Mérida (Venezuela)
- Jozef De Kesel of Malines-Bruxelles (Belgium)
- Bishop Maurice Piat, cssp., of Port Louis (Mauritius)
- Kevin Joseph Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life (USA)
- Carlos Aguiar Retes, Archbishop of Tlalnepantla (Mexico)
- John Ribat, msc, Archbishop of Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea)
- Joseph William Tobin, cssr, Archbishop of Indianapolis (USA). [On November 7h, 2016 the Holy Father Francis appointed him as Archbishop of Newark, USA]
- Anthony Soter Fernandez, Archbishop emeritus of Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
- Renato Corti, Bishop emeritus of Novara (Italy)
- Sebastian Koto Khoarai, OMI, Bishop emeritus of Mohale’s Hoek (Lesotho) – who did not make the trip to Rome due to his advanced age and infirmity, and who shall receive the insignia of his new office by Papal emissary
- Ernest Simoni, Presbyter of the Archdiocese of Shkodrë-Pult (Shkodër – Albania)
“The Passage,” explained Pope Francis, “also contains four commands or exhortations, which the Lord gives as a way of moulding the Apostles’ vocation through real, everyday situations.” The four commands are: love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you.
“They are four actions that will shape, embody and make tangible the path of discipleship,” said Pope Francis. “We could say that they represent four stages of a mystagogy of mercy,” he continued.
“These are not things we spontaneously do in dealing with people we consider our opponents or enemies. Our first instinctive reaction in such cases is to dismiss, discredit or curse them,” Pope Francis said. “Often we try to ‘demonize’ them, so as to have a ‘sacred’ justification for dismissing them,” he went on to say. “Jesus,” continued Pope Francis, “tells us to do exactly the opposite with our enemies, those who hate us, those who curse us or slander us: we are to love them, to do good to them, to bless them and to pray for them.”
The Holy Father also decried the increasing polarization of the contemporary world, noting how polarization and exclusion are often considered the only way to resolve conflicts, and citing by way of example those among us with the status of a stranger, an immigrant, or a refugee, who too often are considered a threat, or take on the status of an enemy, owing to their provenance from a distant country or their different customs, or the colour of their skin, their language, their social class, their different way of thinking or even their different faith.
“Without our realizing it,” he said, “this way of thinking becomes part of the way we live and act. Everything and everyone then begins to savour of animosity. Little by little, our differences turn into symptoms of hostility, threats and violence.”
Addressing himself directly to the men created Cardinals on the occasion, Pope Francis said, “Today each of you, dear brothers, is asked to cherish in your own heart, and in the heart of the Church, this summons to be merciful like the Father – and to realize that ‘if something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life’ (Evangelii Gaudium, 49).”
Francis denounces growing “demonization” of enemies and outsiders
The pontiff’s sermon came across as a powerful, gospel-based indictment of the populist and nationalist anger roiling countries around the world, displayed most recently by the stunning election of Donald Trump as president of the U.S.
“In God’s heart there are no enemies,” Francis told a grand assemblage of hundreds of clerics in elegant scarlet and purple vestments along with thousands of political and civic leaders and supporters of the new cardinals, who include three Americans.
“God has only sons and daughters,” the pope said. “We are the ones who raise walls, build barriers and label people. God has sons and daughters precisely so that no one will be turned away.”
Francis said “our instinctive reaction” is to “discredit or curse” those who we view as opponents, “to ‘demonize’ them so as to have a ‘sacred’ justification” for dismissing them.
God’s unconditional love, he said, “is the true prerequisite for the conversion of our pitiful hearts that tend to judge, divide, oppose and condemn.”
Trump – with his call for a registry for Muslims, a wall separating the U.S. from Mexico and promise to throw the undocumented out of the country — galvanized resentments against immigrants, religious minorities and others during the presidential campaign.
His victory, this summer’s Brexit vote, and the growing popularity of nationalist movements across Europe has raised grave concerns around the world, including in the Vatican.
Francis made it clear that for him, such divisive sentiments are anathema.
“We live at a time in which polarization and exclusion are burgeoning and considered the only way to resolve conflicts,” said the pope, who turns 80 next month. “We see, for example, how quickly those among us with the status of a stranger, an immigrant or a refugee become a threat, take on the status of an enemy.”
“An enemy because they come from a distant country or have different customs. An enemy because of the color of their skin, their language or their social class. An enemy because they think differently or even have a different faith.” This animosity gradually turns to outright hostility and violence, he said.
Yet Francis did not spare his own church from his warning.
“Yes, between us, within our communities, our priests, our meetings,” he told the hundreds of clerics. “The virus of polarization and animosity permeates our way of thinking, feeling and acting.”
Those words carried a special resonance given the controversy that erupted in recent days as four conservative cardinals publicly challenged Francis over his efforts to make the church more open and pastoral in its ministry, saying that they may try to charge him with teaching heresy if he does not clarify some of his statements.
The “Gang of Four,” as some here have dubbed them, is led by U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a Rome-based churchman who has been one of Francis’ staunchest foes since he was elected pope in 2013.
In an interview published on Friday, Francis appeared to respond to his foes – without naming them – saying some critics “are acting in bad faith to foment divisions.”
READ: Is the pope Catholic? Francis dismisses critics of his teachings
In his address in St. Peter’s on Saturday, Francis said the such division were “contrary to the richness and universality” of the Catholic Church, which was on display in the range of new cardinals from countries around the world.
“We come from distant lands; we have different traditions, skin color, languages and social backgrounds,” he said. “We think differently and we celebrate our faith in a variety of rites. None of this makes us enemies; instead, it is one of our greatest riches.”
The churchmen elevated to the rank of cardinal on Saturday include prelates from 11 dioceses and six countries that have never before had a cardinal, and from places far outside the traditional European orbit of ecclesiastical influence: Albania, for example, plus the Central African Republic, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.
Three of the new cardinals are over the age of 80 and thus not eligible to vote in a conclave to elect Francis’ successor.
One of those new cardinals, Sebastian Koto Khoarai of Lesotho in Africa, is 87 and could not make the trip due to poor health. He is still considered an official cardinal.
Francis included three Americans in this new batch of cardinals, the first he has appointed from the U.S. in three rounds of nominations he has made so far.
They are Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago; Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Archbishop of Indianapolis and soon to head the Newark archdiocese in New Jersey; and Cardinal Kevin Farrell, an Irish-born churchman who Francis recently transferred from the Dallas diocese to a major post in the Roman Curia.
Of the 228 current members of the College of Cardinals, 121 are under the age of 80 and thus could vote in a conclave. Vatican guidelines set the number of cardinal-electors at 120, though a pope can exceed that limit.
Francis has appointed 44 of the current cardinal-electors, about one-third. Another 56 were appointed by his immediate predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and 21 were named by Saint John Paul II.
Benedict, who in 2013 became the first pope in 600 years to resign, is 89 and infirm and lives in a monastery inside the Vatican walls.
This is the first consistory, as the service creating new cardinals is known, that Benedict has not been able to attend.
But the new cardinals piled into two mini-buses immediately after the ceremony in the basilica and drove through the Vatican gardens to pay Benedict a courtesy visit.