Cardinal Newman’s (1801-1890) spirit in Pope Francis
St. John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) and Pope Francis.
Church reforms are done through being a good priest, shepherd and teacher in accordance with the triple function of Christ. Naturally, the burden of Church reforms is first and foremost on the shoulder of the Roman Pontiff.
The conclave of 2013 that elected the first Jesuit pontiff in history took place “in one of the lowest moments in the reputation of the Roman Curia,” when he inherited problems, such as the Vatican’s financial crisis and the clerical abuse scandals, which might be too heavy for one man to carry. In 2013, our Mother Church was “all in ruins” – in reference to the words of Jesus to St. Francis of Assisi in 2016 – dilapidated and ramshackle, experiencing a series of aftershocks due to the ad intra trials and tribulations she experienced almost revving into overdrive.
In his attempt to overhaul what often appears to be an immovable bureaucracy, the Argentinian Successor of the Galilean Peter is seen fighting on many fronts. St. John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) knew this well.
Cardinal Newman was once an Anglican priest and theologian, but he soon decided to embrace the Catholic Faith after a lengthy period of silent prayers, most profound studies and contemplation. He was searching for the truth, and the truth set him free. Eventually, he was ordained a priest and, in 1879, was made a cardinal by Leo XIII in recognition of his orthodox teachings and services to the cause of the Catholic Church in England. In one of his homilies, he preached:
“We must never suffer ourselves to doubt that in his government of the Church, he is guided by an intelligence more than human.”
Divisions and debates in any human organization, the Catholic Church included, are nothing new. They purify as they seek the truth or what is right.
Pope Francis has shown more the pragmatic-trailblazing side of his pontificate than the academic-theology-contemplating side in articulating his views of the ecclesial role in the world. His role and vocation consist in this: To “repair My Church.”
No one forgets how his words and deeds have hit the headlines simply because they were controversial or quite unexpected, or different from what we normally and traditionally hear from a pope. But they admit at the end that those words and deeds are useful to make the world a little better as they are forceful enough to rock the boat of geopolitics (and Church politics). No one forgets, for example, his 2014 solemn address to the Roman Curia, where His Holiness spoke of 15 spiritual ailments or diseases of the soul
Again, we invoke what Cardinal Newman said, “Like St. Peter, he is the Vicar of his Lord. He [the pope] can judge, and he can acquit; he can pardon, and he can condemn; he can command and he can permit; he can forbid, and he can punish. He has a Supreme jurisdiction over the people of God.”
Despite what Cardinals George Pell, Joseph Zen, Raymond Leo Burke, Gerhard Ludwig Müller and Archbishops Carlo Maria Viganò and Georg Gänswein said or wrote, and despite all odds, the Church reforms initiated by Pope Francis during his more than ten-year pontificate appear to change the face of the Church for the better. And he champions Church reforms without the call for of an ecumenical council.
Cardinal Newman took as his episcopal motto Cor ad cor loquitur, “Heart speaks to heart.” Inspired by this motto, John Henry Cardinal Newman continued writing in defense of the faith and preached and preached about what he sincerely believed. In 1866, he delivered a brilliant sermon at the Birmingham Oratory concerning the supremacy of the pope. With the force of orthodoxy, logic and reasoning, he told his audience:
“His [the pope’s] yoke is the yoke of Christ, he has the responsibility of his own acts, not we; and to his Lord must he render account, not to us. Even in secular matters it is ever safe to be on his side, dangerous to be on the side of his enemies.”
Consider this: The Holy Father told the world that he wanted a “poor Church for the poor” in which only the essentials matter and the rest are superfluous! Our Holy Father offered his personal example, wore a pair of worn-out shoes during most solemn occasions and carried his own personal luggage during his trips abroad.
Detached from worldliness, in October 2013, Pope Francis auctioned his Harley-Davidson motorbike for about $327,000 at a Bonham’s auction in Paris in 2014, with a leather Harley-Davidson motorcycle jacket signed by the pontiff sold for $77,485. All proceeds were given to start a soup kitchen in Rome for the homeless.
As Jesus said: “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, bad tree bears good fruit” (Luke 6:43). And I’ve seen the impact of his reforms with my own eyes: Filipino bishops making attempts to be more fatherly and easily accessible, living simpler lifestyles, ditching princely robes, and ceased calling their residences “bishop’s palace” – and Filipino priests dare not use luxurious cars.
All talk about ad intra Church reforms and renewal efforts cannot even start without an honest admission of the truth. And, most fundamentally, it begins with self.
Cardinal Newman knew this, and so he concluded:
“Our duty is — not indeed to mix up Christ’s Vicar with this or that party of men, because he in his high station is above all parties — but to look at his formal deeds, and to follow him whither he goeth, and never to desert him, however we may be tried, but to defend him at all hazards, and against all comers, as a son would a father, and as a wife a husband, knowing that his cause is the cause of God.”
“There are kings of the earth who have despotic authority,” the English Cardinal said, “which their subjects obey indeed but disown in their hearts; but we must never murmur at that absolute rule which the Sovereign Pontiff has over us, because it is given to him by Christ, and, in obeying him, we are obeying his Lord.”
From this there’s only one resolution that becomes clearer: Obedience to the Pope is obedience to Christ.
Jose Mario Bautista Maximiano is the author of Catholic Social Teachings in Contemporary Philippine History: 500 YOC (Claretian, 2022), the Cardinal Sin Catholic Book Awards “Finalist for the Best Book in Ministry” for 2022.
