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Letter #80: Pope's press conference, Commentary

[2013-08-11]
[Engleză]
August 5, 2013, Monday -- The Pope's press conference, Commentary

A week ago, on July 28, on the airplane returning to Rome from Brazil following the week-long visit to celebrate World Youth Day, Pope Francis gave the first press conference of his pontificate.

Though a week has passed, it seems useful now -- sooner rather than later -- to attempt a close reading of the entire press conference, in order to try to gain a deeper understanding of what the Pope was saying, and why. That is what I attempt here, in a reading which can only be partial and preliminary, but which may nevertheless, I hope, prove useful.

The Decision to Speak

The week had tired him and left him with a slight cough, but it had also energized him, because the week had been an enormous, virtually unmitigated success. Everything, it seemed, had gone right. There had not been a single important negative incident.

And so the trip to Brazil had boosted the prestige of the already popular new Pope (or new bishop of Rome, as he likes to call himself) to a new level.

In terms of global influence, he stood now on an almost unique height. Why? Because, arguably, no other world leader on the planet could have matched the "tour de force" of this man's "performance" in Brazil -- though it had not been a performance at all, but rather one long encounter, often unscripted, always authentic, between a 76-year-old Argentine dressed in a white robe and enormous, attentive crowds of young people.

Francis had attracted, according to widely accepted estimates, more than 3 million young people to the final Mass on Copacabana beach (there is some discussion about this figure, but even lower estimates put the number in the range of 2 million, not a small crowd). What other world leader today could have done anything similar?

And so, in a certain sense, Pope Francis emerged from the crucible of his trip to Brazil like a tempered blade of Toledo steel, having been plunged into the cold water of the vast crowds and the grueling schedule of the week to emerge as, arguably, the single most charismatic, popular -- and so influential -- leader on the planet.

Just at that moment, physically drained but emotionally exhilarated, Pope Francis made a decision which has marked a watershed in his pontificate. He decided to talk. And he decided to talk on the record.

He decided to accept unvetted questions from the 65 journalists making up the press corps representing media outlets from around the world which had traveled with him-- journalists who, up until now, had never had the chance to ask Francis directly, in person, even a single question during the four and a half months (135 days) since his election on March 13.

And Francis decided to be generous with his time. He would not talk for 10 or 15 minutes, then retire to rest. He would talk for 20, 40, 60 and, finally, 80 minutes, creating a transcript that stretches out to about 10,000 words -- enough to make a small book.

Controversy over a Phrase

And, at about the 119th minute, answering the 21st question asked of him, after earlier telling his spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, S.J., that he was "tired, tired," and after having asked the journalists, twice, whether they were not hungry and ready for their airplane dinner -- so, three times making clear that he wished to bring the interview to an end due to his own weariness -- the Pope agreed to comment on a controversial personnel case (the allegations made against the conduct of Monsignor Ricca more than a decade ago) and on a controversial issue (an alleged "gay lobby" working within the Vatican).

In the midst of a handful of phrases on these two matters (cited at greater length below), the Pope asked this dramatic, rhetorical, question: "If a person is gay and seeks the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge him?"

In a world increasingly opposed to the traditional Catholic (but not only Catholic) teaching (and judgment) that homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered," the Pope's question "Who am I to judge?" seemed to many of the journalists present, and to their editors, a departure from that teaching, or a new attitude toward that teaching, worth highlighting in news stories.

(Here, for the record, is the passage about homosexuality in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, with the phrase "intrinsically disordered" highlighted:

"Paragraph 2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that 'homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.'142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

"Paragraph 2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.")

Thus this phrase, this rhetorical question, was highlighted around the world, and the rest of the press conference, in comparison, was virtually forgotten.

"Pope Francis signals openness towards gay priests," The Guardian in England headlined the next day (July 29). "Pope Francis says he won't 'judge' gay priests," USA Today headlined the same day. "Pope on gay priests: 'Who am I to judge?'" The Age of Sydney, Australia, headlined on July 30.

Some commenters argued that Francis by this phrase was consciously signaling a quite dramatic change in Church teaching with regard to homosexuality.

Other commentors noted that established Church doctrine, because it is established, cannot be changed, and so, a fortiori, cannot be changed in such a way, during an impromptu press conference, even by a Pope, the chief teacher of the Church, so that Francis was certainly not "changing Church teaching"; but these commenters added that, because Francis might have seemed to be changing the teaching, he or his staff needed to quickly issue a clarification so that it would be clear that he was not signaling a change in Church teaching on the matter.

Therefore, since these conflicting judgments about what Francis intended by these words have caused some confusion, both for Catholics and non-Catholics, especially in regard to whether Francis may actually have wished to "signal" some sort of "change" in Church teaching, or in the way that teaching is presented, regarding homosexuality, it seems important to go back to the text itself, try to read it more closely, and try to understand, from the text itself, what Francis intended.

This can only be an imperfect work; no one can look inside the Pope's mind. But even an imperfect work can be useful, and in this case, when the context of the Pope's words has not yet received the careful study that is needed to understand more fully what he intended, even if the effort is partial, it may contribute something toward deeper understanding.

The first step toward clarifying the matter must be a close reading of the text itself, in context. And that has been difficult up until now, as the English translation of the entire interview was not available until days after the press conference, when the "narrative" had already been written and, in a certain sense, set in stone.

But that does not mean a close reading of the text of the interview is not needed, even now. In fact, it means a close reading is needed even more urgently.

In what follows, I attempt a preliminary "close reading" of the papal press conference, in order to set the controversy over the final remarks in context, without pretending that this reading is in any way definitive. I wish only to make a small contribution to understanding the mind of Pope Francis, and in so doing, to enable others, as they carry out their own reading of these remarks, to do so with greater confidence that they are getting a fuller picture of Pope Francis's intent, as he attempts to lead the Church in a difficult time.

==========================

A Preliminary Close Reading of the Transcript of the July 28 Pope Francis Interview

We begin with several premises, points to keep in mind. (Note: In the text below, I have shortened some of the questions and answers, as I did not wish to make this letter over-long; so the text commented on below is an abridged text.)

First, we know that Francis did not choose to conduct any sort of interview on the flight out from Rome to Brazil, before World Youth Day. Why?

Well, in part to avoid any sort of controversy prior to World Youth Day. To protect the integrity of World Youth Day from any sort of "red-herring" which might emerge in a press conference.

And this was due in part to the experience of Pope Benedict XVI (Pope from 2005 to 2013). Benedict had agreed to airplane press conferences (giving the lie, through this considerable openness to the press, to the common view that he was reclusive and timid) on several trips. But on one occasion, on the flight to Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon in Africa, on March 17, 2009, Benedict had stirred controversy before the trip even began, saying that the distribution of condoms is not the answer in the fight against AIDS in Africa. "You can't resolve it (the spread of AIDS) with the distribution of condoms," Benedict told reporters. "On the contrary, it increases the problem." This led to a flood of headlines about the Church and the prohibition in Church teaching of the use of condoms, with the implication that the Church, in her focus on sexual morality, was indifferent toward the spread of the AIDS virus.

So, this year, on the first major trip of Francis's pontificate, it was decided not to have a press conference on the way to Brazil. In this way, there would be no chance of a word or phrase taken out of context that would take the focus away from World Youth Day itself.

Second, precisely for this reason -- precisely because he had not held a press conference on the outbound flight -- Francis felt he needed to be generous with the press in granting them access to him on the return flight. This explains why he wished to give such a long press conference. He wanted to allow the journalists a chance to ask all the questions they wished.

Third, the press conference was the first of this pontificate. In a sense, the Pope was using the occasion of this press conference to answer all of the questions about his pontificate thus far, questions which journalists, and many Catholics, and other interested observers, have had in their minds, but which they have been unable to ask, and have answered. So the Pope set the groundrules to the widest possible aperture: no screening of the questions whatsoever; everyone could ask whatever they wished; and no pre-set time limit.

Now, as we reflect on this scenario, we can imagine potential pitfalls. A completely wide-open press conference can be a real challenge. Wide open means wide open. Unrestricted.

A restricted press conference is a different sort of event altogether. If one has to answer questions on a certain, specific topic -- on the Church's social teaching, for example, or on the Church's liturgy, or on the events and outcome of World Youth Day -- one can prepare for that topic. One can study and make notes on the key points of the Church's social teaching one wishes to stress, or on the points one would like to make about the liturgy, or about World Youth Day. So one can prepare.

But in the format agreed to by Pope Francis, there was no way to prepare, because the format was wide open. The questions could have been (and were!) about his relations with Pope Penedict, his feelings about being Pope, his plans to reform the Curia, and so on and so forth -- open-ended.

An open-ended press conference requires a virtuoso performance from the person being questioned.

The person questioned has to be ready to shift gears mentally from one subject to another, instantaneously, and do it all with grace and eloquence.

By saying this, I am not saying that Francis was not up to the task; I am simply saying that it was an objectively hard task to be up to. And that is something to keep in mind as one reads the transcript of the press conference.

==================

What Kind of a Press Conference?

Now, if we then start to read the text of the press conference, we see that it is set up at the very outset as a press conference focused on Brazil, on World Youth Day, on what has just taken place during seven tumultuous, packed, historic days in and near Rio de Janeiro.

Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican Press Office, sets up the parameters of the press conference in this way: "The Holy Father Francis... has been kind enough to give us a good long time to evaluate the trip with us and answer your questions in total liberty."

In the bold-faced phrase, "to evaluate the trip," Lombardi is offering a certain framework for the questions: Pope Francis is agreeing "to evaluate the trip" with the journalists.

In other words, it may be that, on at least some level, Francis was expecting the press conference to be focused almost entirely on Brazil, on evaluating the experience of World Youth Day. This is, in fact, the way it is presented.

There is, admittedly, the following phrase, "and answer your questions in total liberty," but that phrase comes after the previous phrase, almost as a qualifier, so that the whole sentence seems to mean: "the Pope will answer freely all of your questions about the trip, evaluating the trip."

Therefore, as a preliminary observation, it could be argued that Pope Francis (even if wrongly) expected one sort of press conference, restricted to World Youth Day, and got another one, without any restrictions whatsoever.

Sursa: www.InsideTheVatican.com

Contor Accesări: 910, Ultimul acces: 2026-08-08 07:48:21