Dave Szollosy, Willowdale, ON

    Catholics welcomed a new pope over the March break. Many are wondering what to expect from his papacy. 
    In ascending to Peter’s chair, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., broke with recent tradition and selected a name that had never been used before by a Bishop of Rome – Francis. He has stated that it is chosen in honour of Francis of Assisi, a man venerated for holiness who worked in the early 13th century. By choosing the name Francis, the Pope gave us a big hint of the way he sees his mission.
 

Poverty
 

    Catholics welcomed a new pope over the March break. Many are wondering what to expect from his papacy. 
    In ascending to Peter’s chair, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., broke with recent tradition and selected a name that had never been used before by a Bishop of Rome – Francis. He has stated that it is chosen in honour of Francis of Assisi, a man venerated for holiness who worked in the early 13th century. By choosing the name Francis, the Pope gave us a big hint of the way he sees his mission.
 

Poverty
 

    St. Francis of Assisi made poverty a foundation of his spirituality and religious orders he initiated in order to identify fully with the people.  Much has been said about Pope Francis and his care for the poor.  Stories are repeated in the popular press about how he takes the bus to work in Buenos Aires, pays his own bills, washed the feet of HIV patients and is always among the poor. But isn’t compassion for the poor something we should expect from the vicar of Christ? I trust that his compassion for the poor will be reflected in a much more profound way than symbolic actions or a “Mother Teresa” style  spirituality of service.
    What has been obscured in coverage of his ascension is the fact that as Archbishop Bergoglio has been in charge of Caritas International for Latin America. Caritas is the official humanitarian and development arm of the Catholic Church. In the administration of these funds and in trying to address the causes for the pervasive poverty in the hemisphere, Bergoglio became a harsh critic of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
    Bergoglio commented that extreme poverty and the “unjust economic structures that give rise to great inequalities” constituted violations of human rights and that social debt was “immoral, unjust and illegitimate.” He has also made statements in favour of imposing a tax on financial transactions, known as the Tobin Tax or Wall Street Tax, saying “Such taxation would be very useful in promoting global development and sustainability according to the principles of social justice and solidarity.”
    It should not be seen as an accident that Pope Francis has set his first official day in office on March 19, the celebration of St. Joseph the carpenter, the patron saint of workers. I look forward to his first Encyclical being of the quality of Pope Paul VI’s Popularum Progressio, and contain a condemnation of the Bretton-Woods agreements which have caused and perpetrated the intense poverty of the people of the south and institutionalized the transfer of funds and resources from the south to the banks and resource corporations of the north.
 

Environment
 

    The Saint of Assisi was renowned for his connectedness to nature and his version of creation spirituality.  Legend says that the birds and animals themselves paused to listen to Francis preaching. When I was in seminary, we joked about all the birds that constantly gathered around a statue in the yard that looked like Francis – it actually wasn’t of him, but, well, that was the joke. St. Francis is today recognized as the patron saint of the environment and environmentalists.
    Our age is witnessing what is arguably the greatest religious issue of all time – collective environmental sin that has created a threat to the capacity of the earth to sustain life on the planet. There can be no greater insult to the creator than to destroy creation through climate change and air and water degradation. The Church has not been among the prophetic voices decrying the impact of unbridled capitalism on the capacity of the earth to continue. 
    I anticipate Pope Francis’ Encyclical to make these connections between corporatism and the assault on the sustainability of the earth and move the Catholic Church into a leading capacity in the prophetic role of calling collective responsibility to reverse the damage and stop climate change.

Islam
 

    St. Francis’ military background led him to try and end the carnage perpetrated by his Church through the Crusades. In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict.  History records a remarkable cultural and religious meeting between the two whereby Francis was so impressed with the spirituality of Islam that he ceased attempts at conversion and alternatively incorporated aspects of Islamic practice such as ringing bells in call to prayer and insisting members of his religious order observe five times a day prayer.
    Recent decades have featured increasing tensions between the west and the Muslim east, some referring to it as a “clash of civilizations.” The Muslim world has definitely seen recent wars in Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, as attacks on their culture and populations. We see the perpetuation of hostile prejudice in popular entertainment and blog posts. Benedict XVI was not very successful at improving relations with the Muslim world (to put it mildly).
    Selecting the name “Francis” sends a strong signal that this pope is going to seek a new rapprochement with the Islam world. In the reality of global politics, this will be the only way to secure long-term peace, which was the goal of the pacifist from Assisi.

Corruption in the Vatican
 

    Saint Francis began his conversion upon hearing the message from God to “go and restore my Church, she is in shambles.” Francis initially acted literally and rebuilt a small church building in Assisi.
    Certainly Jorge Bergoglio is hearing the same message. The clerical culture of the hierarchial church is under assault from within.  Tens of thousands of child sexual abuse charges have been made and millions of dollars spent in compensation to contain the scandal, yet bishop upon bishop has been charged with cover-up and protecting abusers from legitimate criminal investigations.  The culture, rather than leading to the admission of guilt and expressions of remorse has caused a circling of the wagons to protect the members within and deny the extent of the problem. The assumed sense of privilege and immunity to criticism is endemic in the Vatican which has been consumed with tales of corruption and scandal. As one leading bishop once said to me, “In the Vatican, everything is possible and nothing is provable.”
    I have maintained that the greatest act of Benedict was his resignation.  After his decades of complete immersion in the curial culture, he was in no position to clean up the corrupting forces in Vatican City. In resigning, all positions of responsibility stemming from his appointments become vacant automatically. It is the only way to fire everyone at once.
    The new pope has already declared that any acting positions of responsibility are for an interim basis only and has stated that he intends to bring in an entirely new administration. He clearly signalled his intent on the first day of his papacy. The disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law who, despite being accused of actively covering up for a litany of paedophile priests,  was given a cushy position in Rome. When Pope Francis recognised him at the small church, he immediately ordered that Law be removed, and said. “He is not to come to this church anymore.”
    Reform of the corruption may prove to be his biggest challenge of all.  This man needs and deserves our prayers.
The writer is a teacher in the Catholic school system in Ontario.