Analysis
Dreams can be powerful things,
especially when articulated by leaders with the realistic capacity to translate
them into action. That was the case 50 years ago with Martin Luther King Jr.'s
famous "I Have a Dream" speech, and it also seems to be the ambition
of Pope Francis' bold new apostolic exhortation, "The Joy of the
Gospel."
In effect, the 224-page document,
titled in Latin Evangelii Gaudium and released by the Vatican Tuesday, is a
vision statement about the kind of community Francis wants Catholicism to be:
more missionary, more merciful, and with the courage to change.
Francis opens with a dream.
"I dream of a 'missionary
option,' " Francis writes, "that is, a missionary impulse capable of
transforming everything, so that the church's customs, ways of doing things,
times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for the
evangelization of today's world, rather than for her self-preservation."
Though Francis released an
encyclical letter titled Lumen Fidei in June, that text was based largely on a
draft prepared by Benedict XVI. "The Joy of the Gospel," designed as
a reflection on the October 2012 Synod of Bishops on new evangelization, thus
represents the new pope's real debut as an author.
At another point, Francis insists
that "the church is not a tollhouse." Instead, he says, "it is
the house of the Father, where there is a place for everyone." At another
point, he quips that "the confessional must not be a torture
chamber," but rather "an encounter with the Lord's mercy which spurs
us to on to do our best."
Francis acknowledges that realizing
his dream will require "a reform of the church," stipulating that
"what I am trying to express here has a programmatic significance and
important consequences."
Though he doesn't lay out a
comprehensive blueprint for reform, he goes beyond mere hints to fairly blunt
indications of direction:
• He calls for a "conversion of
the papacy," saying he wants to promote "a sound
decentralization" and candidly admitting that in recent years "we
have made little progress" on that front.
• He suggests that bishops'
conferences ought to be given "a juridical status ... including genuine
doctrinal authority." In effect, that would amount to a reversal of a 1998
Vatican ruling under John Paul II that only individual bishops in concert with
the pope, and not episcopal conferences, have such authority.
• Francis says the Eucharist
"is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment
for the weak," insisting that "the doors of the sacraments" must
not "be closed for simply any reason." His language could have
implications not only for divorced and remarried Catholics, but also calls for
refusing the Eucharist to politicians or others who do not uphold church
teaching on some matters.
• He calls for collaborative
leadership, …
