Today, pondering a Pope like St. Pius X can bring to the surface some disturbing reflections.
Newsroom (08/03/2022 18:33, Gaudium Press) If we search the word “exile” in the dictionary, we will find more than one meaning. One is literal and the other figurative: “forced or voluntary expatriation”, and “isolation from society; solitude“.
On more than one occasion the papacy was subjected to this implacable condition. Perhaps the most famous of these is the so-called “Exile of Avignon“, when, for more than seventy years (1305-1377), St. Peter’s successors were fixed in French territory for various circumstances – too complex and extensive to deal with here.
What is certain is that in many souls anguish emerged: the Pope was, after all, outside his “True See”, as Clement V himself, with whom this exile had begun, called Rome. One such soul was St. Catherine of Siena, who “possessed such a deep love for the ‘sweet Christ on earth,’ the holy priest and Pope, that she could not admit that the latter did not take the necessary steps to pull Christendom out of the abyss that was about to swallow it up.”[1]
Exiles. The papacy would go through yet more in its long history.
Safeguarding the figure of the Pope
A different type of Pope… that is how the first Pontiff of the 20th century appeared to everyone. St. Pius X differed from his predecessors in many ways. One of the great and striking differences was, without doubt, the simplification of the exaggerated “complex, baroque formalism” that surrounded the figure of the Pope.
He preferred, for example, to walk alone through the Vatican gardens, unlike Leo XIII, his predecessor, who was happy to be escorted, even for simple walks to rest… He also eliminated, as soon as he could, some exotic animals that embellished the landscape in the Vatican, commenting that “he did not understand why he had to keep these animals”. 2]
Let us not think, however, that the great St. Pius X acted in this way out of contempt for the honor and dignity of the Pope; on the contrary, he did so in order to protect the figure of the Pope from damaging deviations, for we well know that “the sublime is only one step away from the ridiculous.”
Was it, however, under the same impulse that later pontiffs would seek a general “simplification” in their customs?
Compulsory simplification
“Sweep the dust from the Throne of St Peter’s” – this symbolic phrase, uttered by the Pope who opened the Second Vatican Council, John XXIII, well sums up his yearnings with regard to such an event.
In fact, since then there have been successive changes; for example in the presentation of the figure of the Pope. Less pomp, less adornment, less protocol, more “simplicity”.
Whether by force of circumstance or even by the arbitrary will of successive popes, this simplified position, resulting from the “aggiornamento” (updating or modernization) advocated by John XXIII, was taken. Has it obtained the expected and favorable results? Did it not end up costing the papacy a rather unfavorable waning of prestige?
Not only the continued “simplification”, but also the position taken in the face of contemporary problems seems to lead the image of the papacy to a sad state of banality. From the Chair of Peter there has been much talk of a “poor Church and for the poor” in recent years -as if material poverty were the main issue to be solved by the Catholic Church. But is it not true that the Catholic world would breathe a sigh of relief if effective attitudes were taken, with the same energy applied to the defense (albeit eminently theoretical) of the poor, with regard to so many moral absurdities that are spreading in our days?
To think of a Pope like St. Pius X, in our days, leads us to the disturbing consideration: is the Papacy today in a terrible “exile”?
The papacy, though residing in Rome, seems to be far from its true place. Is it the Pope’s fault? The fault of those around him? The “fault” of present circumstances? It is hard to say. Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who promised the immortality of His Church, will know and will be able to solve the problems that afflict it.
Let us pray for the Church; let us pray for the Pope, as the great St. Catherine of Siena once did, who fought so hard to put an end to the exile of her time:
“O Eternal Goodness, enlighten thy Representative (the Pope), that he may not love Thee for his own sake, nor love Thee for personal interests. May he love Thee for Thy sake, for Thy sake love Thee. For when he loves Thee and loves himself for self-interest, we perish. In him is our life. And also our death, when he is not concerned to defend the sheep that perish (…).
May your Representative take your will into consideration, may he love and carry it out, so that we may not perish. Give him a new heart, that he may continually grow in grace. A strong heart, capable of wielding the banner of the Cross, to make the unbelievers partake of the fruits of the Passion and Blood of Your Son, Lamb without stain, Deity most high and ineffable.
I have sinned, Lord, have mercy on me.” [3]
By João Paulo de Oliveira
[1] ROPS, Henri-Daniel. History of the Church of Christ: The Church of the Renaissance and Reformation. São Paulo: Quadrante, 1996, v. 1, pp 22-23.
[2] Cf. ROMANATO, Gianpaolo. Pío X en los orígenes del catolicismo contemporáneo. Madrid: Palabra, 2018, p. 299.
[3] SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA. The Prayers. São Paulo: Paulus, 1996, p. 11-12.
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
