‘Penitent’ Pope Predicted
Michael Swan, Catholic Register
Volume 35 Issue 10, 11 & 12 | Posted: December 23, 2021
There has never been a papal visit to anywhere that has been anything like what will unfold when Pope Francis comes to Canada — a papal journey of sorrow, mourning and repentance holding forth a thin candle of hope up against the flood of our own Catholic sins.
“This is a different pope,” points out Canadian Catholic scholar Michael Higgins. “And of course the reason for his coming is different. He’s coming as a penitent. There’s no triumphalism this time. He’s coming to a bruised Church. He’s coming to, in many ways, an angry Church. There are many Catholics who are upset by what has happened. So, he’s coming to a wounded nation.”
Mr. Higgins, the principal of St. Mark’s College at the University of British Columbia, believes this papal journey will be entirely about healing.
“Many Catholics will be drawn to this rite of atonement, if you like. Because, I think, they feel the need for it,” he said.
As luck would have it, the man who now stands in the shoes of the fisherman is uniquely qualified to take on this challenge.
“Probably no better pope is positioned to handle this than this man,” said Mr. Higgins. “He attends. He listens to victims and to wounds. He’s the one who came up with the image of the Church as a field hospital. This is going to be an entirely different kind of visit — not celebratory but healing and essential.”
Michael Swan, Catholic Register