by Justin Soutar
After making the short flight from New York to
Philadelphia on Saturday morning, September 26, Pope Francis found himself
standing in front of historic Independence Hall that afternoon, where he delivered
an important address on the topic of religious liberty to the substantial crowd
gathered on the Mall. While following his prepared text, the Holy Father also inserted
a number of impromptu remarks to help flesh out his thoughts. He began by
observing that the truths enshrined in our Declaration of Independence--that all men and women are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights, and that governments exist to protect and defend those rights—“must
constantly be reaffirmed, re-appropriated and defended.” The pontiff then
highlighted a key aspect of religious liberty. "Religious freedom certainly means
the right to worship God, individually and in community, as our consciences
dictate,” Francis acknowledged. “But religious liberty, by its nature,
transcends places of worship and the private sphere of individuals and
families.” Then the pope underlined what he had just read by adding
off-the-cuff: “Because the religious reality, the religious dimension, is not a
subculture. It is part of the culture of any people and any nation.”
As
American Catholics and Christians whose religious freedom is increasingly threatened
by the tyranny of radical secularism, these were important words for us to
hear. We needed to be reminded that the Christian religion is inextricably woven
into the fabric of our national culture, and that we should take pride in this
fact rather than allowing militant secularists to intimidate us into being
ashamed of it. “In a world where various forms of modern tyranny seek to
suppress religious freedom, or try to reduce it to a subculture without right
to a voice in the public square, or to use religion as a pretext for hatred and
brutality,” Francis proclaimed, “it is imperative that the followers of the
various religions join their voices in calling for peace, tolerance and respect
for the dignity and rights of others.”
That evening at the
Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Pope Francis participated in the Festival of
Families, a spectacularly beautiful celebration of Catholic family life that
marked the ceremonial climax of the World Meeting of Families. Here he laid aside
his prepared text for the occasion, choosing instead to speak off the cuff about
the beauty of family life to his on-site audience of about one million people
from all over the world. Thanking the assembled families for their testimonies
and their presence, the
Holy Father assured them “that it is worthwhile to live as a family, that a
society grows strong, grows in goodness, grows in beauty and truly grows if it
is built on the foundation of the family.” He reminded them that when God sent
His Son into the world to redeem fallen humanity, he came to live among us in a
family through the loving obedience of Mary and Joseph.
“God always knocks at
the door of hearts,” Francis said. “He likes to do this. It comes from His
heart. But, do you know what He likes best? To knock on the doors of families
and find families that are united, to find families that love each other, to
find the families that bring up their children and educate them and help them
to keep going forward and that create a society of goodness, of truth, and of
beauty.” As usual when discussing this subject, the pope did not gloss over the
difficulties of family life: “In families, we argue; in families, sometimes the
plates fly; in families, the children give us headaches. And I’m not even going
to mention the mother-in-law. But in families, there is always, always, the
cross. Always…But, in families as well, after the cross, there is the
resurrection. Because the Son of God opened for us this path.” Francis
concluded his remarks to the tens of thousands of families present by reminding
them to take special care of their children and their grandparents--whom he
referred to respectively as the “strength” and the “memory” of a family--as “a
sign of love that promises the future.”
“All of Us Need to Be Cleansed”
Around 11 AM on Sunday
morning, September 27, after meeting with bishops, priests and seminarians at
St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Pope Francis went to visit more than one hundred
male and female inmates at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in
Philadelphia. This was one of the most memorable parts of our Holy Father’s
visit to the United States because it gave such vividly personal expression to
the theme of divine mercy that has defined his pontificate from the very beginning.
The pope sat in a large wooden chair that had been handcrafted for the occasion
by a team of male prisoners skilled in carpentry work. His address to the
inmates was strikingly heartfelt and poignant, full of Christ-like compassion
and encouragement for these men and women who had committed various crimes in
the past. Francis acknowledged that their period of incarceration was “a
painful time” not only for them but for their families and society, and then warned
that a family or society "which cannot share or take
seriously the pain of its children, and views that pain as something normal or
to be expected, is a society ‘condemned’ to remain a hostage to itself, prey to
the very things which cause that pain.”
The Holy Father himself was offering a
different example that morning, an example of compassion and solidarity, by
personally identifying with these wounded children of God who had been
relegated to the outskirts of society and who are often forgotten and
marginalized by their free brothers and sisters. “I am here as a pastor, but
above all as a brother, to share your situation and to make it my own,” the
pope told the inmates. Recalling the Gospel scene in which Jesus washes his
disciples’ feet, Francis reflected that life is a journey along different roads
that leave their mark on us. “Life means ‘getting our feet dirty’ from the
dust-filled roads of life and history,” he said. “All of us need to be
cleansed, to be washed.”
“We know in faith that Jesus seeks us out,” the Holy Father
continued. “He wants to heal our wounds, to soothe our feet which hurt from
travelling alone, to wash each of us clean of the dust from our journey. He
doesn’t ask us where we have been, he doesn’t question us about what we have
done. Rather, he tells us: ‘Unless I wash your feet, you have no share with me’
(John 13:8)…Jesus
comes to meet us, so that he can restore our dignity as children of God. He
wants to help us to set out again, to resume our journey, to recover our hope,
to restore our faith and trust.” These encouraging words revealed the pastoral
heart of Pope Francis—a compassionate and charitable heart that reaches out to
everyone regardless of their background or their situation, offering hope for
redemption through a personal encounter with Christ. The pope then criticized
prison systems that carelessly neglect to heal the wounds of their inmates or
to offer them hope for a better life. “It is painful when we see prison systems
which are not concerned to care for wounds, to soothe pain, to offer new possibilities,”
he said. “It is painful when we see people who think that only others need to
be cleansed, purified, and do not recognize that their weariness, pain and
wounds are also the weariness, pain and wounds of society.”
After finishing his address, Pope Francis took time to greet most
of the seated inmates individually. In a particularly poignant moment, he warmly
embraced a male inmate who stood up to greet him, drawing a smattering of
applause from the others. As the pontiff made his rounds and then bade the
prisoners farewell, I was a bit disappointed that the commentary of Raymond
Arroyo, Fr. Gerald Murray and Robert Royal on EWTN was mainly confined to the
awful crimes these people had committed, the duty of those responsible for the
common good to protect society from unjust aggressors, and the moral licitness
of the death penalty as just punishment for murder. While everything they said
may have been true, their rather clinical and juridical attitude towards this
deeply moving, authentically Christian personal encounter of Pope Francis with
the least of Christ’s brethren seemed to evince just a bit of the rigorist
tendency, persistently decried by Francis, of those who are so caught up in
their knowledge of Church doctrine and legal matters that they cannot see the
person in front of them. By zeroing in on the justice aspect, on doctrinal and
criminal details, Arroyo and his fellow guests essentially missed the point of
what the pope had just said and what he was now doing right in front of their
eyes on the TV screen—performing two works of mercy, visiting prisoners and
comforting the sorrowful. As Mother Teresa would remind us, these people
sitting behind bars are Christ in his distressing disguise, and whatever we do
for them we do for Christ himself (Mt. 25:34). “’I was…in prison and you
visited me’” (Mt. 25:35, 36).
Furthermore, the EWTN commentators neglected to affirm that these
incarcerated men and women, like themselves, were made in the image and
likeness of God and that they retained their innate human dignity regardless of
what they had done that had necessarily led to their confinement within these
walls. Nor did they hint at the corruption and related issues affecting the current
US criminal justice system, including the urgent need for prison reform and the
sad reality that some of those incarcerated and executed each year are actually
innocent of the crimes of which they have been convicted. Finally, mention
could have been made of the fact that human justice is never perfect and that
everything will be satisfactorily sorted out for all parties only by Christ
Himself at the Last Judgment, where each of us Christians will be judged based
not on our knowledge of the faith, but on how well we have put that faith into
practice. May our prejudices not hinder us from following Pope Francis’
Christ-like example in this regard and encouraging others to do the same.
Faith and Love in the Family
That Sunday afternoon, under mostly cloudy skies, the Argentinian
pontiff celebrated the much-anticipated Closing Mass for the World Meeting of
Families at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, another spectacular
event which drew nearly 900,000 participants according to the official host,
Archbishop Charles Chaput. In an apparent oversight, the pope’s homily was
delivered in Spanish without translation of any kind, and I felt sorry for the
English-speaking majority of the vast congregation present who essentially
missed it. The Mass readings for that Sunday focused on how the Holy Spirit can
act outside the visible confines of the Church or the community and how we
should recognize and affirm such divine activity even when it is manifested in
unlikely places. In his homily, Francis alerted his hearers to “the temptation
to be scandalized by the freedom of God, who sends rain on the righteous and
the unrighteous alike (Mt. 5:45),
bypassing bureaucracy, officialdom and inner circles”; such a temptation, he
warned, “threatens the authenticity of faith. Hence it must be vigorously
rejected.” Explaining why Jesus’ condemnation of scandal was so harsh, the Holy
Father added: “For Jesus, the truly ‘intolerable’ scandal consists in
everything that breaks down and destroys our trust in the working of the
Spirit!”
Turning to the subject of faith, Pope Francis next spoke of the
importance of “little gestures” of tenderness and affection that are learned in
the family, such as a warm meal or a hug or a blessing. “Love is shown by
little things, by attention to small daily signs which make us feel at home,”
he said. “Faith grows when it is lived and shaped by love.” Francis urged us to
be open to these “little miracles of love,” these “prophetic gestures” that
point the way to God’s unbounded love. He then asked whether we are living this
way in our families and societies. The pope exclaimed, “Would that all of us
could be open to miracles of love for the sake of our own family and all
the families of the world, and thus overcome the scandal of a narrow, petty
love, closed in on itself, impatient of others!” Here he inserted an
off-the-cuff remark, asking us family members whether we yell at each other or
speak with love and tenderness.
In keeping with his theme of care for creation, Francis also asked
what kind of world we are leaving to our children. “Our common house can no
longer tolerate sterile divisions,” he proclaimed. “The urgent challenge of
protecting our home includes the effort to bring the entire human family
together in the pursuit of a sustainable and integral development.” Affirming
marriage as “the covenant of man and woman, which generates life and reveals
God,” the Holy Father concluded by praying that God may “grant to all of us, as
the Lord’s disciples, the grace to be worthy of this purity of heart which is not
scandalized by the Gospel!” At the end of the Mass, Francis thanked the
assembled worshipers in English for their witness of family life and, as
always, reminded them to pray for him.
A Stunning Success
Pope Francis clearly scored a massive hit with
American Catholics and the general public during his unforgettable visit to our
country late last month. Perhaps more strikingly than any other foreign voyage
he has yet undertaken, the pope’s whirlwind tour of America showcased the
genius of Francis at its classic best. In both word and deed, our Holy Father
proclaimed the truths we needed to hear with clarity and conviction, yet in an
attractive way, while consistently manifesting an accurate understanding and
sincere appreciation for our unique history and cultural heritage. He knew his
audience more intuitively and was better prepared to visit the United States
than most of us expected. In short, Francis surprised us once again with a
brilliant performance—although it wasn’t surprising to see an increase in the
respect and esteem of American Catholics and the general public for our beloved
Shepherd in Christ following his brief but intense sojourn among us. Although
decades will be required to fully assess the impact of this latest papal visit
on the American Catholic Church and on our country in general, as well as to place
it within an accurate historical perspective, we can safely conclude for the
moment that Pope Francis’ Pastoral Visit to the United States was a stunning
success, and that we will continue to reap its fruit for years to come.
Copyright © 2015 Justin D. Soutar. All rights reserved.
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