If there’s one takeaway from my brief stint in progressive Christian spaces, it’s this: certainty in faithful matters is not a goal, but rather an enemy (ironically, they seemed pretty certain about that). But when I read books and blog posts about people’s de-conversion journeys, it seemed that certainty itself was not always the problem: it was the arrogance and condescension that came with it.
When you make people feel stupid or guilty for having questions or doubting certain teachings, they eventually leave. Who would have thought?
I was reminded of that as I watched the secular media respond to the death of Pope Francis. If you skim the headlines, it really does seem that he was at odds with the Church’s certainty on doctrines pertaining to sexual ethics. Liberal-leaning news outlets are hailing Francis for being inclusive, a reformer, a progressive (at least, when compared to previous popes, not so much by modern definitions of those terms).
Conservative outlets are responding differently. Far from a modern shepherd guiding lost sheep back to the fold, he’s accused of sowing doctrinal confusion, even promoting heresy.
I’ve spoken to many of my Catholic friends about these discrepancies over the years. Their responses can largely be summed up as “It’s complicated,” but also that many of Francis’ public statements get twisted and misrepresented by mainstream media.
The doctrine of papal infallibility, in particular, is misunderstood even by (non-Catholic) Christians. Far from saying that everything the pope does is sacrosanct, “papal infallibility” essentially prevents the pope from making any changes to official Church doctrine – even if he himself falls into error (and thank goodness, because let’s face it: the Catholic Church has had some bad popes).
But you won’t learn that from secular media; I had to dig into Catholic sources, including a local RCIA class, to understand it. No pope has the ability to officially rewrite Church doctrine. He is “infallible” in the sense that he cannot lead the Church at large into heresy. And if there’s one thing the Catholic Church is known for, it’s 2000+ years of consistent, unchanging doctrine.
If social pressure alone was enough to enable women to become priests, or allow priests and gay couples to marry in Vatican-approved ceremonies, it would have happened ages ago.
While I wish that Francis had been more clear in many of the interviews he gave, I also agree that his words were likely manipulated to make him appear to say things he probably didn’t mean. I can’t be certain about this, of course: only God knows what he truly believed. But the more headlines I peruse on social media, the less confidence I have in journalistic ability to objectively cover matters of religion.
I’m not one to use the Left as a boogeyman for “ruining” everything – I actually think we can learn a few things from progressives – but in this case, I see idolatry at play. I think some things, like sexuality, have become such sacred cows that many will deliberately misrepresent a figure like Francis to make the Church bend to their will.
If one cannot submit to official Church teaching, the logical thing is to leave it for something else. If you seek to change it, to undermine the foundation it stands on, you turn it into something other than what it is.
Frankly, I prefer the lambastic takes from atheists who call Church teaching archaic, than the progressive ones trying to rebrand it. At least the former understands that truth, as Christians understand it, does not change with time or culture. And yet, it is changing, because many self-identified Christians do not understand their history or catechism.
If there’s one lesson we can take from Francis’ papacy, it’s this: It is so important that Christians, Catholic or otherwise, seek clarity and certainty so we don’t compromise truth. We should avoid arrogance in our conversations, but offering clarity is the most loving thing to do. If someone asks what you believe about a sensitive topic like sexuality, for example, be honest: but also be kind (and explain why).
We do no one any favors by leading them to Christ under false circumstances. And we become ineffective communicators when we don’t understand our own catechism.
Photo by Coronel Gonorrea on Unsplash