Pope Francis in Brazil
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Pope Francis, formally cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, was born in Buenos Aires to Italian immigrant parents. As the first Latin American pontiff, and indeed the first non European Pope, he has become the focus of intense interest in the region, home to 42% of the world’s Catholics. He traveled to Brazil for his first official foreign trip from July 22 to July 28, 2013. He was met by crowds of the faithful that numbered in the millions. He encouraged his young listeners on World Youth day in Rio de Janeiro to “resist the ephemeral idols” of wealth, power, and physical pleasures. On the trip he also spoke against liberalizing drug laws. Speaking to reporters on the return trip to the Vatican, he made a gesture to gay priests, saying “if someone is gay and searches for the Lord, who am I to judge?”
Papal Star Power and Massive Love-in
El Comercio of Lima noted that an estimated 2 million tourists traveled to Rio for the Pope’s visit, while El Comercio of Quito gave constant updates on Francisco’s activities.
Luiz Paulo Horta mused in O Globo of Rio de Janeiro about what it must be like to be Pope. And given all the popular excitement about his visit, “a feeling of electricity that is good and beautiful,” he wondered “where does all this power come from?” It is a “religious phenomenon” for sure, but of late it has affected people who have little or no connection to the Church. For one thing, “there are mysteries in the Vatican, far beyond the reach of a Dan Brown” that grow from its rich and interesting history. From St. Peter and the early bishops of Rome to fathers of the church like St Gregory the Great, and the “majestic pontiffs of the High Middle Ages and the Renaissance” such as Alexander VI, the Borgia Pope, corrupt, worldly, and a master of intrigue, and Julius II who rode out to war “commanding troops and wearing gleaming armor,” there are untold “great personalities” that stoke the world’s enduring fascination in the papacy.
Writing in Fohla de São Paulo Elio Gaspari insisted that the Pope has faith in the people, and would happily move unprotected among them. Gaspari asked why the need for twenty-five thousand soldiers and police to protect the Pope. It was, he argued, an overreaction driven by the recent demonstrations in Brazil, but not necessary given the popular feelings for the pontiff. Brazilian state security paranoia caused the government to miss a golden opportunity to “lower the nation’s poisonous political tensions”.
Challenges and Skeptics
Many observers are skeptical that Francis will be able to meet the challenges confronting the Church, especially on social issues. On the eve of his arrival, Folha de São Paulo outlined the many problems the Church faces in Brazil, and noted that Pope Francis encounters an institution in decline; in recent decades 57% of Brazilians say they are Catholics; in 1994, 75% said so.
Emir Sader, in Página/12 of Buenos Aires, noted that Pope Francis visited Brazil intent on “making up ground lost over the last few decades” on the “most Catholic continent in the world.” John Paul II made a Cold-War inspired “strategic decision” to cozy up to the U.S. of Ronald Reagan and the U.K. of Margaret Thatcher against the power of the Soviet Union, and repressed Liberation Theology in Latin America. In the process he undercut popular Catholicism in the region, “killing the goose that laid the golden eggs” while “opening the door” to an offensive by various sects of protestant evangelicals. As a result, the Catholic Church suffered a “profound and probably irreversible” decline. Yet the new Pope “brings no new attractive discourse” that will connect with younger generations in Brazil and the rest of Latin America, and “nothing indicates that the Pope can recuperate the prestige and allegiance the Church has lost” in the region. Regarding issues that concern the young and the contemporary world, such as “the role of women, abortion, and divorce” and other topics, Francis “has nothing to say.” A “public relations campaign” had strived to create “a sympathetic image of the new Pope,” but it is “nothing more than an image.”
Sergio Rubin in Clarín of Buenos Aires noted the historic nature of the Pope’s visit, and that he was chosen by the College of Cardinals amidst struggles for power within the Roman curiam, as the Church was still reeling from various scandals. His election was meant to shake things up and shift attention. The Cardinals also had a clear goal to revitalize the Catholic Church in its most populous region. Thus Francis’ first official trip was to the world’s most populous Catholic nation in that region. Brazil is also “emblematic” of the Church’s problems in Latin America, where it is losing ground to protestant evangelicals. While personally revered for his sincerity, austere lifestyle, and sympathy for the poor, the Pope’s visit is tainted by a lingering, wide-spread anger in Brazil still brewing over issues that sent millions of protesters into the streets in June, and has generated a backlash over the costs involved in the “colossal security efforts” necessitated by Francis’ state visit, which produced an unseemly political jockeying among the region’s leaders.
Writing in El Universal of Mexico City, Susana Chacón also reminded readers that the Pope arrived just weeks after dramatic protests in Brazil that were driven by popular anger over the plight of the poor and less fortunate. The still untested pontiff has called on the faithful to “walk, build, and confess”, but it is not clear how the Church will go about reorganizing its internal structures to be more connected to the wider society and strengthen its social base, and how effective it will be in the use of new media and technology to reach youth. El Universal also contacted specialists who believe that, in contrast to the focused activities of evangelical missionaries in the region, the Catholic Church does not have a coherent strategy for proselytizing. Catholic bishops themselves also recognize a conflict between the Church and the “secularized values that govern the modern world”. And while observers have also long noted the gains made by other Christian denominations against the Catholic Church in Latin America, some members of the Church hierarchy believe that the real problem has been a “religious monopoly” that had shown itself to be “without ideas and without creativity.” Manuel Corral (Executive Secretary of the Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano) believes that the Church “has not known how to use more emotive language.” At the same time, portions of the Church leadership will not budge on certain issues. Rubén González, Archbishop of Caguas has said, “there are things we are not going to change,” and singled out marriage and the role of women in the Church, (that will not include serving as priests). To further the point, the Bishop of Ponce, Félix Lazaro, said that “the greatest dignity a woman has had was to be chosen as the mother of God; what more could a woman ask for?” Yet as Enid Miranda Matos, Director of the Office of International Relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, points out, Catholics are demanding change: “We have to solve the problem of the divorced. We have to solve the problem of gays. We have to solve the problem of marriages…I know many individuals who for years have not been able to take communion because they are divorced, and I think that penalty is unfair”.
But there were some interesting gestures. PanamaAmerica of Panama City reported that the Uruguayan gay activist group, Ovejas Negras (Black Sheep), considered the Pope’s statements concerning “gays” made during his return flight to be “positive” and “a gleam of light in the darkness.” This new “more contemplative tone is softer than that which the Catholic Church has historically had with respect to homosexuals”, said Michelle Suárez, spokeswoman for the organization and the first transsexual lawyer of Uruguay. Yet the Ovejas believe that GLBTI people should still be “prudent” and wait to see if any “concrete actions” will follow the words.
Opportunities for Papal Leadership on Economic Issues
Despite a clear reluctance to fully embrace the historic currents in the Latin American Church that emerged with the rise of Liberation Theology, Francis has quickly made economic social justice a central concern. The MercoPress of Montevideo noted that Pope Francis has portrayed himself as “a champion of the poor,” and as the son of Italian immigrants he has personal knowledge of “the problems and injustices of the region”. He has called for a “Church for the poor” and railed against the “tyranny of money”. Yet they note that this has not spared him from the attention of local “hacktivists” calling for a protest outside Rio state government headquarters during his meeting with President Dilma Rousseff “to protest the 90 million dollars in public spending for the papal visit” and denounce “excessive police violence” during June’s mass rallies. There were also protests planned by gay rights activists and feminists. Like his predecessor Benedict XVI, Francis visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, a top pilgrimage site in Brazil, toured the Varginha favela in Rio (cleaned up of any hint of drug trafficking), stopped at a hospital that treats crack addicts, and finally, met with prison inmates.
The Buenos Aires Herald reported that Pope Francis warned of the dangers of widespread unemployment among the young as well as threats to vulnerable elderly members of society. In remarks clearly influenced by recent events in Brazil, he asserted that these ills are all generated by a “disposable” culture to which modern society has “become accustomed.” He stressed that “We have to stop this habit of throwing things away. We need a culture of inclusion.” The Buenos Aires Herald also reported that the Pope “urged Brazil’s youth to seek change” and continue their struggle to change society, making it “more just and fraternal”. But they should do so by offering “a Christian response” through “an orderly, peaceful and responsible” process.
In La Nación of Buenos Aires, Iván Petrella offered that while the Church faces grave religious and social challenges in Latin America, where it has lost its former position of unquestioned supremacy, Pope Francis can provide clear political leadership. Despite “some notable social progress,” the region continues to suffer from poverty, corruption, impunity, and political hypocrisy. And this is where Francis “could very well be a blessing for the region,” since from the “day of his inauguration” he has made the fight against poverty and corruption one of his clear priorities. In fact, with such recent statements like “the corrupt are the antichrist,” and “’worshippers of themselves”, Francis has demonstrated a “vision of politics” that would be considered “a subversive message in some Latin American contexts”. Petrella argued that Latin America “would be better if the rulers would hear the message and emulate his example”, and noted that “under the right circumstances” a powerful and well-placed individual can “mobilize societies for the better”, making the connection to Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela.
El Heraldo of Tegucigalpa observed that Francis wants young people to be “athletes of Christ” on the “field of faith.” He reminded the football obsessed Brazilians that “Jesus offers us something bigger than the World Cup”. And speaking to “the Brazilian ruling class,” Francis recommended “constructive dialogue’ as an answer to the social protests that have shaken Brazil since June; “between selfish indifference and violent protests there is always another possible option: dialogue”. Francis also tried to “make a gesture of reconciliation” towards liberation theology, though in a rather halting fashion, and emphasized that the Church must “seek God in the favelas and shantytowns”.
Indeed, as El Pais of Montevideo pointed out, on his last day in Rio the Pope urged the Church leaders of Latin America not to act like “Princes”. As he told a meeting of 45 Bishops, being a “shepherd” and leading the flock is not the same as “lording it over” the faithful. He also warned of “clericalism” under which the Church projects an image of power and privileges, while the role of the layman is simply to pray and obey.
La Jornada of Mexico City noted the Pope’s calls to address the issue of poverty, repeating themes often addressed by both former President Lula da Silva and President Rousseff. Yet it made the point that, coming on the heels of Brazil’s recent demonstrations and amidst continued anger over poor quality public services and political corruptions, such statements will drive home the obvious fact that there is still much to be done in Brazil.