Pope Francis & The Catholic Church (Caitlyn Grier)
Fact-Checking Source:
Pope Francis' five cries amid the pandemic
On march 31st 2020 ROME REPORTS in English published a video of Pope Francis speaking on the pandemic. In this speech he made five distinct remarks each echoed by the haunting singing in latin. The lyrics being sung in latin and discussed by Pope Francis are: We are all in the same boat, We find ourselves afraid and lost, Our facades fall away, We did not stop, The time of our judgment.Looking Deeper: Five Facts Checked
I have gone through this source and fact checked five facts made throughout to better understand the perspective and claims made my the Pope. ( Becasue the Pope is a figure of faith and not of scientific fact it was hard to find hard facts used during the speech)"We have realized that we are in the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time, important and needed." 0:28
The Pope starts off his speech by speaking on the changes in our everyday lives and those that work in essencial places for instance health care workers.
Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities. It has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence…” 0:53While this is technically a fact, it is more so backed by the way that society is functioning as a whole, if you want to get specific you can see the effects that quarantine has had on Italy.
“In this storm, the facade of those stereotypes with which we camouflaged our egos, always worrying about our image, has fallen away.We carried on unperturbed…” 1:39The pope talks about carrying on “unperturbed” and while this may be talking about the government's reaction to this reaction it's alo talking about the fault of the Vatican. Still two weeks after Italian government ordered Italians to work from home the Vatican office was still open and requiring many employees in the office to come into work, even when the Vatican had confirmed four positive cases of COVID-19 within their walls.
“You are calling on us to seize this time of trial as a time of choosing. It is not the time of your judgement, but of our judgment: a time to choose what matters and what passes away…” 3:05The Pope talks about this being a time to choose what is most important to us. Although this a vague statement I believe he is talking about something that is important to many catholics, especially with Holy week in the midst of this all. Having to decide between tradition and the safety of one's community.
Analysis Essay
"A Time of Judgment": Pope Francis and the Vaticans Perspectives on COVID-19
In this source we see the perspective of the Pope and the actions he is taking to tell his community how the world is changing around them and how the way they practice faith may change in this time of this pandemic. Pope Fracis and the Vatican are the place that Catholics look to especially during a time like this where everything seems very uncertain. The purpose of looking at the perspective of Pope Francis and the Vatican at times like this is because of the large following that they have, if their position of power is used in a dangerous way or in a hopeful way it's important to look at that. The Pope and Vatican are in a very powerful position in society during this uncertain time.
The Vatican has been changing its theology over a long period of time, becoming more leniant with certain scanadlized topics like sex or abortion, much of this being pushed even more to a new theology by Pope Francis (Tollefsen, 2018). And during this different time the Vatican must make a choice on how they will respond as seen in the sources I've cited. It seems that the Vatican has decided to decide that the safety of their community is worth so much more than the tradition of the church. The issue is very important to the church because this is very unprecedented in the Vatican's history with disease since the change in theology. Past Pope during pandemics like Influenza of the Back Plague continued on as if nothing was different, this is the first time that the church has had to deal with such a change in the way that society lives their day to day life. If the church were to value tradition over the safety of its supporters they would lose so many that have faith.
This specific speech that the Pope gives to an empty square is meant not only for people of the catholic faith but also for the world. The Pope and the Vatican are things that most people know about even if they are not religious. Pope Francis makes a point in his speech to talk about not discriminating in creed,
“In this storm, the facade of those stereotypes with which we camouflaged our egos, always worrying about our image, has fallen away.” (ROME REPORTS, Pope Francis' five cries amid the pandemic)
During trying times like these the Vatican realizes the importance of togetherness even if it's not in person.
“Let us try, if we can, to make the best use of this time: let us be generous; let us help those in need...perhaps by telephone of social networks” (ROME REPORTS, Pope sends special coronavirus message to families)
Not only will the Pope reach millions with whatever way he decides to speak for the church but also making this speech so public, speaking out to an empty square makes his message resonate even for those not of catholic faith.
The Pope does not seem to focus on facts. It's not that he is distributing misinformation but more so that he decided to focus on not the pandemic and its spread but on the safety and faith of everyone living in a time like this. Instead of stating statistics to keep his following in their homes and safe he instead decides to tell his following of the things that they must cherish during this time and look at the things that we as a society could have done to keep each other more safe in the beginning.
“It is the hope of a better time, in which we can be better, finally freed from evil and from this pandemic” (ROME REPORTS, Pope sends special coronavirus message to families)
The Pope is a source of faith and hope for many, he realizes this and decides to be not the source of fact and news for his followers but instead a beacon of hope for people to look towards.
I think it's very important to include this perspective to our website because I think that not only is the Vatican a large outlet of media that many follow without much distrust whatsoever. But also because many people turn to faith during uncertain times. Looking at the way that the figureheads of the organizations that people turn to to guide them through their faith react to situations like these and whether they place greed and tradition over the safety of their community is very important to look at right now.
References
Christopher Tollefsen, The Future of Roman Catholic Bioethics. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine, Volume 43, Issue 6, December 2018, Pages 667-685, https://doi-org.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/10.1093/jmp/jhy030
The author uses a mixture of psychological and ethical analysis to look at what Catholicism has done in the past and what they are doing today in terms of bioethics and the church.To look at how the bioethics of Catholicism has changed over time, and how Pope Francis is one of the things that is continuing to change the churches bioethics to a more "weak" theology. The article starts by talking about the changing theology that Catholicism has had over past years, then continuing to explain the "weak theology" that Pope Francis has continued to create within the church, including changing stances on abortion, marriage, etc. It then goes on to talk about the way that this new theology could change the way that the church community interacts with problems in the world.The article starts by talking about the changing theology that Catholicism has had over past years, then continuing to explain the "weak theology" that Pope Francis has continued to create within the church, including changing stances on abortion, marriage, etc. It then goes on to talk about the way that this new theology could change the way that the church community interacts with problems in the world.
