The Catholic Church is going through a rocky period. The resignation of Josef Ratzinger, until recently Pope Benedict XVI, was the culmination of this tough phase. What does the election of the first Latin American pope, Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio, from now on Pope Francis, tell us about the future of the church and how it will deal with its challenges?
The church is not just a religious organization. It is also led by a state, the Vatican. By electing the first non-European pope in a millennium, the cardinals gave a signal. And by choosing an Argentine archbishop, from a region with 500 million Catholics — 40 per cent of the 1.2 billion of that faith — the Holy See acknowledged its main constituency and where its future lies. Some talked about the possibility of an African pope, but the numbers just weren’t there.
Brazil, on the other hand, is the country with the largest number of Catholics, some 130 million of them, and Brazilian Cardinal Odilio Scherer was considered one of the frontrunners (Brazilians, who think God is Brazilian, are puzzled by the choice of an Argentine pope). Yet Brazilians speak Portuguese and Argentines Spanish; there are only half as many Portuguese-speakers in the world as there are Spanish-speakers. Spanish is the second most widely spoken language internationally, after English. This is not unrecognized in the Vatican, where anybody who wants to go places needs to master it (I was impressed with the command of Spanish by Pope John Paul II when I met him in Johannesburg).
The choice of Francis reminds us that the axis of world affairs is shifting to the Global South. It also confirms what Enrique Iglesias, the noted Uruguayan statesman, has referred to as the “Latin American moment.” The first decade of the new century was arguably the region’s best ever, with high growth, democratic stability and a strong international presence. Many say the best is yet to come.
The new prelate comes from an unusual background. A chemist by training, he was ordained in his 30s. He is also a Jesuit, that is, a member of the Society of Jesus, which has traditionally attracted the best and the brightest among Catholic priests (Bergoglio has a PhD in philosophy from a top German university) and an order that John Paul II was not particularly fond of. The Jesuits have now their first pope.
The new pontifex maximus hails from the conservative Argentine church, which, as opposed to the Chilean or other South American churches, did not distinguish itself for standing up for human rights during the dark days of the “dirty war” under military rule. Bergoglio has personally been accused of not being as active as he could have been on that front, but has managed to clear his name, and is now known for his personal humility and modesty, living in a small flat, cooking his own meals and riding the bus to the office.
Picking the name of Francis (after St. Francis of Assisi) the first pope ever to do so, is another sign of his commitment to the poor and the disenfranchised of this world, one of the most prominent features of his tenure as archbishop of his native Buenos Aires.
Bergoglio was an opponent of Argentine president Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) and also, though less so, of current President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. He strongly opposed, to no avail, the legalization of same-sex marriage enacted under the latter.
Some hope that the new prelate will take on so-called “populist” governments in Latin America, much like John Paul II did with Communist ones in his native Poland and elsewhere. Somehow, I don’t see the first Jesuit pope aiming to bring down South America’s first aboriginal president, Bolivia’s Evo Morales. It would bring back too many awkward memories of the Spanish conquest and colonization.
As the first pope from the Global South, the new prelate has an enormous opportunity to speak out, as he has in the past, on the impact of globalization on the world’s poor and what we should be doing about it.
Josef Stalin once mockingly asked, “How many divisions does the pope have?” The answer is none, but it was also the wrong question. The Catholic Church may be in trouble, but the person who heads it still commands enormous influence. The question for Pope Francis is whether he will wield it on one of the great issues of our time, or will let himself be consumed by bureaucratic infighting within the Curia.
Jorge Heine is CIGI Professor of Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University. His Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy, co-edited with Andrew F. Cooper and Ramesh Thakur, is published by Oxford University Press.