HitRed wrote:He set off discernment.
Let me say a few words of praise of Pope Francis, before I discuss the New Pope, Leo XIV.
First, let me discuss and add details to what HitRed said above, in his often-succinct manner.
Below we present some of the speeches in which Pope Francis makes explicit reference to the synodal process. They guide the Church in this time of listening, dialogue, prayer and discernment so that this process can truly be lived as kairos, a time of openness to what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
https://www.synod.va/en/resources/pope-francis-and-the-synodal-process.html
I have not kept up with this entire process, and since he was near the end of his Papacy, I am not confident that many of the ideas presented by the many BISHOPS of the Church made it receptive hearts and minds. I told my Pastor that I did not see the value of me leading the effort at our local Parish on this process and he seemed surprised at my response. And yes, I was then and still am a Leader at my local Church. With 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, I did not see anything said and documented to our parish would have any significant impact in our Diocese of Richmond.
Today there are over 220,000 active Catholics in the diocese involved in our 149 parishes.
and
Our great variety of gifts and needs foster activities that touch many people in numerous ways. We have ministry for and with children, youth, young adults, adults and older adults; engaged couples, married couples, the divorced, the bereaved, the imprisoned, the sick and the dying. We have 8 Catholic high schools, 24 Catholic elementary schools, 10 Catholic hospitals, 14 Catholic residential adult care centers and a large number of other facilities, organizations, agencies and services — including our parishes and our chancery offices — that work together to carry out our mission of ministry to others.
https://richmonddiocese.org/about-us/
And how many Bishops were to present a summary of their input from their local parishes?
As of 2020, there were approximately 5,600 living bishops total in the Latin and Eastern churches of the Catholic Church.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishops_in_the_Catholic_Church#:~:text=Diocesan%20bishops%E2%80%94known%20as%20eparchial,almost%20the%20same%20requirements):
Whatever my local Church (Parish) offered would be lost among the MANY voices in the Worldwide Catholic Church. Despite what a few here imply, I do not expect anything I say or present or post has THAT big an impact. For that matter, I doubt that what I post EVEN HERE, in this Forum, change many hearts or minds. I am not an egotist that would expect otherwise.
I like to think (and I sincerely hope and pray) that what I say and do in my classroom impacts the lives of some or, dare I say, most of my students. I rarely know what that impact may be, unless I encounter a former student in my interactions in my community. I realize the statistical nature of life: I am only one of several teachers in ONE year of the educational life of my students. And I know that even if my students were in my classroom for 180 hours, that my impact is likely 1) very small and 2) most of what I teach, at least the "formal" lessons in Chemistry and, a even less, in Physics, will in itself make much difference. What I also try to teach is the importance of learning, diligence, hard work, attentiveness, and critical thinking. I challenge students to learn better HOW TO LEARN, in some cases. I try to challenge even my best students and still give those who struggle with math or science a reasonable chance to be reasonably successful in my classroom. I also try to model good citizenship and the role of a servant and the importance of service to others. I think that I do have enough impact on a few students to convince them of the importance of being a servant leader. My goal is not to create more chemists, physicists, or even scientists. My goal is to educate my students to become better problem solvers, critical thinkers, and lifelong learners. And I try to use Science as the vehicle to achieve such goals. How a student solves a problem in thermodynamics or kinetics (both in Chemistry and in Physics) is not as critical as to foster and better develop the problem-solving methods and critical thinking of my students. Even something as simple as balancing a chemical equation affords me that opportunity to foster these IMPORTANT skills in the learner.
back to this thread:
Pope Francis was a very humble man, full of compassion and wisdom and care about everyone, even non-Catholics. He presented a deep and profound care of the poor and the needy. He shifted focus from Doctrine to helping and care for and caring about the many. Pope Francis, I think, will be remembered for his emphasis on Pastoral CARE of the sheep of his HUGE flock. I could write TOMES here on Francis; I think instead that the political cartoons that I posted about Pope Francis express many ideas and the sentiments of many, those Catholic as well as those NOT.
After his recent death, I read an article (one of several) that speaks about the notion of Pope Francis that the writer called Radical Mercy. I think that term, along with COMPASSION, are key features of his papacy. The article went on to say
"Pope Francis' greatest achievement was pushing the church to prioritize compassion."
And to quote Pope Francis
"Each person encounters God in his or her own way, within the Church."
And one more quote from that same article:
Most Cardinals [those electing the New Pope] ...."do not see Truth and Mercy as rivals" [such as one is one is conservative and the other as liberal] but instead that they must be held TOGETHER as a Gospel imperative.
So bad.....love it!
