Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi, Bishop Emeritus of San Cristóbal de Las Casas and responsible for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM), offers Exaudi readers his weekly article.

FACTS

We remain concerned about the health of Pope Francis. No wonder. He is the Successor of the Apostle Peter, to whom Jesus entrusted the presidency of his Church, with all authority, but not as a ruler who imposes himself arbitrarily, but as the supreme servant of the servants of God. He is a servant of the Word of God and of the Church, not its master. Many people, including political and religious leaders, have expressed their solidarity with him. However, there is no shortage of people without Christian faith who see him only as the head of a religious organization. Some say that, thanks to Pope Francis, he has come closer to God, but not to the Church. They continue to blame us for faults from past centuries, which are undeniable, and thus prevent them from enjoying the divine life that flows from the sacraments; or they hide behind our current deficiencies, which are real, perhaps to avoid amending their lives.

I met this Pope in Aparecida, Brazil, during the Fifth General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate, in May 2007. We spent three weeks together, though without much personal interaction. I listened to his interventions, and he listened to my ideas about indigenous pastoral care. Shortly after, I was invited to give a few talks on this topic to the entire Argentine bishops, as president of that Episcopal Conference. When he was elected Pope in March 2013, we soon met for the Ad Limina Visit of the Mexican bishops and later for personal audiences to discuss matters pertaining to the Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas. I met him more closely during his visit to that diocese on February 15, 2016. We have spoken on other occasions.

I could highlight many of his contributions to the Church and the world, but I will limit myself to this. I like and am encouraged when he insists that we should be guided by passion for Christ, passionate about Jesus, but not in a spiritualist dimension that distances us from reality. Rather, following Jesus must inevitably lead us to passion for his people; that is, to exhausting our lives in service to the community. He unites the vertical with the horizontal, faith with charity and hope, as his predecessors also did, for he is not inventing the Church. Some accuse him of paying too much attention to matters of ecology, justice for the poor, and relationships with other religions, as if by doing so he was neglecting the fundamentals: evangelization, the sacraments, prayer, etc. They don’t know him. They should read his documents and assess his personal details, to see his ministry as a gift from God.

ENLIGHTENMENT

Regarding the identity and mission of the Pope, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

• 880. Christ, in instituting the Twelve, “formed a kind of College or stable group and, choosing Peter from among them, placed him at its head” (LG 19). “Just as, by the Lord’s disposition, Saint Peter and the other Apostles form a single apostolic College, so for analogous reasons the Roman Pontiff, successor of Peter, and the bishops, successors of the Apostles, are united to one another” (LG 22; CIC, can. 330).
• 881. The Lord made Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter, and him alone, the rock of his Church. He gave him the keys of it (cf. Mt 16:18-19); He instituted him as pastor of the entire flock (cf. Jn 21:15-17). “It is clear that the College of Apostles, united to their Head, also received the function of binding and loosing given to Peter” (LG 22). This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the foundation of the Church. It is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope.
• 882. The Pope, Bishop of Rome and successor of Saint Peter, “is the perpetual and visible principle and foundation of unity, both of the bishops and of the multitude of the faithful” (LG 23). “The Roman Pontiff, in virtue of his office as Vicar of Christ and Pastor of the whole Church, has full, supreme, and universal power in the Church, which he can always exercise with complete freedom” (LG 22; cf. CD 2.9).

We bishops and cardinals serve the Church’s mission in the world, together with the Pope and in communion with him; never independently. There are indigenous dioceses, incarnated in particular realities, especially in missionary places, but not autonomous. Together with all the baptized, we strive to collaborate so that the Kingdom of God may be made present, promoting truth and life, holiness and grace, justice, love, and peace. We are not an organization of power, but of service to humanity.

ACTIONS

Let us continue to pray for the Pope’s health. Let us deepen our faith in the mission Jesus entrusted to him, and share this vision with those we can, willing to obey God’s will for His Church.