Tu Es Petrus

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:18-19)

Pope Francis’ recent visit to the United States and his speeches delivered before a joint session of Congress as well as his homilies have upset a good number of American Catholics. Many are saying that he should stick to spiritual matters and not express an opinion on subjects such as Climate Change, Immigration and the care for the poor. Their remarks reflect more upon the condition of the Church in America than upon the Pontiff himself.

In the verse above, one familiar to everyone who calls himself or herself “Catholic”, the Lord Jesus lays the foundation for the Church and establishes the line of Apostolic Succession that leads from Peter all the way to Pope Francis. In John 21:15-17 the Lord further instructs Peter to “feed My sheep”…in essence making Peter the “under shepherd” so to speak of the sheep. In any sheepfold there can only be ONE shepherd.

The problem with the Church in America is that there are too many sheep who think they should be shepherd. The term “Cafeteria Catholic” is bandied about quite a lot these days and refers to the practice of many Catholics today to treat the teachings and dogma of the Church like a buffet…picking and choosing what we like and rejecting what we don’t. They think they have the right to dictate what the Pope should or should not say on any given matter. If he happens to step on your personal political toes or your heart condition in harboring hatred (though many won’t admit to it…yet “by their fruits shall you know them or in this case their words) toward others.

There is nothing in the teachings of the Church that says that the Pontiff should not express an opinion on matters near and dear to his heart or to take a stand against perceived wrongs. In World War II many bad mouthed Pope Pius XII for not taking a strong enough stand against Hitler. Now people bad mouth Pope Francis for taking a stand against what he perceives as evil…treatment of immigrants (a shared concern of mine), Climate Change, persecution of Christians around the world (he has spoken on this despite some saying he hasn’t) and other subjects. One of the jobs of the Pope is provide moral guidance to the sheep. This Pope has done an excellent job of doing just that.

I am a Catholic. I may not agree with all the dogma of the Church…yet. But there is no doubt whatsoever that one thing that has solid Scriptural support as well as the support of Sacred Tradition is that the Pope was established by Christ to be the head of the Church. When a new Pope is elected a Cardinal comes out on the balcony and announces to the world “Habemus Papam”. This Latin phrase means “We have a Pope!”. It doesn’t mean “some of us have a Pope if we agree with all he says”.

Tu es Petrus, Francescum. You are Peter, Francis, and I will stand upon this rock...rather we agree on secular matters or not.