The Pope and the Poor

The Pope and the Poor | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. | Catholic World Report



A Jesuit reflects on the new pontificate and the problem of poverty

The day following the election of the archbishop of Buenos Aires to the
papacy, I must have received fifty e-mails from friends and family
asking if I knew the man or had any comment on him. What struck me was
how little we knew about him. If he has a paper trail (the previous
three popes had extensive ones), it is yet to reach us, though I did
read the following comment from a statement in Buenos Aires a couple of
years ago: “We hope legislators, heads of state, and health
professionals, conscious of the dignity of human life and the rootedness
of the family in our peoples, will defend and protect it from the
abominable crimes of abortion and euthanasia, that is their
responsibility.” I presume Ignatius Press is busily translating and
preparing what we do have for English publication. What we do have are
actions taken and gestures made while he was Jesuit provincial and a
bishop in Argentina. He rides the bus, leads a simple life, and loves
the poor.

Though Cardinal Bergoglio was reportedly a contender in the previous
conclave, his age and health seemed to militate against him, but in
retrospect only “seemed.” They turned out to be advantages. We are
reminded that Pope Leo XIII was elected as a sort of interim pope but he
lasted twenty-five productive years. With the voluntary retirement of
Benedict XVI, the whole issue of a pope’s health has changed. I have
heard it said that Pope Francis has only one lung. Well, I figure if
Schall can get by with one eye, the man on the Chair of Peter can get by
with one lung!

Two things immediately strike us about Pope Francis: he is from
Argentina and he is a Jesuit. Neither one of these may mean much in the
long run. He is now in an office that transcends both, but does not
necessarily bypass them. Pope Francis will clearly, I think, have
cordial relations with Benedict XVI, as well as with the Jesuit General
and the Latin American Bishops’ Conference, not to mention the
Franciscans. He is a friend of Opus Dei. With John Paul II and Benedict,
we have become used to the attention paid to the various Orthodox
traditions, and this connection will continue. Francis was a friend of
the Ukrainian Catholic community in Argentina, and he will be meeting
this Wednesday with delegates from several Eastern Catholic Churches. 

It seems pretty well settled that Francis is Francis of Assisi, not
Francis Borgia, Francis Xavier, or Francis de Sales. Yet probably every
Francis is ultimately named after Francis of Assisi.

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