On March 13th Jorge Mario Bergoglio became a Pope under the name Franciscus I. He is now the leader of about 1.2 billion Catholics but is he only theirs and what kind of a leader he is? Is the leadership of the Pope defined by the time of his papacy and the perceptions of the people?
If we look at the facts, the Pope is a
religious leader by all means, the single supreme one for all Catholics. The Christian
Orthodox churches all have patriarchs, Islam has many imams or ayatollahs,
Judaism many rabbis, but there is only one Pope. However, he is also a head of
a state – the Vatican
The Pope is undoubtedly a leader. The definition
of his leadership today, however, depends on the time of his papacy, his own
actions, and the perception of the people.
For sure, it was Karol Wojtyła, John Paul II,
who made everybody realize to what extend the Pope can politically influence the
world. Ever since his election in 1978, he has been credited for the fall of
communism in Eastern Europe . Not just with
prays, with real actions! Pope John Paul openly supported all resistance
actions in the Eastern Block, particularly the “Solidarity” movement in his
homeland, Poland Warsaw in 1979 and further, by inviting
Walesa in the Vatican US
president Ronald Reagan shows Vatican
One of Samuel Huntington’s key assumptions in
his genius work, “The clash of civilizations”, is that people tend to unify
much more on the basis of religion or civilization rather then nation – and
that is easily proven if you look at today’s Islam world or the pillar ideas of
the European Union. When the majority of the nations today are either
disappointed or oppressed by their political leaders, people look for someone
to trust in and they easily find it in a figure that represents centuries old
values like the Pope, especially when he can act further then religious
practices and exercise politics. This is particularly true for nations
with larger number of poor people or long experience in transitions and
traditional political instability. It is very hard to identify yourself with a
state that constantly goes through dark ages or with politicians whose morality
and honesty in governance are highly questionable. It is way more rewarding and comforting to know you belong to a group of billion people in one of the most solid organizations.
Critics would say that the Catholic Church as well constantly questions its image with the continuous scandals on child abuses. Indeed, that’s why Benedict wasn’t particularly favored by followers –
he was expected to do something about it, much like a politician is expected to
readjust social problems. But little has changed during the papacy of Cardinal Ratzinger. His resignation was a precedent in the history of the church for the
last 500 years and was a statement that contributes to the nowadays political role of the Pope – feeling unable
to fulfil duties due to declining health, Ratzinger preferred to open the way
for someone stronger.
On Christmas and Easter St.Peter’s square is
full of waving flags. When the Pope gives his traditional blessing in different
languages, you can easily determine which nation has probably not the most
representatives, but the loudest, the most enthusiastic ones. In the majority of the
cases, these are people from the types of countries I mentioned above. With the technical and media revolutions
today, more and more people have access to information which discredit governments,
political individuals and the democracy itself as a form of state governance.
Very often in the last decades, the Pope’s figure, for different reasons, went further then his direct
nominations - that wasn't left unnoticed by the people of all religions, it was actually applauded by them. The very fact the Pope’s masses and election are expected with
anxiety by millions of people around the world from various different nations,
to me, speaks by itself – the Pope is a figure many see as the leader their time
needs in an era of declining trust in politicians and world leaders.
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