[REFLECTION] Pope Francis: Returning to the tradition of Jesus Christ

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'Pope Francis’ critical voice against dehumanizing social structures and condemnation of the ills of unbridled capitalism finds its solid theological grounding in Jesus Christ’s preferential option for the poor'

Is Pope Francis progressive or conservative, liberal or traditionalist? Academics, media commentators, clerics, Catholics in the pew, and even non-believers put varying labels on Pope Francis. Others call Pope Francis a social prophet. Others consider Pope Francis as moderate and pastoral in his approach. Others are still dissatisfied with his adherence to the teachings of the magisterium on topics including women in ministry and sexual ethics, thereby calling him a conservative. Worse, others call him a heretical Pope! Media is saturated with labels and the Pope is not exempted from this frenzy.

At times, labels can help us understand a person and his characteristics. Categorizing someone as this or that is very human since we are always in need of words that define and that can serve as a reference point in encountering someone different from us.

However, we need to be cautious with absolutizing labels.

Labels can dehumanize and erase the complexity of the person. While we cannot totally do away with labels, we should still, citing Timothy Radcliffe, OP in one of his synod meditations, “be formed for deeply personal encounters with each other, in which we transcend easy labels.” Deep personal encounters allow us to lovingly meet the person who goes beyond simplistic labels.

Interestingly, the Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff in his small book exploring the connections between the figure of St. Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis claims that the Pope is “speaking out of this original tradition, which is the oldest, the tradition of Jesus and the apostles.”

Instead of resorting to a conservative or progressive label, Boff simply says that Pope Francis is drinking from the wells of the tradition of Jesus Christ. “He is restoring to the papacy and the whole hierarchy its proper style linked to the tradition of Jesus and the apostles. In fact, he is returning to the oldest tradition, ‘de-paganizing’ the papacy in the spirit of the gospel, to which Francis of Assisi bore such emblematic witness,” he further explains.

So, was the Pope a traditionalist? Not really in how traditionalism is commonly understood. In fact, traditionalism has acquired a negative connotation due to its rigid interpretation of tradition in the Christian sense. The Church historian Jaroslav Pelikan once quipped, “Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name.”

The Pope himself in his book Let us Dream supports Pelikan’s description of tradition as “the living faith of the dead.” He wrote, “Tradition is not a museum, true religion is not a freezer, and doctrine is not static but grows and develops, like a tree that remains the same yet which gets bigger and bears ever more fruit.” As pilgrim people we grow in our understanding of how we understand God in the context of our personal relationship with him.

So, was the Pope a progressive? In wrestling with this question, it should be noted that he did not change any doctrine. A number of progressive theologians felt that he did not push his reforms too far as he never changed and discarded some teachings of the Church seen as not reflective of present-day realities. Only time can tell when this development will occur.

On the other hand, they draw consolation that the Pope opened up the Church to the synodal dynamic – a spirituality of walking and listening together and of reading the signs of the times in a communal and dialogical way. In the long run, this will truly reform and renew the Church.

By now, it should be clear that Pope Francis transcends such labels. In returning to the tradition of Jesus Christ, the Gospel tradition, the Pope was both traditional and innovative. The Pope’s pastoral application of magisterial teaching was inspired by what the Venezuelan theologian Rafael Luciani names as his “kerygmatic Christology.” This kind of Christology grants “primacy to following the Jesus of the gospels, the source of humanization and the hermeneutic criterion for our daily discernment.” The praxis of Jesus Christ informed Pope Francis’ 12-year papacy. Luciani explains that the Pope’s Christology is patterned after Vatican II’s pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes, “which proposes the figure of Jesus as model of humanity, that is, as perfect human being and new human being, one who works for the humanization of every oppressive relationship through true reconciliation.”

Pope Francis’ critical voice against dehumanizing social structures and condemnation of the ills of unbridled capitalism finds its solid theological grounding in Jesus Christ’s preferential option for the poor. His simplicity and poverty in his exercise of papal ministry was inspired by the poor and humble Jesus Christ. His welcome embrace of the marginalized and Eucharistic inclusivity was a reenactment of Jesus Christ’s radical table-fellowship with sinners and marginalized. His invitation for the world and for the Church to become more fraternal and synodal was an embodiment of the ideal disciple introduced to us by Jesus via his parable of the Good Samaritan. His proclamation of God’s mercy both in words and deeds was a consequence of his heart-felt experience of the Father’s mercy incarnated in Jesus Christ.

Whatever labels we have of our dear Pope Francis, all these are relativized vis-à-vis the Pope’s return to the tradition of Jesus Christ.

Indeed, the Pope was not perfect. He could have done more in other areas of the Church. But in his frailty and sinfulness, he did his best to focus on and to apply in our contemporary world the most essential message of Christianity, the heart of the Gospel: “the beauty of the saving love of God made manifest in Jesus Christ who died and rose from the dead.” (Evangelii Gaudium n. 36)

The love of God fully revealed in the entire life of Jesus Christ is neither progressive nor conservative. It’s a love which is, to borrow from St. Augustine of Hippo, both ancient and new. Pope Francis will be remembered as someone who proclaimed anew Jesus Christ’s mercy and love in a wounded and broken world. – Rappler.com

Kevin Stephon Centeno is a Jesuit scholastic. Born in Oriental Mindoro, he obtained his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and spent five years of seminary formation at Saint Augustine Seminary in Calapan City. His views do not represent the position of the entire Society of Jesus.