Analysis of the psychologically loaded concepts of Pope Francis
by rev.dr.jose puthenveed
Introduction
In this article I am making an
attempt to explain the terms used by Pope Francis in two important speeches. The
speech given by Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) during the
Cardinals' Pre-Conclave Meetings expressed his personal vision of the Church in
the present time. The second one was done on 24th September
2013 in an interview given to Eugenio Scalfari, La Repubblica's
founder.
Go to the peripheries
The first of these points is on
evangelization, and he says that "the Church must come out of herself and
go to the peripheries" not only in a geographic sense, but also the
existential, manifested in the mystery of sin, pain, injustice and ignorance, of
doing without religion, of thought and of all misery.
The use of the term “peripheries”
includes the psychologically marginalized people. About fifteen percent of the
world population is disabled economically, politically, socially, emotionally
and physically.
Self-referent Church
The second point is a criticism of
the "self-referent" Church, which looks to herself in a sort of
"theological narcissism," which separates her from the world and
"keeps Jesus Christ within herself and does not allow Him to go out."
When the Church does not come out of herself to evangelize, she becomes
self-referent and then she gets sick. According to him the evils that over the
course of time happen in ecclesial institutions have their root in a
self-reference and a sort of theological narcissism. The self-referent Church
keeps Jesus Christ within herself and does not let him come out. Let me now explain
the term “theological narcissism” used by Pope Francis as I have
understood.
Theological Narcissism
According
to Greek mythology, Narcissus was a hunter from Thespia renowned for his
beauty. His enemy, Nemesis, lured the arrogant Narcissus to a pool of water
where he gazed at his own reflection and became utterly infatuated with the
image in the pool, not realizing it was his own reflection. Enraptured with himself,
Narcissus could not escape the beauty of his own reflection and eventually
died.
The use of
the term “theological narcissism” here should be understood psychologically.
Catholic Church in the analysis of the
Pope is like Narcissus. She is infatuated with herself —obsessed with her own
image. However, she is not satisfied merely to bask in her own importance, she
wants everyone around her to be as enamored with her as she is with herself,
and, what’s more, she wants God Himself to be so taken with her that He makes
all His thoughts revolve around her as if she is the centre and ultimate end of
all His plans. When the Church is self-referent without realizing it, she
believes she has her own light. She ceases to be the mysterium lunae and gives
way to that very great evil which is spiritual worldliness. His reference to the mysterium lunae, (the mystery of
the moon) needs an explanation. The moon is the brightest object in the night
sky, yet unlike the other stars in the sky, it has no light of its own. It only
reflects the light of the nearest star, the Sun. Likewise. St. Ambrose said,
“The Church shines not with its own light, but with that of Christ.” We would
probably do well to remember that it is by the light of Christ reflected from
the Church that we see through the darkness. The narcissistic Church can think
that she is the Sun forgetting that she is only a Moon reflecting the light of
Sun. Church should always thus remain ready to transmit the radiance of Christ,
the Sun.
The self-centeredness
is the heart of her pride and the foundation of her rebellion against God. Just
as our arch nemesis deceived our first parents, so our Church, too, often fall
prey to his schemes when she ignores God’s laws, negotiate her selfish desires
with God, compromises His truth, rationalizes her sin, and then attempt to hide
from Him by closing her eyes and pretending He doesn’t see her. The self-referent Church keeps Jesus
Christ within herself and does not let him come out. The
Pope told Scalfari Pope Francis said,“Proselytism is
solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen
to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us. Sometimes after
a meeting I want to arrange another one because new ideas are born and I
discover new needs. This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand
the circle of ideas. The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer
together and move apart, but the important thing is that they lead towards the
Good."
Personalized theological narcissism
Pope
Francis’s usage of this psychological term has implications for us Catholic
believers too. Our narcissistic
self-preoccupation constantly draws our eyes from the Creator to the creature,
from God to self. As a result, we begin to develop our own personalized
theology, making for ourself a God in
our own image, fashioning him to be everything we thought we ever wanted in a
God — a God who loves whom we love and hates whom we hate, a God who is
sovereign over all the good things in our lives but helpless and ignorant of
all the bad things that happen to us, a God who serves us at our every beck and
call. Such individualistic theology is, by nature, non-covenantal,
non-familial, and non-ecclesiastical. It’s a theology centered on what makes
sense to me, what seems fair to me, what makes me happy, and what makes me feel
good about myself. Simply put, self-centered theology sees man as big and God
as small. In the long interview with the atheist editor of the
left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper, he said too many previous popes in the
Church's long history were "narcissists" who let themselves
be flattered by their "courtier" aides.
Conclusion
These are some
of the thoughts and their interpretations. I see the shadows of the knowledge
and integration of psychology falling on the life and theology of this modern
prophet of the Catholic Church. Will our
theologian open their eyes? Will they take up this model of theologizing with
the help of psychological science? I agree with the statement of Eugenio Scalfari. “If
the Church becomes like him and becomes what he wants it to be, it will be an
epochal change” said his interviewer after his meeting on Tuesday 24, 2013 at
Santa Marta, Vatican.
References:
2) Pope Francis: 'The Church is the Community of God's People' Vatican City, October 01, 2013 (Zenit.org) Junno Arocho Esteves
1)
Havana,
Cuba, March 26, 2013 (Zenit.org)
No comments:
Post a Comment