Rev. Fr. David Olusi responds to a question posed by a Catholic faithful.
Hello Fr,
I'm just wondering, do Catholics have to agree with the Pope on everything? Like have there been any popes considered the worst?
Hello,
Short answer: No.
There have been some awful popes. There have been popes who were sexual predators. Or financial embezzlers. Or politically corrupt and violent. Or who supported the slave trade or the repression of free speech and worker rights.
Catholics do not honor the pope because personally, he is always virtuous and always wise and always prudent. Catholics honor the pope because he succeeds to the ministry of St. Simon Peter, the fisherman.
The pope is a focal point, a symbolic icon, a figure of unification for the Church, the way a father is a focal point of unity for a family. Are there people who at times hate their dads, or feel he is a pretty lousy guy for unifying the family? Yes, as a matter of fact.
But still, insofar as people are able to, they have to reconcile themselves to who their father is, NOT who they wish him to be, NOT who they expect him to be. Eventually, most people come to see that their father is, or was, a man like other men, who tried his best, or who tried according to what he knew best.
Eventually, most people, even those with a rotten dad, come to love the image of a father for what it can be, for what it can represent.
So it is with Catholics and the pope. He is a father figure for the entire Church. Our popes in the last century at least have been learned men, very astute for handling problems in the Church, and prayerful men of faith.
Catholics believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ, in His mysterious care, permitted the Church to have the pope that it has. He has anointed this man as supreme visible Shepherd, since Christ in heaven is supreme invisible Shepherd. Jesus has given the outpouring of His Spirit to assist the Successor of Peter.
Taking into account, with the eyes of faith, how Jesus has promised to give the Church His Spirit and to be with us all days, till the end, we hear the pope with a respectful ear and a devoted heart.
We give the man, the benefit of the doubt. We trust that he is trying to hand on the Apostolic Tradition and the teachings which were once delivered to the saints. We recall that Jesus summoned His disciples to pay heed to the voice of the Apostles:
“He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me” (Luke 10:16).
The Catholic Church says that when the Pope is teaching the Church in an official capacity, in matters of faith and morals, that we should submit or give his teaching the assent or trust of faith.
However, if the pope is speaking off the cuff, in an informal way, and offering his opinion on a given array of subjects, that submission of faith is not required since the pope is engaging the Church in discussion and debate, raising issues for Catholics to think about and talk about, without necessarily telling us HOW to think about those issues.
God bless and take care.
Rev. Fr. David Olusi
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