For the past few years the Catholic world has been waiting for Pope Francis to do something that would declare his hand. Is he a conservative? Is he a progressive? Many people thought his long-awaited exhortation, On Love in the Family, would answer this question: surely a pope talking about issues such as marriage equality, contraception, divorce and remarriage would have to come down on one side or another.
Nope.
With the release of his exhortation last week, Francis has managed to continue the trick of his papacy: pushing and pulling the church away from its polarities and reminding Catholics and the world that what is really important is the gospel’s call to love.
Unhappiness with this document is equally spread. Conservative groups are cross with the pope for not reinforcing certain church rules, such as banning divorced Catholics from remarrying. Advocates of same-sex marriage are unhappy with his insistence on a traditional definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.
Women (well, certainly this woman) are annoyed his by continued reliance on stereotypically masculine and feminine notions of gender.
Then again, these same groups each find something to celebrate. Conservative groups welcome the pope’s declamation that a mother and father are “necessary for a child’s integral and harmonious development”, even citing the Australian bishops’ controversial Don’t Mess with Marriage booklet.
Gay and lesbian groups appreciate that he decries in strong terms any form of discrimination against them, and he does not repeat Catholic teaching that homosexual people are “disordered” or sinful when they engage in homosexual activity. (What a pope doesn’t say is just as important as what he says.) Women (and certainly this woman) welcome his complete rejection of the idea that it is “not feminine to exercise leadership”.
Says Francis: “This, thank God, has changed.” Indeed.
The genius of the document – and what prompts me to label it a major transformative moment in the church – is that Francis is lessening the role of the hierarchy, the bishops and the Vatican in responding to the “reality” of family life. In its place he is asking individual Catholics and local priests to respond to complex circumstances as they best see fit, mindful of Jesus’ call to love one another.
“Not all discussions of doctrinal, moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the magisterium,” Francis says. “We [the church] need a healthy dose of self-criticism.” The church, he says, has focused almost exclusively on procreation and proposed an abstract ideal for marriage that is far removed from the concrete situations of real families.
Instead of presenting a “pastoral plan for the family”, Francis says he is giving guidance on significant challenges that families face.
Instead of telling Catholics what they can and can’t do, Francis reminds them that they have consciences and should use them. The faithful, he says, respond as best they can to the gospel and are capable of making decisions in complex situations.
For example, when it comes to birth control, the pope says natural methods should be promoted, but he does not say artificial methods can’t be used. Instead, he says that family planning decisions should be made by parents, in the sight of God, with no one else involved.
Instead of telling priests what rules to apply in certain circumstances – can married people divorce? Can divorced people receive communion? Can they remarry? What to do about people in the parish who are simply cohabitating? How should the church receive and support same-sex couples? – the pope tells priests, in short, to work it out themselves, without judgment and with love.
There are “no easy recipes” and “no new rules” here, he says. Pastors and parishioners must come together to decide how to best apply the gospel message of love, to offer pastoral care, and to ensure people are not excluded.
“By thinking that everything is black and white, we sometimes close off the way of grace and of growth, and discourage the paths of sanctification that give glory to God,” Francis reminds his priests and bishops.
It’s not a relativistic approach, he insists. Instead, it’s realistic: helping people move towards holiness, no matter what their starting point, is better than pushing people away and ensuring they never head in that direction.
On Love In the Family is a remarkable document, and it tells us something remarkable about Francis: he is neither a conservative nor a liberal but, rather, a pragmatist. But his approach is more than pragmatism: Francis is insisting and trusting lay Catholics and parish priests to interpret the gospel, form their own consciences, and make decisions on how to best live as Christians. The church acts as a guide, but nothing more. “We are here to form consciences,” Francis says, “not replace them.” The implications for the church – in every area from pastoral care to liturgy to leadership and theology – are potentially enormous.
