Strange Gods

by Peter J. Daly

  Lots of people would be unhappy with Pope Michael, no matter what he said at this consistory. Some would be furious, but would stay. Others would be furious enough to leave.

  On the other hand, if he gave even a sliver of daylight to Catholics hoping for reform and renewal, the Church might have a chance at rebirth. A great many people would be happy, some deliriously so.

  People around the world were pessimistic about the prospects for a rebirth in the Church. A friend of Nate’s at an investment bank in New York had been asked by The New York Times to rate the Catholic Church as if it were a potential investment. The reporter asked, “Would you rate the stock as buy, sell, or hold?” Without hesitation the banker said, “I’d say sell now.”

  Despite the fact that Catholicism claimed more than a billion baptized souls, fewer than half of them ever darkened the door of a parish church. Membership had been hemorrhaging for a generation, especially in Latin America.

  The Church wasn’t even doing its job at administering the sacraments. Parishes were unmanned. Some parishioners never even saw a priest. Year after year, the Church ordained only half as many priests as it needed. Fewer people came to communion, got baptized, or got married. Even fewer got buried each year.

  Some of the maladies of the Church were self-inflicted—the wounds of scandal. No pope had ever really dealt with the rot at the top.

  Leaning forward, Pope Michael cupped his face in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. He prayed, “Come, Holy Spirit, kindle in me the fire of your love.”

  He opened Jack’s breviary, looking for Psalm 63, which had always been one of his favorite psalms. He found it among the Sunday prayers.

  Oh God, you are my God, for you I long

  For you my soul is thirsting

  My body pines for you like a dry weary land, without water.

  He paused and looked at the cover of the breviary. With his finger, Pope Michael slowly and deliberately traced the faded gold cross embossed on the cover. Then he closed his eyes and imagined that Jack was sitting there, guiding him. It occurred to the pope that the faded cross in the leather cover was like the Church, worn and faded but still imprinted on the hearts of millions of believers.

  Pope Michael stood up. Monsignor Rodriguez opened the door to the passageway that led to the hall. The pope gathered his papers and walked out slowly. Rodriguez followed.

  When he entered the aula, the members of the consistory sat frozen for a moment, not knowing what to do. They were surprised to see that he was not dressed in the white cassock traditionally worn by popes. Instead, he was dressed in a plain black clerical suit, like any priest or bishop would wear. His only mark of office was the pectoral cross that hung around his neck. There was a little murmur in the audience. The simplicity of his dress was in dramatic contrast to the cardinals in the front few rows, who were resplendent in silk and lace. But his dress was very similar to the priests and laity seated in the back of the auditorium. Even in their clothing, there was a schism in the consistory.

  After a moment of hesitation, nearly everyone stood as the pope made his way to the dais. There were a few people who remained seated, indicating their disapproval. O’Toole mounted the stairs to the center of the raised dais and stood behind the lectern. There was a chair behind him, but he did not sit down. Rodriguez took a seat to the pope’s right at a lower place on the platform.

  Behind Pope Michael, the wall was covered in plain fabric, designed to absorb sound. Above his head on the rear wall hung a large wooden crucifix. He hoped their eyes were fixed on Christ, not him. But he was under no illusions.

  Still standing, the pope said in English, “Let us pray.” By speaking in English, he broke another precedent. Popes had traditionally addressed the cardinals in Latin. Then the pope said nothing. They just prayed in silence, like the disciples in the upper room waiting for their Pentecost, as they collectively invoked the Holy Spirit.

  After thirty seconds or so of awkward silence, O’Toole silently made the sign of the cross on himself and then motioned for everyone to be seated. He remained standing at the podium. This, too, was a break with tradition. People do not sit while the monarch stands, but Pope Michael wanted it clear that this pope was not so much a monarch as a shepherd and teacher. In his black suit he looked more like a Jesuit professor at the Gregorian University across town than the Monarch of Vatican City.

  “Esteemed brother bishops and dear sisters and brothers in Christ,” he began.

  He looked out at the crowd in the room and nodded toward the women, including Sister Miriam, as an acknowledgment of their presence.

  “We in this room, and the members of the Church around the world, are collectively the human vessels of a divine gift that has been entrusted to us to be good news for all men and women.

  “In our Church, humanity finds home and hearth. Countless good men and women around the world have entrusted to us their faith and hopes. In the Church they hope to find the light that will guide them to happiness in this world and in the world to come.

  “It falls to us to bind up wounds, heal the brokenhearted, bring light to the darkness, and joy to the sorrowing.

  “Above all, it falls to us to show love to the whole world. To show love to every man and woman, but especially to those who feel forgotten, oppressed, marginalized, and abused.

  “It falls to us to show love to sinners and to lead them to holiness.

  “We must say frankly that we have at times forgotten our tasks and strayed from our purpose.

  “It is no secret to anyone that the Church is in crisis. In the past few months prior to the death of my beloved predecessor, Thomas, the Church has been convulsed by scandal and consumed by its own worries.

  “Even in the College of Cardinals, we have been touched by corruption, murder, and suicide.”

  He paused for a moment and looked around the hall. He wanted this to sink in, especially his oblique acknowledgment of Crepi’s suicide. People certainly noticed the change in papal tone. Eyebrows were raised.

  “As we speak, there are members of the College of Cardinals who are confined to prison by civil authorities for unspeakable crimes. These crimes have touched at the integrity and dignity of the Church. They have discredited her witness everywhere.

  “Indeed, all around the globe the Church has been wounded by crimes against her own young people. These crimes were committed by men who should have been shepherds of souls. They were covered up by bishops more interested in their careers and our institutional image than our Christian witness or the safety of the children of God.

  “We have seen these sins before. Sin is no stranger to humanity or to the history of our Church. Scripture tells us that our first parents sinned and despoiled the garden of happiness given by God.

  “While the Catholic Church was instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, it has ever since been run by ordinary sinners. We are men—subject to the same immorality, sinfulness, biases, mistakes, and corruption of other men.”

  Again, eyebrows were raised. Was the pope admitting to fallibility?

  Pope Michael swallowed before continuing.

  “Scandal is no stranger to our Church, nor are the efforts to cover it up. Today I stand before you and the world to confess our sinfulness and to ask pardon from our people.

  “This is a new moment. We cannot continue as before. We cannot regain the moral authority of the Church by pretending that there is nothing wrong with her. Such claims would not be believed, even if we were to make them. Our only recourse is truth.

  The pope looked right at the cardinals and said, “The Book of Proverbs says, ‘Six things the Lord hates; seven are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet that run to evil, and a false witness who utters lies.’ For those who were counting, that was six.”

  The pope paused and then added, “And He hates those who sow discord among the brothers.”

  His eyes met Mend
oza’s. Mendoza looked angry, even a bit unhinged. His jaw moved back and forth as he ground his teeth.

  The pope continued, “What if Christ were speaking to us here in this room today? What would He say? How would He react to us, who claim to be His Church?

  “He, who told us to take nothing for the journey, not even a purse or a second tunic. What would He say about our vestments of watered silk and lace?

  “He told us that we cannot serve both God and mammon. What would He say about our Vatican Bank, with its scandal and corruption? What would He say about our immense treasury of art and piled-up wealth of buildings?

  “Would He tell us again the story of the rich man in the gospel who built bigger barns to hold his wealth? Would He say again to us, ‘You fool, this very night your life will be required of you. To whom shall all this piled-up wealth go?’

  “Would He compare Vatican City to the ancient temple of Jerusalem and say again, ‘All that you see here, the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon stone, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.’?

  “Our Lord said we should not seek titles of honor. What would He say to us who demand to be called Holiness, Excellency, Eminence, or Monsignor? Would He say, as He did to the Pharisees, ‘You hypocrites, you white-washed sepulchers, you kill the prophets and then build them tombs. You widen your phylacteries and lengthen your tassels.’?

  “Jesus said to us that we should render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. What would He say to us when we told Him that we have become Caesar, taking our place among the nations of the earth and pretending earthly power? Would He say to us, ‘My kingdom is not of this earth,’?

  “What would He say to bishops and priests more preoccupied with expensive architecture and vestments and art and antiquities than we are with the hungry and the poor of the world? Would He say, ‘You blind guides, you will fall into the pit yourselves. You strain out the gnat and swallow the camel.’?”

  O’Toole paused for effect before he made the most serious accusation.

  “Jesus said to us that it would be better for us that a millstone be hung around our necks, and we were cast into the sea, than we should give scandal to one of the little ones entrusted to our care. What would He say to us who harmed children and scarred lives and then, even more scandalously, covered up those crimes to protect the image of the Church?

  “Would the Lord weep over us as He wept over ancient Jerusalem? Would He say to us what He says at the last judgment, ‘Depart from me, you accursed ones.’?”

  People were shifting in their seats. There had never been a consistory like this. No pope had ever spoken so much like a prophet and so little like a bureaucrat or academic.

  The pope looked around the room and then back down at his text. He looked up again. He really didn’t need the text, as he was speaking from the heart.

  “The time for talk is past. In the next few days I will issue several motu proprios to accomplish by decree some things that are long overdue.”

  Kelleher, sitting in the back of the audience, noticed that Michael did not use the royal we used by other popes.

  “I will close the Vatican Bank within one year. Other international organizations function without a bank, and so can the Church.

  “I will abolish the Vatican diplomatic corps and close our embassies, except for our embassies to international organizations and to Italy. We can no longer be compromised by maintaining diplomatic relations with tyrants and dictators who abuse their people and use the Church to enhance their prestige. Priests should be in the vineyard, not in embassy receptions.

  “I will issue a new law for papal elections. The college of electors will not only include cardinals, but also laymen and -women and all the archbishops of the world. My successor will be chosen, as were all the bishops of Rome for the first five hundred years, by the people of God. Today that means the Universal Church and men and women from around the world.

  “I will reassign all bishops and cardinals working in the Vatican to ministry in their home dioceses or in parishes. Those who are over seventy years of age will retire. From now on, there will be no bishops working in the bureaucracy of the Vatican. It should be clear to any observer that the central administration of the Church is its servant, not its master.

  “Recognizing the extreme shortage of priests around the world, I will issue a motu proprio, permitting local bishops, if they so choose, to follow the ancient customs of the Eastern Church and ordain married men to the priesthood.

  “I will convene a synod of bishops next year to discuss the question of ministry in the Church, specifically the question of ordaining women to the diaconate or even to the priesthood.”

  There was a gasp in the hall.

  “I will transfer the art treasures of the Vatican to an independent board of laymen and -women to be kept in trust for all humanity. They will no longer be an asset of the Holy See. People will no longer be scandalized by our wealth.

  “I will recommence our dialogues with our separated brothers and sisters in any Christian communities who wish to dialogue with us. We will meet them as equals, and we will renew our hope for unity, especially with the churches of the East.

  “I will ask each bishop in the world to establish a committee to review the wealth of each diocese. We need only what is necessary for ministry. All else belongs to the poor.

  “I will appoint women to head the Congregation for the Religious and laypeople to head the Congregation for the Laity and the charitable work of the Church done by Caritas. I also will appoint women to the ecclesiastical tribunals here in Rome.

  “The time is long past for the Church to hear the voices of women and to include them at every level of our councils. It is not enough for us to patronize them with words alone. We cannot let our praise of the Mother of Jesus be a way to avoid treating the mothers of the world with dignity.

  “Recognizing that we have made the granting of annulments a legal ordeal that consumes years and paralyzes lives, I will issue a decree entrusting the whole question of marriage annulments to pastors of souls in local dioceses and parishes, without a legal process. No decision should take more than a few weeks. No one should have to wait years for the decision of the Church. Appeals to Rome will be confined solely to those circumstances required by scripture. Divorced Catholics should be allowed to receive communion after reflection with their pastors.

  “Most importantly, to end the scandal of child abuse and its cover-up, I will ask that each diocese in the world establish an independent investigation run exclusively by laypeople who will report back to a commission here in Rome within one year. Should any bishop be found to have covered up or ignored child abuse in his diocese, he will be removed immediately. I will also ask for the immediate resignation of any bishop convicted of any civil crime related to shielding or protecting child abusers.

  “In some of our religious orders, we have been plagued with scandal. The situation of the Soldados de Cristo is well known after years of investigation. I will issue a decree suppressing that religious congregation and placing their members under the jurisdiction of a special administrator to find them places in other religious communities or return them to the lay state.”

  There was another gasp in the room. Cardinal Mendoza’s face was as crimson as his garments.

  “Finally, the Bishop of Rome is not a monarch. He is a bishop, a colleague among colleagues.

  “Jesus said His kingdom was not of this earth. Neither should His vicar be treated as a king. The Bishop of Rome presides in love, not in power, over the other churches. Our Church should be more collegial and less hierarchical.

  “Wherever possible, the local churches should make their own decisions, laity and clergy together.

  “All of these reforms that I have announced are ad intra, focused on our household. But the Church must eventually stop looking inward. We need to get these things behind us, so we can create a much
more important witness to the world. A church that gazes only at itself does not have its eyes on God or on the needs of humanity.

  “Our church cannot continue to ignore the wider world as if it does not matter and as if it has nothing to teach us.

  “We must enter into dialogue with non-Christians. We must open ourselves more fully to the insights of the natural sciences. We must strive to see what is good in people, even those with whom we disagree. We must love even our enemies, as the Lord told us.

  “The starting point for all of our ministries must be the starting point of the ministry of our Lord when he spoke in his own synagogue in Nazareth.

  “‘The spirit of the Lord is upon us, and it has anointed us to bring glad tidings to the poor, liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed of every kind go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.’

  “Our trust is in the Lord and His teaching, nothing else. Our help is in the Lord who made heaven and earth, and no one else. Our spirit is in the Holy Spirit, poured out on the Church at the first Pentecost and with us still.”

  The pope stopped talking. People looked stunned. At first, people were not sure he was finished. They were dumbfounded by the scope of his talk. For nearly a minute, no one moved.

  During this silence, the pope thought about the parade of people he had seen in the past few weeks.

  From the back of the auditorium, Jim Kelleher nodded his affirmation to Pope Michael. Suddenly, people were roused from their stunned silence. Nearly everyone rose to their feet and started to applaud. The applause grew louder and mingled with some cheers. Even the cardinals sitting in the front rows, hesitant at first, began to applaud.

  But not everyone was happy.

  Cardinal Mendoza stood abruptly, not to applaud, but to accuse. His body was stiff with anger. Mendoza pointed a finger at the pope, in a gesture both menacing and accusatory. Then, almost lost among the other people applauding, Mendoza stood still for a few seconds, glaring at the new pope.