A Bit of Papal Suffering

The only significant (if you want to call it that) news item that I came across was on CNN. It was reported that Pope Francis called up an Argentine newspaper to cancel his subscription, because he wasn't going to be living in Argentina anymore. The CNN source said that the Pope cried when making this call.

Doubtless, since the center of the Church moved to Rome, all of the non-Italian Popes felt sad at leaving their homelands. Doubtless, they cried too. It's only human. Much as one may appreciate being elevated in rank or even simply being willing to accept responsibility for such elevation, ties to one's home are hard to give up.

So what's the difference here? Just a small thing: The Pope made the call himself and let his feelings show. This is so unlike the image of the Catholic religious always being "in control" and not letting emotions come into the picture when dealing with the public.

In private, I have seen a religious cry and confess being afraid. I'm not going to "out" the person but just say I did my best to remind the person that, after giving a life to Jesus, that person's soul was in no danger of Hell. I did my best to say that G-d was there and that G-d's grace would help.

But here, once again, we have something a bit different in the image. The Pope was not above making the phone call and taking responsibility, no matter how painful, of cutting his own home ties to take on his new role. And he was not above expressing human emotion. 

Nor was Jesus Christ. He did weep in the Garden of Gethsemane. He did beg his Father to "take this cup" from him. And he did cry out, "Father, why have you forsaken me." Even though he knew that his mission was to die on the Cross, he still felt the all-too-human feeling of being left to suffer and not always being able to understand clearly why this was so.

St. Francis of Assisi also cried at times, because he was agonized by the sight of human suffering.

This is a good thing to think about on Palm Sunday. 

We are so close to Holy Thursday and Good Friday and Easter. I don't agree with glorifying suffering and purposely causing oneself to experience it (such as using hair shirts and engaging in self-flagellation). That is simply another form of gluttony, vainglorying oneself to gain religious "points" with G-d.

However, accepting suffering when it comes as a consequence of doing the right thing is another story altogether. This small story of papal suffering by cutting home ties may not be as glorious as dying like St. Joan of Arc, but it does remind us that suffering does happen for a reason at times. The report also reminds us that it is very human to feel the pain and express it. It is not sinful to do this. What is sinful is running away when we can stand a bit of discomfort or suffering to achieve a greater good. 

Most of us are not destined for Sainthood. As I said in the post about the feet washing, I'm certainly no candidate for that. There are realms of suffering that even the best of us cannot endure, agonies that will cause us to run away in fear or collapse. But between that extreme and trying to avoid all the consequences of doing right, there are many choices and opportunities for us to put up with some pain when it is necessary to fight for human justice, or to help or defend another person. We can at least try to accept these opportunities when they don't threaten our survival or the survival of others around us. Remember, when Pope Francis was a Cardinal, he even told a couple of priests to stop going into the slums because their lives were in danger. He felt that there was nothing to be gained but deaths that would not change anything at all.

Most of us are not like Martin Luther King, Jr., or Mahatma Ghandi, but we can still make choices between the extremes. We can extend ourselves beyond our comfort zones to help others. This is what Pope Francis reminded me of today.