John Robson: Why Are So Many Non-Catholics Fascinated With the Catholic Church?

Pope Francis leaves after his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican on Dec. 27, 2023. AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino

Commentary

Pope Francis is dead. May he rest in peace. But his Church lives on, as does a strange fascination with it on the part of people who are not Roman Catholics or remotely sympathetic. Thus, the New York Sun emailed, “Why So Many Non-Catholics Will Be Watching This Conclave.” So what is it about the successors to Saint Peter that so fascinates the successors to Pontius Pilate?

Francis’s election caused excitement partly because he was the first pontiff from Latin America and partly because he seemed to be completing a trifecta of outstanding popes by adding exemplary humility to Saint John Paul II’s compelling evangelism and Benedict XVI’s theological rigour. But I do not think he fulfilled that promise, not least because he seemed somewhat wobbly on theology as well as somewhat pointed in his humility.

It was predictable that The Canadian Press would lead off with, “Canadians remember Pope Francis for historic apology for residential schools.” And not only because of our infamously self-absorbed coverage that even seeks out, for instance, “the Canadian perspective on a mudslide.” It also underlines that his election caused excitement because a lot of progressives who dislike Catholicism for being traditionalist thought he was progressive.

Thus, that CP piece began, “Pope Francis will be remembered by Canadian Catholics as a progressive leader” as though it were incontrovertibly high praise. Heatmap emailed, “The Death of the ‘Climate Pope.’” GZero said, “Known as the ‘people’s pope,’ Francis’ papacy was defined by his longstanding commitment to social justice.”

The Japan Times went with, “he sought to overhaul the hidebound institution.” And a New York Times obituary said, “After decades of conservative leadership, Francis tried to reset the course of the Roman Catholic Church, emphasizing inclusion and care for the marginalized over doctrinal purity.” Just as an “Opinion Today” email from the same paper burbled, “One trait that I admired in this pope was his willingness to debate church policy.”

The author quoted Francis as saying that, “We are often chained like Peter in the prison of habit. Scared by change and tied to the chain of our customs.” And, the author gushed, “He was unafraid of change.” But as Thomas Sowell once snapped: “Is there anything more mindless than the endless repetition of the word ‘change’? Does it make any sense for grown men and women to be either for or against ‘change’ in the abstract? The word covers everything from Hitler to the Second Coming.”

Speaking of Hitler, Francis resolutely opposed anti-Semitism despite wobbling on the Middle East. But speaking of the Second Coming, the key thing about the Pope is that he’s head of the Roman Catholic Church and the key thing about that Church is that it is among those institutions that insist that the pivot of history, and of every human life, is that Christ really did rise from the dead.

You don’t have to believe he was true god from true god, of course. Nor are you compelled to join the Church and pretend to, as was once scandalously true in many countries. But if you don’t believe it, why claim to be Catholic or care what some guy in a funny hat says about a person you don’t think was the Messiah?

It seems to be precisely because the Catholic Church so resolutely insists that if Christ is not risen, our faith and preaching are in vain. The “chain” of its “customs” is what holds it together, unlike other churches, free to shrug off Christ’s divinity and many of his core teachings. Progressives especially thought Francis would fold on gender, a recurring obsession they will return to with the next pope. But Catholics are unbendingly pro-life.

OK, not all. And frankly, I’d like to see some self-declared Catholic politicians excommunicated over it. There are plenty of churches they could join that take liberal stands on “social issues.” But why they even want to be in a Church that doesn’t I do not understand.

Or do I? I sympathize with the Wall Street Journal calling Francis’ papacy “disappointing even on the priorities he set” because “He championed the poor while favoring ideas that keep them poor.” But since the Church’s real concern is saving souls not saving money, I’m considerably more sympathetic to their adding that, for all the New York Times’ “inclusive” talk, “The irony is that this progressivism is most popular in places like Europe where the Sunday pews are empty.”

“Go Woke, Go Broke” works for churches, too, and Francis didn’t convert many people, including liberal journalists. So why do they care?

Because in a very real and important way, the Catholic Church is the last significant bastion of tradition in the Western world. So progressives need it to fold, to say they were right after all. But it won’t.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.