The Pope in America – Can one swallow make a (Catholic) summer?

By J.F. Mezo

Photo by Blink Ofanaye: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/blinkofanaye/21042696064/ 

NEW YORK, Sept. 18 – The kids are back in school, the leaves are turning red, and Pope Francis is getting ready for his American visit starting on September 22. Although the Pope will only spend 5 days in the US before flying back to Rome, he is ready to shake things up and prove, yet again, that the Catholic Church made its smartest move in a long while when making him Pope.

After a long period of drifting further and further away from the secular world, Pope Francis has made repeated efforts to reconnect the Church to the bloodstream of the 21^st century. By now we all know that Pope Francis is not afraid to do things differently – just remember the shock of the Vatican after he proclaimed that he will not be moving into the papal palace. But his newest decision might carry unusual significance.

On September 24, the Pope is going to speak to the Congress for the first time in history.  This coming together of the political and the religious might prove oddly relevant not merely because the motto “In God We Trust” is written in block capitals on the central wall behind the Speaker’s rostrum in the House Chamber. Recently, a number of significant political figures, such as Hilary Clinton, openly expressed their admiration for Pope Francis, opening the door between the Church and the State – and the Pope is not afraid to step over the threshold.

However, this step might prove a turning point in the history of Catholicism, as it will no doubt have a great influence on whether the Church will be able to secure its last Western stronghold in the face of growing secularism. Just in the four years between 2010 and 2014, the share of Christians within the US population dropped from 78.4% to 70.6% according to Pew Research’s survey, as more and more people abandoned their faith and joined the group of those who are not affiliated with any religious denominations. Under Pope Benedict XVI’s years as the head of the Catholic Church, a special sense of disillusionment swept over those groups within the Christian community who were seeking a modern approach to and reinterpretation of many Catholic teachings that might have made sense at the time of their creation but whose revision was, even then, long overdue.

Among those were the Catholic Church’s strict views on abortion, the use of contraception and gay rights – issues Pope Benedict failed to appropriately address. This has not only earned him a reputation of being a rigorous, conservative man but also made him largely unpopular. Even the launch of the official papal Twitter account (@Pontifex) backfired on him as he failed to understand that joining social media was not the kind of modern approach to faith that Catholics have long been asking for. 

However, Pope Francis knew better. Although he stands by many Catholic teachings that are regarded by many as past their due date, he doesn’t seem to be afraid to push the boundaries. "This jubilee Year of Mercy excludes no one," Pope Francis stated in a letter to Archbishop Rino Fisichella in September 2015, right before making the unprecedented gesture of offering forgiveness for the “sin of abortion”.

This was not his first meddling in secular affairs this year. Pope Francis surprised many when he joined the debate on climate change in May or when called for global wealth-redistribution in July. The Pope seems to make a genuine effort to bridge the divide between the Catholic Church and the secular world, that deepened significantly under the reign of Pope Benedict and his predecessors. Many see in him what they failed to see in Pope Benedict; a progressive thinker and a moderate reformer, who can lead by example and show the world what it means to be a good Christian in this day and age.

As several public figures who are not themselves Catholic (the list includes non-religious Jim Carrey and atheist Bill Maher) spoke up in his favour, many have been hoping that Pope Francis and his modern approach will be able to win back at least some of those who left the Church because of its former unwillingness to adapt. And indeed, when he speaks to the Congress on September 24, America will be listening. Thanks to Pope Francis’ wide appeal, the USA’s Hispanic community, Christians, scholars, atheists, unaffiliated people and those simply interested in all things Congress will all tune in on Thursday. For what feels like the first time in a long while, people are generally interested in what the Church has to say – and not only about the psalms. In a country that has always been proud of its Christian values, people have long been ready for a genuine discussion between the Church and the State.  And thanks to Pope Francis, that now seems to be within reach.

Oh boy, have we come a long way since the news that generated the most interest about the Pope was when a Twitter user asked Pope Benedict if it hurt when Darth Vader threw him down the reactor shaft.