Homily given on the weekend of 10/24-10/25/2020
This week, it seems that almost all news media mentioned that Pope Francis has called for every country to legalize civil-unions between same-sex couples. Most reported this as the inevitable step toward the Catholic Church performing the marriage rite for homosexual couples. However, that is wrong. No pope can EVER change this. So, after all this came out, different reporters who actually speak Spanish (the language of the original statements) state that Pope Francis’s INTENTION was advocating for governments to protect members of a family from being thrown out of the house because of their same-sex attractions. Either way, it has caused confusion with different groups claiming opposite truths. For us, that means we need to stop and re-examine how Jesus set-up the Catholic Church. Because the way Christ did it protects ALL the teachings He gave. Today, let’s first look at the office of the pope. What is the proper function of the pope … be it from the first one St. Peter to any in the future. But then, I want to discuss Pope Francis in general. His strengths and weaknesses and what are we supposed to do in reply.
First, the function of the Pope. In short, the pope has three functions. 1. Organize the Church. 2. Proclaim the Faith. 3. Clarify Doctrine. Starting with the first one: in order to organize the Church, it is the pope who ultimately places a bishop at each diocese. Yes, there are committees or groups who narrow it down and recommend, but the pope is in charge of calling and elevating priests into the role of Apostle … what we call bishop. Second (2). Proclaim the Faith. The pope is meant to be a leader on the public world stage. He has to be the voice of reason that helps people recall salvation history. Politics continually forget God when trying to run the world, so the Pope has to be the one to promulgate the central truth of Christianity. Jesus is not optional. In short, here’s the summary of Christianity the world needs to remember: The same God who created EVERYTHING, became one of us and lived in the world with the name of Jesus. This same God taught a way of life and because of it … He was killed by the world who hated it. Ultimately, as real and historical proof of who He was, He rose from the dead. Many witnesses died to testify to this fact. So, the pope MUST safeguard and proclaim this way of life. Lastly, Clarify Doctrine. Sometimes the teachings of Jesus can be confusing because He didn’t address every little topic. That’s why Jesus gave the Church two pillars to help understand Truth: Scripture and Tradition (with a capital T). I put in the bulletin where we find in the Bible that we need both. When a truth in one area is either confusing or misunderstood, the other pillar is meant to help. Scripture and Tradition work side by side, they are the two lungs through which Truth breathes. But yes, in short that’s the function of the pope. 1. Organize the Church. 2. Proclaim the Faith. 3. Clarify Doctrine.
So, let’s apply this in our second point. Let’s look at all popes in general, which involves Pope Francis as well. Since humans (us) are the body of the Church, we all come with our strengths and weaknesses. That means that with those three functions of the pope, humans called to the role of St. Peter could be good at all three, or only good at one, or bad at all … whatever. Even our first pope had critical errors that Jesus had to forgive. St. Peter denied Jesus three different times sitting around a fire in public. Jesus, after His resurrection, had to forgive Peter publicly … three times and also in front of a fire. Another time, after Jesus had Ascended, Peter while pope, was being wishy-washy in his teaching and St. Paul had to call him out face-to-face. I put that in the bulletin. Might have been embarrassing, but it was necessary.
When it comes to Pope Francis. He’s probably neutral when organizing the Church. But He’s really strong in Proclaiming the Faith. If you love Pope Francis it could be for this. In a world CONSTANTLY forgetting Jesus, Pope Francis makes sure that the Church is remembered in this day and age. He is probably the strongest advocate to challenge us to love those individuals who are isolated and alone. A truly Chrstian way to live and I’m grateful for our pope for it. Lastly, I will say, Pope Francis just plain struggles with the Third role. Clarifying Doctrine. People left, right, and center constantly take his words to mean drastically different things. This shows that he is not the best at clarity. There are always follow up interviews where he will say thing like: “well of course I didn’t mean that.” For example, a couple years ago people took what he said to mean that same-sex parents should adopted. In a later interview he said, No. Quite the opposite. He stated that parents in a family can only be one man and one woman for the child to feel the diverse and strong love of each of the sexes. He was clear there … but only after confusing people earlier with a statement.
Pope Francis, also like St. Peter, the first pope, has also been wrong. I put an example in the bulletin. You can look at it now as I talk about it. In our Gospel today we heard Matthew 22:36-38, Jesus clearly states, the greatest and FIRST commandment is to love the Lord your God. However, in an apostolic exhortation, the pope said this: “the first and the greatest of the commandments, and the one that best identifies us as Christ’s disciples: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12)” Jesus says the first and greatest is to love God, pope Francis says it’s to love one another like God loves. Oops. Mistake. But that’s ok! Scripture covered that mistake.
In short, the pope is important. I pray for him OFTEN. We need the pope because Jesus founded the Church WITH this role. His title is the vicar of Christ, meaning the one with authority where the Church can look to as Her leader. And we saw today, that when the pope might fall short, luckily, Jesus gave us checks and balances in Tradition and Scripture. We have to breathe with these two lungs in order to preserve what is really the way of God Vs. what is manmade.
Overall, I know there’s still confusion out there. But … There are certain things no pope can change. Especially the beauty of marriage being one man and one woman, the two sexes compliment each other … God made the sexes completely EQUAL with each other. Yet, they are still on a lot of differences physically, emotionally, and intellectually. I look forward to any teaching or clarification you want on this subject. Marriage between one man and one woman is not just from the Bible but also from a philosophical standpoint too.
In summary though, I hope this helped clarify. Still have love for our pope. Respect that office that Jesus gave humanity. Pray for him. Just like St. Paul had to do, sometimes the Church, or Scripture, or Tradition has to correct our human mistakes. Study what’s in the bulletin too. I hope those help. But for now, after more of a lesson, let’s continue the mass where we can cling close to the real reason you and I come, Jesus genuinely and fully present in the Eucharist. Draw close to Christ, and He’ll lead you to real fulfillment.
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