Daily Times

As white smoke finally billowed from the chimney at the Sistine chapel in Vatican on March 13, 2013, the world waited in anticipation for the new Pope, the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Catholics around the world, elected by the papal conclave. This was an exciting moment not only for the Christian religion but for the sociology of religion too. The Roman Catholic Church and the new Pope Jorge Bergoglio from Argentina created history in many ways. He is the first Latin-American Pope in the Church’s history. Secondly, the name that the Pope will be using — Francis — has no precedent. He is also the first ever pontiff from the Jesuits in Catholic Christianity. However, what is more important is how, and whether, Pope Francis will create history in the future keeping in view that these are difficult times for the Catholic Church, which is losing members, facing scandals of child abuse by priests and allegations of financial corruption and infighting as reported in the ‘Vatileaks’. The biggest threat to the Church, however, may be from changing notions of religion and society in the modern world.

The Pope’s name, Francis, is inspired by a historical, venerated Christian figure Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226). Donning a peasant’s robe, the saint gave up a life of luxury and lived as a hermit helping the poor. He was a deeply spiritual, contemplative figure. It is reported that at the Church of Saint Damian he witnessed a vision of Christ on the Cross coming back to life three times, instructing him, “Go, Francis, and repair my Church in ruins” i.e. rebuild and renew the Christian Church and faith. It was this ideal to which Francis dedicated his entire life. A beautiful couplet in his famous prayer states, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace/Where there is hatred, let me sow love.”

Interestingly, Francis of Assisi is considered a saintly personality by many Muslims too. Living in times of the fifth Crusade between Christians and Muslims, Saint Francis promoted peaceful propagation of Christian faith to Muslims. In this regard, he visited the Egyptian Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil in 1219 AD with the aim of converting him to Christianity. Francis, therefore, became a symbol of non-violence, interfaith dialogue and coexistence. He is reported to have been moved by the deep reverence Muslims showed for the Qur’an. Having adopted a difficult legacy of Pope Benedict XVI, who invited controversy in 2006 when he quoted critical remarks about Islam in a speech, the choice of the name Francis by the new Pope could carry greater meaning in terms of Christian-Muslim interfaith relations.

A big challenge that the new pontiff will face is related to religious epistemology, sources and validity of religious knowledge, in a changing world. The mindset of the new world created through the processes of European enlightenment, driven by rational logic, scientific enquiry, secularism and increasing scepticism to religious narratives has led to dire challenges in establishing convincing explanations of religious, especially historical, narratives.

A second major challenge for the Pope will be what can be called the ‘challenge of inclusion’. In contemporary times many traditional religions have been criticised for not keeping pace with social changes of our times. It is in such a case that religions face a difficult challenge of either ‘succumbing’ to the changing expectations of society, addressing the challenge of inclusion and embracing change through reform which may, however, be perceived as a ‘compromise’ on doctrines and principles by traditional followers, or ‘anchoring’ to the past interpretations and precedents, not changing but risking that the religion’s claims of humanity, love and compassion for all will be questioned, losing liberal followers or potential converts in the process. In recent times this challenge of inclusion has increased manifold because of pressures by the human rights movement, feminist groups and the LGBTQ community to arrive at more open and, so to speak, ‘humane’ interpretations of religion. A key area to watch out in this regard will be the Vatican’s stance related to inclusion of women in Catholic priesthood, contraception, abortion, homosexuality, same-sex marriage and changing notions of the family institution. Even though expectations of reform are high, from what we already know about Cardinal Bergoglio, his views about these issues are traditional.

Opinion leaders today, especially for the youth, have significantly changed. These include intellectuals, scientists and global celebrities whose views about God, humanity and life are far more pervasive than religious leaders. The Born This Way music video, for example, by Lady Gaga is about the birth of a new race in humans, a new mindset. The lyrics state, “I’m beautiful in my way/’Cause God makes no mistakes/I’m on the right track, baby I was born this way.” The central message of the anthem is to love who you are since God does not make mistakes in His Creation. While the song talks about accepting and celebrating being rich or poor, boy or girl, black or white, oriental or occidental — a message that the Church would also endorse — a central theme in the song is sexual orientation since one is, according to Gaga “born this way… because God makes no mistakes…” It will be interesting to see how Pope Francis interprets these lyrics by Lady Gaga.

The new Pope has already insisted on the Church to return to its Gospel roots. Pope Francis will face the colossal task of either contextualising the Scripture in the modern world or re-contextualising the Scripture for the modern world. It is important to remember that Muslim scholarship will face this immense challenge in the near future too.

“When we do not profess Jesus Christ, we profess the worldliness of the devil, a demonic worldliness”, stated Francis in his first mass to the cardinals. Spiritual elevation and sexual indulgence, scriptural guidance and secular legislation, epistemological authoritarianism and religious pluralism, soul and swimsuits, prayers and ramp walks; we live in a complicated world today. Religious ideas do not operate in isolation; they are deeply related to society. The new Pope arrives in an age when the Catholic Church is facing dire straits. However, his greatest challenge may be to restore the status of religion in a world where conventional interpretations of faith, wisdom, ritual and revelation are increasingly being challenged. The Bible may be the same but Nazareth has changed. It will be deeply interesting to see how the ‘new age Francis’ perceives the situation and rebuilds the Church.

The writer teaches Sociology at the University College Lahore (UCL). He can be reached at naqibhamid@gmail.com