THE SPIRITUAL QUALITY OF THE POPE

 

The spiritual quality of a papal candidate is much more important than any consideration of age, nationality, or experience. Micah 6:8 succinctly formulates the basic criteria of holiness: “This is what Yahweh asks of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with your God.” A well qualified Pope who fulfills this mandate cannot help but have a successful pontificate, at least in the eyes of the Lord. Each Pope, of course, will have his idiosyncrasies and failings; papal temperament and styles will differ. Never the less, there is a spiritual ideal that through appropriated in different ways, still remains a constant reminder of what is demanded of the successor of St. Peter. Let us consider two aspects of this ideal: holiness and spiritual leadership.

As a spiritual person, the Pope should be deeply committed to the Christian life with a positive and confident view of the power of the Spirit at work in the world. By his words and actions he should convey true holiness, not superficial piety. His faith should be strong enough to recognize the Spirit of in freedom but sensitive enough to have experienced the struggle to believe and the utter dependence on God’s healing grace. As a humbly reflective person, he should realize his own weaknesses and those of others and see himself in solidarity with all humanity. His hope should be resolute in the face of opposition, because it is rooted in Christ. Avoiding both presumption and despair., the Pope should communicate his trust in God’s promised help and in the indestructibility of the Church. His love should radiate the love of the Lord for his people. The Pope will be judged ultimately not as a theologian, diplomat, or administrator, but as a man of God. The common line that runs through in this search for the new Pope is “Simon, son of John, do you love me? (Jn, 21:15).

The Christian community needs a Pope who is not aloof but with whom they can identify. H should be a good and prayerful person who does not conceal his humanity, who can act with warmth that shows he cares, and who can inspire others to imitate the example of Jesus. He should be a someone who is moved by the Spirit and who from the spirit has received “love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, truthfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:22).

As a pastoral leader, the Pope should recognize that he papal office is one of ministry and not a domination; one of service and not of control. His prime concern should be with people and not with institutions. By calmness and confidence, he should strive to foster a lively faith among his followers. This means that as a leader he must have a certain ego strength and sense of self worth that will enable him to give encouragement and creative orientations to others. A trusting, open, and dialogic leadership rule by fiat. The Pope should be able to take advice and not be trapped by his advisers. Tradition and continuity will be important to him, but he will also recognize that tradition must grow in response to needs. He should have the courage to reverse decisions after careful thought and prayer, admit his mistakes, and abandon outdated positions. The Pope should be prudent but not vacillating, firm but not dictatorial. Finally the Pope should possess or pray for charism of discernment, the gift of detecting the movement of the Spirit and of responding to his guidance.

In conclusion the spiritual profile of the Pope, as St. Benedict who, in speaking of the qualities the abbot of a monastery ought to possess, gives a superb description of the kind of leadership that characterizes the head of the universal Church. In chapter 64 of his rule, written in the sixth century, St. Benedict advises.

“Once he has been constituted, let the abbot always bear in mind what a burden he has undertaken and to whom he will have to give an account of his stewardship, and let him know that his duty is rather to profit his brethren than to preside over them. He must therefore be learned in divine law, that he may have a treasure of knowledge from which to bring forth new things and old. He must be chaste, sober, and merciful. Let him exalt mercy above judgement, that he himself may obtain mercy. He should hate vices; he should love the brethren… In his commands let him be prudent and considerate; and whether the work he enjoins concerns God or the world, let him be discreet and moderate, bearing in mind the discretion of the holy Jacob, who said, “if I cause my flocks to be overdrive, they will all die in one day” (Gen 33:13). Taking this then, and other examples of discretion, the mother of virtues, let him so temper all things that the strong may have something to strive after, and the weak may not fall back in dismay. (St. Benedict’s Rule for Monasteries, trans. L.J. Doyle (Collegeville, Minn.: St. John’s Abbey Press, 1948) p. 83-84).

In the last analysis, the papacy exalted institution that it may be is the man. True, it is a man who so graced and circumstanced that during his reign, he is unique among men, but still a man. The ancient title “Vicar of Christ” is no longer theologically popular; it is thought to suggest a divination of the Pope and to inspire an absolution harmful to Catholics and repugnant to non Catholics. The Pope cannot be called the vicar of the faithful. He is not their vicar, but their leader, albeit a collegiality and pastoral one. Political and symbolic functions do not adequately characterize one who has been directly empowered by God with ruling the universal Church.

Nevertheless, the Pope remains a man, limited bu his natural gifts, education and experience and by his geographical, social, and cultural milieu. He needs the prayers of all to help him respond to the graces of his supreme office, for whatever hopes we been placed by the Divine providence upon the Chair of Peter. But in that very dependence on the frail man, the Church has unswerving confidence in the divine help promised him, for as Christ said to Peter: “ I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail and you, being once converted, confirm your brethren” (Lk. 22:32). Christ did not build his Church upon the strength of  of any power, however, requires the prayers and cooperation of the wilderness, is a man chosen by God to lead them into the promised land, but that he can lead them there only if they are willing to be led and not stiff-necked and stubborn, lusting after false gods. Only if the Pope and the People of God work together in faith will Christ bring his whole body into glory. Christ does this with infinite wisdom and embracing love through that miracle of nature and grace, the papacy ever in transition.