“Who is Pope Francis?” was the understandable and constant question during this pope’s first year, now past. “Who is a Catholic?” is the understandable and urgent question in his second year, now begun. Of course, the two questions are symbiotic. What the pope says and does relates to and potentially effects change in the lives of each of the one billion individuals called “Catholic.” The question not only takes a plural form, “Who are Catholics?” but, also, “Who is a Catholic?” So far, the public media and the internet have highlighted the latter question.
“What It Means to Be Catholic Now,” an op-ed by Peter Manseau in The New York Times (March 10), provides a focus for discussion and an illustration of the complexity of the issue. Regarding the Pope as “the perfect divining rod for uncovering assumptions about the future of the Catholic church,” Manseau brought up a number of adjectives or other forms of description. Count them: “lapsed,” “recovering,” “former,” “ecumenical,” “universal,” “authentic,” “Reformed,” “independent,” “loyal to the poetry of,” for beginnings.
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