The recent passing of Pope Francis, followed, thematically, by his previously requested, abridged official ceremony, appropriately warrants our sincere condolences. In addition, it presents the observation of certain singular phenomena relative to the phenomenon and dynamics of ubiquitous human change, notably those relating to Man’s eternal religious beliefs and practices.
Generally speaking, religious faith involves adherence to a particular religion and spiritual system of doctrines and ceremonies relative to the worship of a God. It represents a specialized choice of mysticism and significantly affects the manner and cognitive process of believers.
As we read history, Catholicism, knowledgeably, ruled by a papacy, the latter, the reportedly oldest continuing absolute monarchy in World history, developed a highly sophisticated mode of theology and an elaborate organizational structure.
A reading of medieval history reveals the “Dark Ages” periods of the Catholic Church, evincing inquisitions, pogroms, and autocratic control of the population, especially refererable to the lower classes, in which barbaric inquisitions, torture, and ubiquitous misery were inflicted upon those charged with “heresy” (often over petty matters) in an unchanging system of orthodox autocracy. The Church was “infallible” in its doctrines so that any variation in doctrinal belief, often, conclusively determined by the mere choice of words, meant cruel and barbaric retribution.
In the 16th Century, responsive to the above-described tyranny, the “Period of Protestant Reformation developed, offering changes and reforms deemed repugnant to orthodox Catholicism, leading to conflict and brutal religious warfare. As a notable example, the bloody “Thirty Years’ War” in Central Europe (1618 to 1648), in which history reports, casualties numbered between 4.5 to 8 million, from battle, famine, and disease.
Change, for the persona of Man, has eternally been slow and painful; most notably, and empirically, changes in religious orthodoxy, belief, and practice. It is this time-honored observation that makes the life of the late Pope Francis singularly significant and memorable, even to secular empiricists.
The incomparable significance of “humanism,” not consistently an observable feature in the recorded history of the Catholic Church, was, notably, the defining quality of the late Pope Francis, an aspirational quality to which all men, religious or secular, should appropriately aspire. Unlike the previous “Princes of the Church,” Francis injected into the historic institution the salubrious features of modesty and humanism, so exemplary in the case of an ordained Catholic Pope. Such notable grace provided the motivation for this confirmed secularist to praise his life by this written memorial.
In a religion in which official doctrine eternally praises simple faith and poverty, yet evinces gold leaf roofs, iconic treasures, enormous wealth, and pomp and ceremony, Pope Francis demonstrated the appropriate realization of its eternal representations concerning pius simplicity and loving regard for humanity so overlooked in its many centuries of past history; revolutionary change without official reformation or bloody conflict.
Among the notable reforms of Pope Francis are his modernizing of the traditional Mass, allowing access to influential meetings of Bishops to Lay people, allowing Priests to bless same-sex couples and baptism of children of transgender parents, and refusal to deny communion to people who support abortion. Reportedly, when asked about a Priest who was purported to be gay, he replied, “Who am I to judge? [N.B.: a modest response from the canonical “Infallible Pope,”], residence in a nearby guesthouse instead of the ornate Papal Residence, driving around town in a modest Ford, and democratically advocating for a greater role for women in the Church.
We, who steadfastly adhere to a Lockean, secular, and empirical philosophy of life, nevertheless, admire the refreshing humanism of the late Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of an institution regarding which that venerable quality has not always been a steadfast, reliable concomitant.
-p.
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