The Nonviolence of Francis

Some accuse Pope Francis of being confusing when he does not aggressively defend the righteous and condemn the sinners, imposing rules, defining with papal infallibility the lines we cannot cross, etc. But they do not understand that, in reality, what he is confusing is the evil spirit that motivates them.

In a world where politicians and religious leaders debate and insult each other through tweets, Francis, with his way of resisting aggression through dialogue, “stands firm (Ephesians 6:13) but with the same attitude of Jesus,”^[26] and opens around him a different political space, that of the Kingdom of God, in which the Lord is the real champion of the battle, not us.

This “passive resistance of evil” – the same that Bergoglio has always emphasized as the grace which belongs to the people, and upon which they build patiently and wisely their culture^[27] – amends, among other things, three attitudes that are typical of a “politics of aggression” and are at the basis of all partisan politics. Bergoglio describes these behaviors as they present themselves in the Passion of our Lord. The first one is the behavior of the people who “persecute those who they believe to be weaker.”^[28] The powerful did not dare to oppose Jesus when the people followed him, but they were brave enough to do so when, after having been betrayed by one of his own, they saw him weakened. The second attitude is characterized this way: “At the root of all cruelty there is a need to unload one’s own faults and limits […] the mechanism of the scapegoat is repeated.”^[29] The third attitude belongs to those who, like Pilate, in the face of such ferocity decide to wash their hands of it and walk away.^[30]

 <sup>From an article in La Civilta Catolica, "The Spirit of Fierceness" by Diego Farrs SJ, September 1, 2018

https://laciviltacattolica.com/against-the-spirit-of-fierceness/</sup>