The Pope I Pray For

Full in the panting heart of Rome,
Beneath th'apostle’s crowning dome,
From pilgrims’ lips that kiss the ground,
Breathes in all tongues only one sound:
‘God bless our Pope, God bless our Pope,
God bless our Pope, the great, the good.’
—Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman

When you read these words, the Holy Father may have recovered from his illness, or not. Whichever may be the case, His Holiness is not immortal, and a new pontificate is likelier to come sooner than later. When that day arrives, we all doubtless have our own hopes as to who might emerge from the conclave as Vicar of Jesus Christ and visible head of the Church on earth. Whomever that may be, he shall not be perfect, shall bring his own set of strengths and weaknesses to the Chair of St. Peter, and will have to contend with the jungle of problems that beset Church and State in every nation on the planet. More importantly, he shall take upon himself responsibility to some degree for every soul in those nations. It is an awesome responsibility—precisely in the sense of “being filled with awe.”

That being said, I must admit to having—as every Catholic must—an idea of what I would wish for from and in a pope. Said wishes are based upon six decades of observing the Church and the world—but unlike the office about which they are being made are not infallible. You may agree with me or not, and certainly none of our opinions will matter or even likely be reflected in the actual person who next assumes the Pontifical Throne. But reflecting on it will tell us something about ourselves and the Church we inhabit.

First, it really does not concern me where the next pope comes from. But I hope he really and truly believes the entirety of the Catholic Faith and can recite the Apostles’, Nicene, Athanasian, and Tridentine Creeds in their entirety without flinching—and mean each article in the sense in which they were written. As a believer, I pray he realizes that he is now the head of the means (via her Sacraments) Christ ordained for every soul to escape the hellish birthright the Fall of our first parents gave each of us; that he truly understands that he holds the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and that whatsoever he binds on earth is bound in Heaven (and the reverse); and, above all, that this involves his own salvation as well—and that he and all the rest of us face the danger of damnation. If he understands this, and believes it, His Future Holiness will be off to a very good start regardless of whatever may happen.

I would hope and pray for a humble pope. By that I do not mean one who poses in photo ops with the poor, but rather, one who realizes that his own preferences and opinions need to be subjected to and subsumed within the mighty office he holds. This was something Benedict XVI understood very well, especially as his time in office went on.  I would hope and pray for a humble pope. I do not mean one who poses in photo ops with the poor, but rather, one who realizes that his own preferences and opinions need to be subjected to and subsumed within the mighty office he holds.Tweet This

The papacy, in order to exert influence over the great and the small of the world—and lacking the means to terrify them into submission—must fall back upon the many symbols its holders developed over the centuries. Coronation with the tiara, use of various unique vestments, the sedia gestatoria and the flabelli, the glittering papal court, and all the rest of it were not to exalt the person of the pope but the office—and many a humble soul on Peter’s Chair found it all a burden. But this is as it should be. 

If a man is worthy of it, power is a pain to him who wields it; the Papal Coronation ceremony, just after the tiara had been placed upon the pope’s head with the words “know that you are Father of Kings and Princes, and Ruler of the World,” featured a Capuchin friar burning and putting out a flaming torch in front of him, saying, “thus passes the glory of the world!” Whether this sort of thing impresses or amuses the modern world, it is up to the Holder of the Keys to humbly bear with the requirements of his office—not to adjust it to his own comfort.

Benedict XVI apparently wrestled with whether or not to have a coronation—and in the end succumbed to the usual puerile arguments; so, I pray for a pope who is at once humble enough and strong enough to have a coronation—both to rally the faithful to their true leader in this era of confusion and thumb his nose at the great ones and enemies of God on this earth. The world just saw how the traditional ceremonies of accession and coronation gave strength to both king and people in the wake of the death of Elizabeth II; how much truer is this and would this be of the highest office on the planet and the millions whose souls are overseen by it?

Once installed, I would pray for a pope who would reorganize the Holy See and Vatican City. The previous pontificate having filled the papal court with strange fauna, a thorough housecleaning will be required; fortunately, Pope Francis also gave the precedent of wholesale firing of staff. Regardless of his nationality, the pope should be humble enough to accept the advice of longtime members of the pontifical family and to repair the damage done to its organization by successive popes since Paul VI. 

Certainly, the Black Roman Nobility, whose fathers had accepted internal exile from 1870 to 1929 out of loyalty to the papacy, should have their Vatican citizenship restored. The Papal Honors system ought to be restored and overhauled. For that matter, reraising the Palatine and Noble Guards would be a good way to help rebuild the sense of papal attachment to the inhabitants of the Eternal City. Certainly, Rome needs the pope—but the pope needs Rome as well. Indeed, as Pope Benedict XVI observed, in some sense all Catholics are Romans.

Humility must extend also to the liturgy. A given era or one’s personal taste should not affect a pontiff’s treatment of the liturgy but, instead, whatever conduces to the salvation of souls. Whether it be Pius XII unleashing Annibale Bugnini’s liturgical antiquarianism, St. John XXIII’s scrapping of “redundant” feasts, or Francis’ apparent desire to force the world back to the liturgical situation of 1970, the faithful have suffered a great deal in this area. At the same time, most Catholics today are familiar only with the Novus Ordo as it has developed in their area. 

It seems that the best and most charitable approach was that of Benedict XVI, who wished to allow for a liberation of the Traditional Mass alongside a gradual correction of the problems endemic to the New Rite. The “Restore the ’54” movement, the impetus for which came not from the top but from the sensus fidelium of actually practicing lay Catholics—rather than academic liturgists —should be allowed to grow. For that matter, the Anglican Ordinariates ought to be allowed the Sarum Rite as their own “Extraordinary Form.” So, too, with the traditional rites of various dioceses and religious orders. One would like to see the Carmelite Rite extended to the Maltese, Holy Sepulchre, and Teutonic Knights, as the original liturgy of those orders. Traditionis Custodes and attached legislation need to be scrapped, posthaste.

Speaking of the Ordinariates, as a major evangelistic effort launched by Benedict XVI, they ought to be given redoubled support. Another look should be given to see if they might be erected in such places as South Africa, India, and Pakistan, and—as envisaged by Benedict himself—for Catholicizing Lutherans in Northern Germany, Scandinavia, and the Baltic States. The pope must resume the title of “Patriarch of the West” and offer himself—doubtless to be rebuffed—as mediator in the split between the Constantinople and Moscow Patriarchates and reach out as much as possible to the Orthodox, while safeguarding Eastern Catholics. Indeed, in keeping with the new pontiff’s recognition of his office’s personal struggle with the powers of Hell for the souls of men, every possible evangelistic effort, old and new, should be encouraged. The harassment and forced mergers of female contemplative orders needs to end, their members seen for what they are: the spiritual weapons of the Church.  

As part of this ongoing effort, the miraculous element of the Church’s life—Eucharistic, Marian, and saintly—needs to be shouted from the housetops. Rather than being something to be afraid or ashamed of, it is a powerful aid to the proclamation of our doctrines—even as it was in the time of Our Lord. The traditional method of pursuing saints’ causes should be restored because it was intended to remove any doubt from canonizations. That said, devotion to all the many Servants of God, Venerables, and Blesseds ought to be encouraged—the more miracles, the better! The more incontrovertible saints, the better!

But the theological side of things must not be neglected; to the best of his ability, the new pontiff must try to see that Catholic education at every level is firmly grounded in the absolute truth of the Catholic Faith as the means of salvation. Every trace of Rahnerism and Modernism must be expelled from each Catholic educational institution—from elementary schools to doctoral programs. The Roman Catechism used in tandem with (and occasionally a corrective to) the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to be the bare minimum.

The salvific nature of the Church has to undergird her political and social efforts as well. John F. Kennedy’s Houston Speech of 1960 should be condemned at the very highest level—both because of its innate error and the horrible effect it has had upon Catholic politics. Politicians who wish to call themselves Catholic really must be made to conform to the teachings of the Church. If our evangelistic activities are where they should be, this will be an advantage to the politician. The bishops must mobilize their people in defense of the Faith and justice—and in this, the pontiff must either encourage their efforts or punish the lack thereof.

That being said, the diplomatic efforts of the Holy See must be to the same ends—both with each nation which exchanges ambassadors with the Vatican and with the multinational organizations to which the Holy See belongs. Outright persecution of Christians and others must be addressed, of course. But so, too, must secularization at the hands of the State in education, culture, and any other sphere in which today’s bloated governments meddle. The military dioceses of those countries which have them do their part to support the State’s ultimate arm of control; certainly, the spiritual well-being of soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen is the proper role of the Church. But any help to a country’s government has to require Caesar to give something back to God.

The pope, the Holy See, and the national hierarchies of those countries with a Catholic majority must re-examine the whole question of the Catholic Confessional State. The notion of a “confessionally neutral state nevertheless illuminated by Gospel values” has been shown by experience to be a chimera peculiar to theologians of the post-World War II era. Every government is animated by a guiding philosophy, a sort of “state church,” even if—as with Communism—it is anti-religious. If the majority of a people are Catholic, it is intolerable that they should be forced to live under an alien ideology.

Now, I very much doubt that my dream pope will be elected in my lifetime, let alone in the next few weeks or months. But if these are not the last days, then, sooner or later, he will come—because the Church as a whole shall one day regain her sense of mission, of “making disciples of all nations.” In the meantime, we shall have to await events: the next pope may be Benedict XVII, Pius XIII, John Paul III, or even, God help us, Francis II. Let us pray that we receive the pope we need rather than the one we deserve.