Francis is pope as head of the council of bishops

The column below appears in this week's INM Irish regional newspapers.

 Michael Commane

A few weeks into the papacy of Jorge Bergoglio a colleague commented that for the clerical careerists it was simply a question of moving from the old queue to the new one.

Six months on it might not at all be as simple as that. I heard someone talk about a priest, who always called the last pope and the one before him ‘the Holy Father’ in reverential tones, is now calling Francis simply ‘the pope’ and in a strong half pseudo country accent.

Things might be going to change but as someone said about the new papacy, to change anything is like trying to change the direction of an aircraft carrier at sea.

Let me try to explain. Nothing is ever simple. Senior bishops, junior bishops, cardinals all sorts of clerics are out and about commenting on the wonder of this new pope and telling people it’s just what the church needs now. They are citing the example of where the pope lives, they are talking about what is going on in the Vatican Bank. They are even talking about the ordinariness of the pope’s shoes. But just a short 12 months ago all these chaps were talking about how great it was to have Pope Benedict at the helm.

Now please don’t get me wrong. I liked and still like Josef Ratzinger and that’s partly because of having lived in Germany and having taught German for many years. Like the rest of the world I know he is a highly intelligent man, who as pope wrote great stuff. Though I can never quite get my head around why he is so opposed even to a hint of relativism. Isn’t the world in constant change? Wasn’t there a time when we were told it was a sin to eat meat on Friday? But who am I to question the writings of a highly intelligent person.

Like all human beings he too had a blind spot and I can well imagine he was hoodwinked by the bells and incense merchants, who managed to pull the wool over his eyes and I can well believe that when it came to all sorts of appointments, including episcopal ones, the poor man had no idea who was getting the jobs. On that score it is great to see that US Cardinal Raymond Burke has been sacked from the congregation that appoints bishops. Burke had a big thing about wearing long flowing capes. They looked ridiculous. Indeed, there may well be a number of clerics dotted around the world wondering about their fate.

No doubt careerism and sycophancy reign everywhere there are human beings, but it does seem that the sort of people who are attracted to ministry in churches have a particular penchant for doffing the cap at all the right people.

Take the new Missal. Well, it’s no longer new at this stage as it is two years in use. Far too many of the prayers in the book are simply unintelligible. They are a mix of piousity and pseudo quaintness, horrible words and over-long sentences. I have not yet heard an Irish bishop utter a whisper of dissent about the Missal. It will be interesting to see will Pope Francis have anything to say about it. I gather the Germans have put the new German translation of the Missal on hold and I bet you my bottom dollar that the wise Germans will keep what they have.

How much did this wonder Missal cost? Who paid for it? How many church goers are finding it more helpful in their prayer life?

And will the careerists ever admit how terrible it is? Of course if Pope Francis ever did manage to criticise it, they’d be issuing press releases saying how from its introduction they were not really too happy with it.

It’s a new year. Pope Francis is offering hope. But it’s important that we are never tempted by personality cults. After all, Francis is pope as head of the Council of Bishops  and he has gone out of his way to emphasise that he is Bishop of Rome.

The church prides itself on its collegiality. Something it needs to practise with a little bit more emphasis.