VATICAN CITY
The Daily Star (Lebanon)
August 08, 2013
By Peter McDonough
The Daily Star
Catholicism, among the most tradition-bound religions, contains at its core a paradox that has become increasingly sharp. With Pope Francis having just finished his first overseas trip – to Brazil, the world’s most populous Catholic country – it is difficult, despite the inertia of the past, to tell where the church is headed.
The accession of Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the papacy adds to the puzzle. The chief Jesuit confessor at the papal court used to be called “the black pope,” owing to his simple black cassock (if not his sinister intent). For the first time, a Jesuit has become pope – and has compounded the novelty by assuming the very un-Jesuit name of Francis.
As curious as such gestures are in an institution that thrives on imagery, they are symbolic frills. We already have plenty of pictures of Francis kissing babies; what he faces now are strategic matters of genuine substance.
One such challenge, the Vatican Bank, is equivalent to cleaning up the Augean stables. It is enough to mention the words “Vatican” and “bank” in the same sentence to start a cascade of jokes about comic-opera ineptness and skullduggery.
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