“Who am I to judge?” – Pope Francis, on gay Catholic priests
I was raised Catholic. While in Rome on a visit as youngsters, my brother and I even received First Communion at St. Peter’s, the result of our grandfather, a U.S. Army Major General, holding an important position in Rome, and the result of his wife, our devoutly religious grandmother, wanting her two grandsons to first take Holy Communion at St. Peter’s.
So I have long followed the Catholic Church’s teachings and doings, although more as a historian than as a member of the faith. The life of Jesus has been a particular fascination, and perhaps no Pope in recent memory has put that life into context more than our current Pope, Pope Francis. On a variety of issues he has stated, or implied, that perhaps the Catholic Church should re-examine its beliefs.
Perhaps he is on to something. Any study of the life of Jesus would lead one to wonder whether, if Jesus were alive today, he might lead the questioning of those beliefs and church practices. For example (as the comedian Lenny Bruce once posited), if Jesus were alive today would he tell those members of the established church in Rome, including the Pope, to sell all of their gold- and silver-laden vestments, and their shiny rings encrusted with precious jewels, and give the money to the poor?
For it was the poor, the unwanted and society’s dregs that were Jesus’ followers during his ministry — fishermen and laborers, but also lepers, prostitutes, thieves, and sinners of every stripe. Also, Jesus was human as well as God. The Christian orthodoxy that finally emerged regarding Jesus was not that he was a God but not a man, or a man but not a God, or that he was half man and half God, but that he was all man and all God—100 percent both.
Meaning that in addition to the religious laws and customs of his day, he undoubtedly followed the lay laws and customs (“Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.”), which were very different than today. Back in 30 AD, for example, women played no role in either public or religious affairs, which may explain why Jesus had no female apostles. But if Jesus were alive in today’s era of female empowerment, it’s quite possible he would have women apostles, meaning women priests would also be a possibility. Gays may be a different story — there are passages in the Bible that can be seen as clearly anti-homosexual, but there are also passages in the Bible countenancing slavery.
Who are we to know? Although the best way to begin to better understand is through an honest dialogue, which Pope Francis has begun.
