The Face of Mercy / Daniel Conway

As missionary disciples, we are called to oppose all forms of injustice and pursue holiness

“Gaudete et Exsultate” (“Rejoice and Be Glad”) by Pope Francis is one more instance of this pope’s inspiring, prophetic, hope-filled and occasionally controversial teaching.

In his latest apostolic exhortation, Pope Francis makes it very clear that holiness is not something that only a saint can achieve. All are called to holiness and all have the potential—aided by God’s grace—to become holy.

“These witnesses may include our own mothers, grandmothers or other loved ones,” the pope says. “Their lives may not always have been perfect, yet even amid their faults and failings they kept moving forward and proved pleasing to the Lord” (#3).

“I like to contemplate the holiness present in the patience of God’s people: in those parents who raise their children with immense love; in those men and women who work hard to support their families; in the sick; in elderly religious who never lose their smile. In their daily perseverance, I see the holiness of the Church militant. Very often, it is a holiness found in our next-door neighbors, those who, living in our midst, reflect God’s presence. We might call them ‘the middle class of holiness’ ” (#7).

Here, Pope Francis rejects what might be called “the elitism of sanctity,” and calls attention to the presence of holiness (not perfectly or completely but truly) in ordinary people, the middle class of holiness. This emphasis on what the Second Vatican Council called “the universal call to holiness” is not unique to Pope Francis, but, as always, this pope uses vivid images and gestures to reinforce his teaching.

Critics accuse Pope Francis of sowing doubt and confusion by urging flexibility in the application of traditional Church teaching to concrete situations. “Gaudete et Exsultate” will not silence those who question the pope’s orthodoxy.

In fact, the Holy Father uses this apostolic exhortation to challenge those whom he considers “subtle enemies of holiness” to cast off their “narcissistic and authoritarian elitism,” and embrace a more open, loving and forgiving attitude toward the struggles of ordinary people who seek to follow Jesus in spite of their weakness, selfishness and sin.

“When somebody has an answer for every question, it is a sign that they are not on the right road,” the pope says. “They may well be false prophets, who use religion for false purposes to promote their own psychological or intellectual theories. God infinitely transcends us; he is full of surprises. We are not the ones to determine when and how we will encounter him; the exact times and places of that encounter are not up to us. Someone who wants everything to be clear and sure presumes to control God’s transcendence” (#41).

These are challenging words—addressed to those who claim that the teaching of this pope “causes confusion” among the faithful who long for clarity and certainty in the Church’s teaching.

Perhaps the most serious issue for many of the pope’s critics is his statement that defense of the unborn and other social justice issues are “equally sacred” (#101).

Our defense of the innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development.

“Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection,” the pope says. “We cannot uphold an ideal of holiness that would ignore injustice in a world where some revel, spend with abandon and live only for the latest consumer goods, even as others look on from afar, living their entire lives in abject poverty” (#101).

This is the both/and of Catholicism. While it’s undeniably true that defense of the unborn is a grave responsibility for Christians and all who affirm the dignity of human life from the moment of conception to the point of natural death, we cannot be faithful to the Gospel if we neglect any of the other issues of morality and social justice which the pope calls to our attention. We must be both radically pro-life and uncompromisingly firm in our opposition to all forms of injustice.

As always, the words of Pope Francis make us uncomfortable even as they assure us of God’s mercy and encourage us to find both hope and joy in the life of missionary discipleship to which we are called by virtue of our baptism.
 

(Daniel Conway is a member of The Criterion’s editorial committee.)†