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The Next Pope The
Office of Peter and a Church in Mission
by
George Weigel
Ignatius
Press
This
book is not a prediction of the outcome of the next conclave and it
does not tell us who the strong candidates are. It has a more modest
aim: to express an opinion of what the next pope needs to focus on.
Weigel
is surely correct in claiming that one such area should be the
re-evangelization of nations that used to be Catholic but are no more.
The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany come to mind.But the problem is
much greater than that : Europe, America and Australia need to be
re-evangelized, as does large parts of Asia and Africa. Until about
fifty years ago, the Catholic faith in Ireland and Belgium, for
example, was such that missionaries from these lands were sent out to
evangelize Africa and Asia. No more.
So
what went so terribly wrong? Again, Weigel has surely made the correct
diagnosis: a watered down version of Catholicism was given to the
people, what Weigel refers to as Catholic Lite. I remember witnessing
so many young people in my university days leaving the Catholic faith
and I later realized that they had left something that they did not
really belong to in the first place. They had been provided with bad
catechesis and meaningless liturgies. If they wanted entertainment,
there were better places to go. Catholic Lite can never replace the
real thing, Catholicism-in-full.
Weigel
also rightly notes that Catholicism is dying because the fullness of
Catholic morality has often not been presented in a convincing manner.
There is the temptation to focus on popular (and very real) causes such
as poverty and immigration and avoid confronting the number one issue
of the age: abortion. There is also the very real and dreadful
possibility that the next US president might well be wanting to push
for more abortions and more marriage destruction while claiming to be
Catholic and getting away with it.
There
needs to be a focus on marriage, says Weigel, which is the union of one
man and one woman for life. Those who find themselves in irregular
circumstances need compassionate support and accompaniment. But not at
the expense of the Gospel. Dialogue is good. Accompaniment is good. But
they are means, not ends, says Weigel.
Weigel
questions the way in which synodality has been interpreted. It does not
mean a federation of local churches, each with a different set of
doctrines. That has already been tried and found wanting. It is called
Anglicanism. As things stand, the German bishops appear to be on the
verge of achieving what Martin Luther failed to do.
We
need a pope who will always remember that the ministry of Peter is at
the service of the Gospel and not above the Gospel. There is also a
real difference between the "settled teaching of the Church" and the
personal opinions of the pope.
Apart
from the re-evangelization of once Catholic nations, the next pope
needs to encourage missionary activity among people who do not as yet
know the Gospel. The theory of "anonymous Christianity" must surely be
abandoned. We cannot presume that all are saved. That is quite simply
not the teaching of Our Lord.
So,
there is much to pray for, much to expect from the next pope. But
whoever the next pope is, he needs the "prayerful support of the entire
Catholic world."
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