In 2011, in a meeting not made public, Cardinal Odilo Scherer escaped a question about his being the next pope. He looked already in the role, as I could perceive. Today, I am certain he is going to be the next pope - and regret that.
A year and a half ago, on July 28, 2011, precisely, Dom Odilo Scherer, archbishop of São Paulo, headed a meeting alongside rabbi Michel Schlesinger at the Jewish social club called A Hebraica, in the very city named after who, according to the Catholic Church, was the main apostle (yes, Paul). The topic under discussion was the relationship between the Jews and the Catholic Church.
How curious!, I thought in surprise. I have openly defended that the biggest conflict in History is, by far, that between those two parties. AntiSemitism was one major area of research in my PhD years. And then the strange thing to every one else was that I was not Jewish.
Bearing those unsual conditions, I rushed to that not-to-be-missed meeting. Altogether we were not many: could seat in a circle at the auditorium. The rabbi looked cheerful, and in that mood proclaimed that he was friends with Odilo, despite the fact that they did not agree on the... Christ stuff. Odilo shared the words, but was not that enthusiastic, in manners at least.
Then the audience could ask questions freely. A man found a witty way to tackle a sensitive issue - papacy in the near future. Smart guy! He proposed, 'Is the next pope in this room?' Everyone hold their breath as they gazed Odilo. Not to show a bit of surprise, he promptly answered, 'The future belongs to God.' The guy smiled. All the rest of us took that as satisfactory. Verbalizing religious words of any content tend to cause that restful effect.
I captured Odilo's reaction more carefully, not only that biblical sentence. It was almost a 'yes'. He looked as if the was certain about that future.
The rabbi looked cheerful, and in that mood
proclaimed that he was friends with Odilo,
despite the fact that they did not
agree on the... Christ stuff.
agree on the... Christ stuff.
Did I ask a question? Yes. The most difficult one for him. Despite not being a Jew, I asked, 'Within the structure of the Church, how is AntiSemitism monitored? Is there a unit or system to deal with that?' The way Odilo stared at me was the response. The authentic one. I will never forget that glare. Yes, he got angry, but hold himself. I broke the freezing by adding that I was asking that because I had heard an antiSemitic sermon at a nearby church just the other day.
Odilo was not sharp that time. He tried to pick words to say he did not agree with that, but it took him much longer than before to be assertive. He really just beat about the bush. I then added, 'Is there a definite place to go when that happens?'
Then he recovered his firmness, 'No, there is not. But you can knock at my door. I do not accept that [the antiSemitic sermon].'
Right. But that glare... Spoke volumes.
Back to these days, more than a week before the newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo first announced that Odilo was being more seriously considered as the future pope, I had told friends and every acquaintances I met that I was strongly convinced the position was Odilo's. And was very worried about that.
Odilo should not be the next pope.
Why? The Church cannot afford
two more decades or so locked in stalemate...
In a nutshell, he beats about the bush; he is angry at being forced to face difficult issues. He is diplomatic in the sense he strives to evade and evade. The Church cannot afford two more decades or so locked in stalemate, pretending she belongs to God the same way as the future does, and therefore there is no future without the Church. The embedded idea is that 'there is always a future for the Church that is just equal to the past'.
In order to support my point, let us compare the statements, in interviews, made by Cardinal Scherer and by Cardinal Aviz, from Brasilia (Brazilian capital).
1. The reporter states that the Church faces one of the most serious crises in its History. And asks how to tackle it. Odilo evades by saying that 'before talking about crisis in religion one should think about the crisis of the human reason'. He continues by forwarding what I find to be one of the most regrettable core ideas of catholicism, which is that 'the human reason is unable to determine what is good and what is bad';...'through the human reason, all is worth and nothing is worth'... Wrappes up in these terms, 'When it comes to the religious arena, the outcome is the adhesion crisis'. And eventually, denies any crises under way in the Church: 'All these issues have been addressed by Benedict XVI... to whom we must be grateful...'
2. When asked about the challenges to be faced by the next pope, Odilo, once again, could not find anything wrong or in need of change in the Church itself. He points to the outside world, the 'post modern culture'. His exact words: 'Now it is the turn of the post modernity challenges. I refer to the new culture that can be defined as a liquid culture, deprived of solid values... Such culture leads to the relativism of all values...even the religious ones.'
3. When asked whether the future pope could be one from Latin America, he retorted that, 'regardless from where the new pope came from or whatever his age, no one is to expect him to say something different from the Ten Commandments or the Credo.'
Pretty clarifying, isn't it? The Church faces no problem within herself. And "dogma as usual". No mention to the individual.
Now let us see how Cardinal Aviz presents a bright contrast to that.
1. When asked about the challenges to the new pope, Dom Aviz asserts that 'the Church is going through a delicate ecclesiastical moment... Replacing religion, there is more and more room for the idea that happiness comes from immediate pleasure. It is extremely difficult to preach to those people... because love usually implies sacrifice.' He also puts the simple priest or seminarist in the picture, 'Before, when a religious man left the Church, he would say that he had been mistaken about this vocation. Now he says he is no longer happy there.'
2. He is said that some saw Benedict's resignation as weakness. Then the reporter asks if Dom Aviz also sees that act the same way. He disagrees with that by referring to the great challenges faced by the former pope, pointing the 'shadow of pedophilia' as 'the main one'.
3.About the future pope being from outside Europe, Aviz simply says that the time for a non-European pope may not have arrived yet.
In sharp contrast with Dom Odilo, Dom Aviz admits simply and honestly the challenge of pedophilia, and the changes that have made it hard to preach to so many people. So we do not have abstractions this time, such as 'liquid culture', or 'post modern values' but down-to-earth arguments involving people looking for pleasure, avert to the idea of sacrifice. He clearly affirms the message of 'Christ's love' is hard to pass through, and implies he recognizes the need to overcome that somehow, rather than showing the inflexibility of 'nothing different from Commandments and Credo'.
All this is extracted from Veja magazine (Brazilian media) whose digital archive is available. Just look for the edition of 20.02.2013 and go to pages 82-83. The URL showing is this: http://veja.abril.com.br/acervodigital/home.aspx?edicao=2309&pg=0
Heading for a conclusion, from those apparently insignificant pages in the most popular Brazilian magazine I realized how diversity is vivid in the Church. To say the last but not the least, there are clearly these two opposing styles of leadership: Sherer's and Aviz's. I cannot help being totally in favor of Aviz's, deeming Scherer's as arrogant, distant and inefficient.
So why am I totally convinced Scherer will take the throne? I know pretty enough about that throne. Transparency is not a value to the Church. Besides, Odilo, as I could observe directly, is very skillful at making the "necessary alliances" - even with the Jews. He is taking sides with the Curia, which is paramount. The sheep is just part of the game, and the team is still a winner - the faithful still flock to Rome and even the resignation of the pope served to boost business.
The liquid culture is not a real threat. It replaces the heretics in building the mentality of we-they, so much apart, "thanks god". Those who study a little of sociology and the psychology of faith know well how the shadow of threat serves so well to heat up religious belief that is actually based not on love, but on separation, on the distinction - the more 'obvious' the better - that some are heaven bound, others hell bound.
That the Catholic Church is heaven bound is not so cler to me. As Odilo Scherer - already chosen, I ponder - approaches the Throne of Saint Peter, heaven incresingly loses its connection with love. The Church, for the next two or so decades, is going to live for herself - for her eternal power -, drawing upon the vicious diplomacy, the blind sheep, and every available mastery to manipulate and deceive.
If someone opts for immediate pleasure instead, why is he to blame?
Mariangela Pedro
05 de março de 2013
Related:
A grande volta em torno do Holocausto - de hereges número 1 a homenageados
2. When asked about the challenges to be faced by the next pope, Odilo, once again, could not find anything wrong or in need of change in the Church itself. He points to the outside world, the 'post modern culture'. His exact words: 'Now it is the turn of the post modernity challenges. I refer to the new culture that can be defined as a liquid culture, deprived of solid values... Such culture leads to the relativism of all values...even the religious ones.'
3. When asked whether the future pope could be one from Latin America, he retorted that, 'regardless from where the new pope came from or whatever his age, no one is to expect him to say something different from the Ten Commandments or the Credo.'
Pretty clarifying, isn't it? The Church faces no problem within herself. And "dogma as usual". No mention to the individual.
Now let us see how Cardinal Aviz presents a bright contrast to that.
1. When asked about the challenges to the new pope, Dom Aviz asserts that 'the Church is going through a delicate ecclesiastical moment... Replacing religion, there is more and more room for the idea that happiness comes from immediate pleasure. It is extremely difficult to preach to those people... because love usually implies sacrifice.' He also puts the simple priest or seminarist in the picture, 'Before, when a religious man left the Church, he would say that he had been mistaken about this vocation. Now he says he is no longer happy there.'
2. He is said that some saw Benedict's resignation as weakness. Then the reporter asks if Dom Aviz also sees that act the same way. He disagrees with that by referring to the great challenges faced by the former pope, pointing the 'shadow of pedophilia' as 'the main one'.
There are these two opposing styles
of leadership: Sherer's and Aviz's. I
cannot help being totally in favor of Aviz's
3.About the future pope being from outside Europe, Aviz simply says that the time for a non-European pope may not have arrived yet.
In sharp contrast with Dom Odilo, Dom Aviz admits simply and honestly the challenge of pedophilia, and the changes that have made it hard to preach to so many people. So we do not have abstractions this time, such as 'liquid culture', or 'post modern values' but down-to-earth arguments involving people looking for pleasure, avert to the idea of sacrifice. He clearly affirms the message of 'Christ's love' is hard to pass through, and implies he recognizes the need to overcome that somehow, rather than showing the inflexibility of 'nothing different from Commandments and Credo'.
All this is extracted from Veja magazine (Brazilian media) whose digital archive is available. Just look for the edition of 20.02.2013 and go to pages 82-83. The URL showing is this: http://veja.abril.com.br/acervodigital/home.aspx?edicao=2309&pg=0
Heading for a conclusion, from those apparently insignificant pages in the most popular Brazilian magazine I realized how diversity is vivid in the Church. To say the last but not the least, there are clearly these two opposing styles of leadership: Sherer's and Aviz's. I cannot help being totally in favor of Aviz's, deeming Scherer's as arrogant, distant and inefficient.
So why am I totally convinced Scherer will take the throne? I know pretty enough about that throne. Transparency is not a value to the Church. Besides, Odilo, as I could observe directly, is very skillful at making the "necessary alliances" - even with the Jews. He is taking sides with the Curia, which is paramount. The sheep is just part of the game, and the team is still a winner - the faithful still flock to Rome and even the resignation of the pope served to boost business.
The liquid culture is not a real threat. It replaces the heretics in building the mentality of we-they, so much apart, "thanks god". Those who study a little of sociology and the psychology of faith know well how the shadow of threat serves so well to heat up religious belief that is actually based not on love, but on separation, on the distinction - the more 'obvious' the better - that some are heaven bound, others hell bound.
That the Catholic Church is heaven bound is not so cler to me. As Odilo Scherer - already chosen, I ponder - approaches the Throne of Saint Peter, heaven incresingly loses its connection with love. The Church, for the next two or so decades, is going to live for herself - for her eternal power -, drawing upon the vicious diplomacy, the blind sheep, and every available mastery to manipulate and deceive.
If someone opts for immediate pleasure instead, why is he to blame?
Mariangela Pedro
05 de março de 2013
Related:
A grande volta em torno do Holocausto - de hereges número 1 a homenageados
