Popes matter

Many are writing about our Pope’s retirement and my husband with a bit of incredibility asked me why I hadn’t yet written a reflection on this historic event in our Church.

Partly because I am still filtering through what all this means to me, as a Catholic woman, what it means for our Church at large and what it means to all the world; I find that I still am working through it all in my mind and I am still combing through a large web of thoughts, hopes, and admiration for the man whose scholarly scriptural work I attempted to read and understand while pursuing my Master’s Degree in Theology.  He was quite the biblical scholar and his writings engendered in me a desire to learn German so I could read his work in his native language. (But perhaps he wrote them in Latin? no matter, the fact is he made me want to know and read other German-Catholic theologians!)

This reflection is not so much on the man or on the office of “Seat of Peter”.  There is a lot of historical significance for this office, and happens to be one of the most enduring in world history. As institution, the Santa Sede (Holy See) is the leader of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Rite Churches,  with a recorded lineage that begins with the apostle Peter, regarded as the first “Holy Father” (Pope- meaning pappas in greek, an endearing term for father). As a political figure today the Pope is regarded as a head of state: El Vaticano, located in Italy.

There are many who use this time to criticize the Catholic church, its closed minded ways of thinking (which in most cases proves to have some validity), the sex scandals of the present age, the times the Church has turned inward as a way to protect itself instead of focusing on its founder (Jesus Christ) and his mission for us….etc., etc.  As a Catholic I am very aware of the sinful nature of our Church as much as I am aware of its holy nature.

As I attended morning Mass yesterday, the last day he would be known as Pope, my mind could not help but be drawn to the spiritual significance of his role; this would be the last Mass that at my church I would liturgically pray for our Pope, Benedict XVI. Yesterday was a turning point in our church history that I was living through and my mind wondered on past Popes in my life. 

My first memory of the concept of Pope brings me to my abuela’s bedroom in Tampa.  She and my abuelo were Catholic, my abuela being the  “outwardly” religious one.  She had a rocking chair in her room next to her bed. Every night after dinner  she and I cleaned up the kitchen (mostly her, I must admit), she would retire to her chair to read from her scriptures(Missal), pray her rosary, and many times I would lay down beside her on her bed.  I would watch her short arthritic fingers moving  her black beads along,  her lips quietly moving as she prayed softly, her long black and grey eyelashes closed  shut at times, as she meditated on Jesus' life.  I enjoyed her self imposed silence, while in the background, noise of the rest of our household let me know that evening work was still going on; my abuela was oblivious to it all. This was a sacred time for her.  My eyes would span around the room, resting on her dresser top where she had a jewelry box made out of iridescent shells, a beautifully kitsch plastic triptych of a European looking Broque altar with a crucifix of Jesus as its focus, a Hummel like ceramic musical statue of two children under an umbrella and they all sat near glass bottles of her two favorite fragrances:  Emeraude by Coty and Eau de Cologne 4711.  Finally my eyes couldn’t help but land on a long vertical calendar on her wall with a picture of Pope John VI at the top.  This man with reverant yet soft brown expressive eyes was wearing a white beanie. His image of his face was printed onto a textured paper and he looked very dignified, and Italian (maybe because he was), and sort of Jewish (because of his hat). Later I would learn all the important writings that this man gifted our world with, but at that time, for me he was a man my grandmother admired enough to have his face looking down on her each morning and every night as she prayed.

Pope John VI died in 1978; at that point Popes held no significance anymore for me because it was about that time that I began walking away from my Catholic traditions and faith. Not really intending it, when I left for college I had proclaimed myself as “Pope”. 

My interest in Popes came again under the charismatic servant who took the name of Pope John Paul II.  My first attraction was a TV coverage of his trip to the US, when he visited St. Louis. The theme of his trip to the US was “Family” and perhaps because this was 1988 and I was in the midst of creating, forming and nurturing a family, I watched and listened. I remember he was greeted by President and Mrs. Clinton, where the President praised the work he, as Pope, had done for 20 years. Shamefully I realized that I hadn’t really been paying attention, and yet our non Catholic President had found profound social value in it. Then in his opening statement Pope JPII addressed the social evils that had permeated our world, “…..Today, the conflict is between a culture that affirms and celebrates the gift of life, and a culture that seeks to declare entire groups of human beings--the unborn, the terminally ill, the handicapped, and others considered unuseful--to be outside the boundaries of legal protection." The pope pleaded with America, the world leader, to affirm a culture of life. The Pope had captured my attention once again. I was now ready to listen….and learn.

I also was drawn in by the over 20,00 youth who chanted over and over "John Paul II, we love you!"  Who was this John Paul? I wanted to know what I did not know.

There is much more I can write about JPII.  He  became a beacon of hope for me as I continued my search for God in my world; for now I will leave my reflection here, as I am still relishing the fact that Popes do matter, what they signify matters, how they lead matters, and the retirement of Benedict XVI has made me think about this in a new way.