POPE FRANCIS (also Jesus) AND CLERICALISM: "I want a 'Mess'!"

Pope Francis: I WANT A “MESS!”  Pope Francis in one of his talks to young people gathered for World Youth Day in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, said, “What is it that I expect as a consequence of World Youth Day? I want a mess. We knew that in Rio there would be great disorder, but I want trouble in the dioceses!" ” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130725/lt-brazil-pope/?utm_hp_ref=world&ir=world). In the Spanish (original? not Portuguese?) “Quisiera decir una cosa: ¿qué es lo que espero como consecuencia de la Jornada de la Juventud? Espero lío. Que acá adentro va a haber lío, va a haber. Que acá en Río va a haber lío, va a haber. Pero quiero lío en las diócesis, quiero que se salga afuera…” (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/speeches/2013/july/documents/papa-francesco_20130725_gmg-argentini-rio_sp.html).

Francis uses “lío”, a Spanish term that can mean “mess, clutter, ruckus, noise” among others. Let’s move away from literalism and see the spirit of the remarks. I interpret Francis to be saying: I want you to go out from here back to your home territories and SHAKE THINGS UP! This intention is made clear by the remarks that follow in which he says, “I want to see the church get closer to the people. I want to get rid of clericalism, the mundane, this closing ourselves off within ourselves, in our parishes, schools or structures. Because these need to get out”

Yes, that’s it --- GET RID OF CLERICALISM! “Clericalism” can mean many things. It includes the tendency of the institutional church to be focused on “clerical” things, “clerical” of course means “priest” “hierarchical” “institutional” etc.

(my interpretation now)  In short, Francis is trying to convince CLERICS first and foremost and then also the whole church to have a wider vista, a wider view of reality which moves away from a narrow view of God’s action which confined God to musty and dank churches to what God is doing in the wider world, the world that perhaps they have not looked at too deeply because they were too concerned with their own little, puny, well-ordered, tidy, baroque world of gestures, multiple rubrics, privileging of Latin, ornamentation, cappa magnas, strict hierarchical liturgies, etc., etc.

Francis is calling the church, its priests and its people, to be movers and shakers. Can I even interpret that to mean “revolutionaries”? This always strikes me about the historical career of Jesus. However you try to analyze Jesus and his short historical career, it all boils down to the fact that Jesus, that lowly working-man (carpenter) from Nazareth--not part of the teaching elite (e.g. Pharisees), not part of the priestly elite (Jesus was a layman in the Judaism of his day)--was calling people to realize that God and God’s reign was immediately accessible to them (although he did not repudiate completely his religious tradition but was observant whenever possible). 

Jesus, THROUGH HIS MANY TEACHINGS AND ACTIONS, TAUGHT: THAT PEOPLE HAVE IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO GOD, that God is NOT “exclusively brokered” or monopolized by the religious establishment of his day, that God was acting not only in the Temple or through the official priests and teachers but also in very mundane, everyday events and even through lowly people such as a carpenter-lay man from Nazareth.

And for this the religious establishment of Jesus’ day hated him. For this, he was eventually captured, handed over to the Romans, accused of being seditious against Rome and put to a very bloody death.

This age-old story/pattern of ‘Revolutionary-Upstart’ vs. ‘Religious Establishment of Priests and Teachers’ is found at the heart and in the origins of Christianity. However, a very large segment of Christianity, e.g., Roman Catholicism, has allowed itself time and again to be clericalized in a sick and dysfunctional way. This is really astounding because the founder of Christianity was totally against the “clerical mindset.” This has to be made clear in any effort to understand who Jesus is and what Christianity’s essence is all about.

And may God bless Papa Francesco. I really pray that he is not coopted by the clerical system which he seeks to reform at present. Please give him strength, courage and success, Jesus. That’s my fervent prayer! Although … speaking of Jesus again, I also did tell my students that those who seek to follow the radical way of Jesus do not last long in this, our world. They are eventuall “put away” on a cross. I do hope and pray that Francis does not end up this way too soon …