Is Jorge Bergoglio the next Martin Luther?
Bergoglio is a member of the Society of Jesus, Roman Catholic “militantis ecclesiae” – Church Militant – and the Jesuits are known as God’s Marines, but have never been trusted by the church establishment because they are independent-minded.
The Catholic establishment is in a grave crisis, because of the scandals of priests, nuns, bishops and cardinals who sexually abuse children and women, and have heterosexual and homosexual relationships in spite of vows of chastity.
Established as a religious order in 1540 by Pope Paul III, the Jesuits’ first mission was to be a leading force in the Counter-Reformation in Europe.
They also became the most aggressive missionaries of the Catholic Church, always just beyond the frontiers of Spanish and Portuguese exploration and in India and China.
The Society of Jesus became the great educators of the church and many of Canada’s leading Catholic politicians, business executives and journalists attended Jesuit schools.
However, they have also been the rebels of the church. Before he won the Papal Bull that established the Jesuits, Iñigo de Loyola was detained and interrogated by the infamous Spanish Inquisition for the “novelty” of his beliefs.
In 1773, the Order was officially suppressed and its property seized by Pope Clement XIV.
Jorge Bergoglio is part of that tradition of Jesuit independent-mindedness.
Better known today as Pope Francis, Bergoglio is the first Jesuit elevated to the papacy although several Popes were educated by Jesuits.
Pope Francis' mandate is to reform the Roman Curia -- the beehive of committees, commissions and councils that administer the Catholic Church.
And he is doing that with a nine-member advisory council of bishops.
Francis has pushed the church to forgive Catholic women who have abortions, to accept homosexuals, and has made the church officially opposed to capital punishment.
Mercy and love are central to his papal preaching, writing and actions.
He’s made enemies inside the church.
His conservative foes want him to abdicate – and allow them to restore the papacy into more dependable hands.
His vulnerability is his inconsistency on the abuse of children and women.
He may have covered up abuse and sheltered abusers in Argentina. He may have covered for openly unchaste homosexual clergy.
He has not acted on the case of a bishop in India who allegedly raped a nun.
This week will likely see Pope Francis respond to these allegations.
Sexual abuse in the church is not just a Catholic problem.
In its manual, Preventing Abuse in the Church, the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada denomination warns that, “Predators prey on children because the church has many activities that revolve around children, such as Sunday School, youth groups, camps, Vacation Bible School, picnics, and family events.”
The manual says, “We have a responsibility to do all that we can to provide protection from abuse. We (Baptists) put protocols and procedures in place in order to keep our children, youth and vulnerable adults safe.”
All Christian denominations are beset by predators, but the Roman Catholic Church may be destroyed by them.
Catholics are one Martin Luther away from another reformation.
– Frank Dabbs is a veteran journalist and author.
