The Pope has given his first interview, with the news agency, Crux, and the nice thing about it is there are no surprises. Pope revolted at obscene wealth and the growing gap between rich and poor? Jesus Christ wasn’t keen on the rich either. Or, as Leo put it when he was asked about growing polarisation in society:
‘One [factor] which I think is very significant is the continuously wider gap between the income levels of the working class and the money that the wealthiest receive… Yesterday, the news that Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire in the world. What does that mean and what’s that about? If that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we’re in big trouble.’
That’s rather in the spirit of Rerum Novarum, an encyclical written by the last Pope Leo, from whom this pope took his name. That was about the late nineteenth century class struggle, and it articulated the rights of the worker to a wage that would enable him to support his family, pretty well the opposite of the gig economy. It’s this disparity between obscene wealth and basic incomes which really is a feature of contemporary capitalism, and the Pope doesn’t like it any more than Jesus Christ did. Leo didn’t have to bring up the wealth question but plainly he’s exercised by it, especially the notion that the pursuit of wealth is crowding out other goods. And he’s also quite clear about what those goods are:
‘Perhaps in some places the loss of a higher sense of what human life is about would have something to do with that, which has affected people on many levels. The value of human life, of the family, and the value of society. If we lose the sense of those values, what matters anymore?’
This isn’t religious language, but it’s the language that non-churchy people can engage with. And that sense of being unanchored, that we’ve lost the fundamental priorities to do with human life and community and family (the last two aren’t in some sort of conflict, in the Catholic way of looking at things) is pervasive. If it’s not vulgar to be specific about just one aspect of this, a few months ago parliament voted to legalise assisted suicide and to allow women legally to abort their own foetus right up to birth. That shows the grim consequences of the inexorable swing to individualism as the fundamental way of looking at the world, at the expense of all the other aspects.
Like his predecessor, Leo batters away at the pursuit of peace despite no obvious gains to show for it. Speaking about the Vatican and the war in Ukraine, he said:
‘I’d make a distinction in terms of the voice of the Holy See in advocating for peace and a role as mediator, which I think is very different and is not as realistic as the first one… The Holy See, since the war began, has made great efforts to maintain a position that, as difficult as it might be, [is not] one side or the other, but truly neutral.’
He quite correctly points out that ‘unfortunately, it seems to be generally recognised that the United Nations, at least at this moment in time, has lost its ability to bring people together on multilateral issues.’
Some people will be restive that he doesn’t talk more about religion
Cleverly, Leo didn’t play safe on the question of whether he saw himself as an American or (by virtue of his long stint in Peru) a Latin American. ‘I think the answer is both/and. I’m obviously an American and I very much feel that I’m an American, but I also love Peru very much, the Peruvian people, that is a part of who I am.’ It’s why he’s so interesting – he’s an American, but not just an American. And on the question on which you really can’t fudge, which side he’ll back in the World Cup, it turns out it’s Peru, though he’s rooting for Italy as well.
I can see that some people will be restive that he doesn’t talk more about religion per se in all these questions, but Leo knows who he serves: ‘The Holy Spirit is the only way to explain, how did I get elected to office, to this ministry? Because of my faith, because of what I have lived, because my understanding of Jesus Christ and the Gospel, I said yes, I’m here. I hope to be able to confirm others in their faith, because that is the most fundamental role that the Successor of Peter has.’
He comes across as a pope with his priorities right.
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