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The kicks of history

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Teotonio R.
de Souza

What Pope Francis

is calling for in his
green" encyclical
is a change from
market oriented
thinking to
thinking hearts

laise Pascal is often quoted to remind

us that the heart has its reasons
which the reason cannot understand".
This famous French philosopher-mathematician of the 17th century defended
Jansenism of the Augustinian inspiration
and the Calvinist economy of faith, he
wrote harshly against the casuistry of the
Jesuit defence of the free-will. Pascal was
contemporary of Espinosa, who saw no
need to postulate God and his pantheism
distinguished between "Ratura naturans"
and 'natura naturata". The former represented the nature that was not yet dominated by humans through science, and
lesser humans sought explanations in God
and supernatural forces. This is the western
modem concept of nature without God
which this Pope is trying to undo.
On the Christmas day of 1913 my Herald
column was about 'Waiting for Pope John
the Baptist" Ihttplibit.lyi1GqMpn91. I had
said that Christianity came to most nonEuropean continents as a gift of capitalism
through Iberian discoveries. In India too
the so-called St Thomas Christians are believed to have arrived with the help of the
Jewish trading contacts. I had also stated
that for the Catholic faithful God chose to

http://www. epaperoheral do. i neetai I spr ntaspx 7i d= 138458boxid=16913945

have his son born amidst the Jews, anticipating their place in the world capitalism
and thereby ensuring the spread of Christianity worldwide, but also as a permanent
voice to restrain the growing capitalist
abuses, an ever modem "rnalfeus rrraieficarum"{the hammer of witches). The divine
logic baffles me, and we can find some
solace in St. Augustine who wrote: who
can fathom God's mysteries'?
Soon after being elected, Pope Francis
warned against the 'killer economy" referring
to the abuses of capitalism. He followed
up by taking bold steps to put some order
into the Vatican banking operations. He
seems to have taken yet another step that
has irritated the neo-liberals through his
latest encyclical "Laudatosi", questioning
the submission of political order to financial
orderwhich promoted 'throw-away" culture.
Earlier during a visit to Argentina he had
praised the tirtoneros", literally 'cardboard
people", the poor rag-pickers who helped
cleaning the industrial trash. The Pope continues his harangue against the waste economy that is destroying the eco-system.
What Pope Francis is calling for in his
"green" encyclical is a change from market
oriented thinking to thinking hearts. He
continues to live up to the ideals of St
Francis Assisi whose name he assumed as
the program of his pontificate. St Francis
of Assisi had emerged as a charismatic response at the dawn of the European modernity to remind the Church of its call to be
present among the urban poor. The Pope
has also been conscious of the message
of St John Baptist [https://youtubei
1XeSNBAnA1 who had the mission to point
the way to Jesus, and not get carried by
the enthusiasm of those who followed
him. I must admit today that my call for
Pope John the Baptist in the above mentioned column is likely to be fulfilled.
However, for the Church depending

upon institutional structures that depend

upon financial doles on a big scale, it may
have still a long way to go before liberating
itself from the shackles of its capitalist
umbilical cord. The Church may need to
wait for more kicks of History to reach the
required purification, like the take-over of
the Papal provinces by the Italian nationalists
who deprived the Church of its centuriesold past of temporal power during the
pontificate of Pope Pius IX, who declared
himself a 'prisoner of the Vatican' and
issued "Syllabus errortim" condemning
modernity as a heretical movement to be
rejected by Christians_ We know today that
despite Pope's reaction the kick of History
helped the Church and God's vicar on
earth to wake up to their spiritual mission.
The calls of Pope Francis for a radical
change in the profit oriented market mentality need to be backed with more radical
changes in the mode of thinking and operating of the Church to be truly convincing,
The Catholic Church seems to take it for
granted that its structures shaped on the
model of the Roman empire are God's
working. It is strange also that the western
politics saw nothing wrong in recognizing
Vatican as a sovereign state with a seat in
the community of nations.
To conclude, no powers are known in
History to give up willingly their privileges.
The Catholic Church which claims divine
mandate is even less likely to do so until
fresh kicks of History help her to trust in
the power of God to carry on its mission
along the lines of Jesus who chase death
to a kingdom on earth. The Catholic Church
may need to die to many of its acquired
privileges and styles of functioning before
it can rise and emerge freer to witness to
the freedom of the children of God.
{Teotonio R. de Souza is the founderdirector, Xavier Centre of Historical
Research, Goa (1979-1994).

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