I apologize to all my readers for my tardiness in getting to this week’s subject. With all the attention that was given to Pope Francis during his sojourn to our country, I feel I must weigh in, even if I am doing so belatedly…
I think it is too bad that controversy attended the beatification of Junipero Serra. Father Serra did some very remarkable things in California. Yes, he was involved in the European invasion or colonization of the New World, but, what of it? The Spaniards came, they saw, they conquered. It was a different time then. They had ships that could cross the Atlantic, reach the Pacific and land on the West Coast. They brought with them know-how and technology the American natives lacked. How is that a bad thing? I will hold off on whether Father Serra performed actual miracles, but whether he did or did not, he still was a pretty impressive fellow in my book…
Everyone seems to be taken with Pope Francis. He seems to be accomplished and he has some liberal ideas that are pretty much in vogue nowadays. I have the advantage of having lived during the reigns of nine popes – Benedict XV, Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and now Francis. Consequently, I have a different perspective on our Holy Fathers in Rome than many of you younger whippersnappers…
I am the product of a mixed marriage. That is to say I had one parent who was Catholic and another who was Protestant. I was raised in both faiths. Many have already declared Pope Francis the greatest pope ever. I think it is a little premature to make that call. If you were to ask me who the most impressive pope in my lifetime has been, I would not choose Francis. He would not be even my second choice…
My first choice – and this will shock and anger some people, I know – would be Pius XII. Those who are shocked or angry are so only out of ignorance or an inferior sense of practical limitation. Pius XII, who was born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli, has been much maligned, and unfairly so. He has been accused of remaining passive in the face of Nazi atrocities in Europe both before and during World War II. And so it appeared on the surface, but I can attest, personally, that, given the hand he was dealt, he was doing what he could to thwart the Nazi’s genocidal agenda. What the Church was doing was discreet, stealthy and subtle, as it needed to be in order to succeed. The Germans had the upper hand. Resisting openly would have done no good. Tens of thousands who would have been exterminated survived the war through the actions of the Church, hidden in the basements and attics of churches and cathedrals, secreted there until they could be moved to the next way station, across Poland, across Hungary, sometimes even through Germany and Austria and Czechoslovakia, across France and into Spain. Believe it…
My second choice would be Pope John Paul II. I admire the way he stood up to the Soviets and the communists in his own country, Poland. Don’t think the Soviets didn’t consider knocking him off. He was the backbone behind Lech Wałęsa…
The worst pope in my lifetime? In my view, Pope Paul VI. Why? Because he did away with the Latin Mass. Call me old fashioned, but I loved the Latin Mass. I loved the idea that no matter where I was – Italy, France, England, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Canada, Greece, or the United States – I could attend Mass and it was the same. I could be at Mass in Portugal for instance – and I can’t speak Portuguese – but I could understand the Mass and so did everyone else who was there. I took comfort that all the way around on the other side of the world, no matter where I was, somewhere a Mass was being said and it was being celebrated in a way I could understand if I was there. It made being a Catholic universal. Pope Paul VI took that away…