The teaching of two Popes

by Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Dear companions,

The past weeks of the death of Pope Francis and the gathering of the Conclave that will elect his successor has brought to my mind his own life and that of his true forerunner, Pope John XXIII. Both were great Popes, perhaps the two greatest in the whole history of the papacy. It has been a blessing for me to live through the whole of their lives and deaths.

They both did two amazing things. Each of them did the unheard-of: sending forth an encyclical, not to the Church alone but to the whole Human race. John warned us all of the universal danger of the nuclear arms race. Francis warned us all of the universal danger of the obsession with burning fossil fuels.

And both of them cared passionately for individuals who had been treated badly by the Church. Children who had been sexually abused by prelates of the Church; people of gay and other queer gender expression who are treated with contempt by much of the Church; people, even church members, from the global south.

The combination of bold vision for their enormous institutions rooted in Spirit and Faith, with the personal caring for even and especially the marginalized of those same institutions made them extraordinary as Popes and as people.

In this generation we are confronted with secular leaders who are not only filled with their own hatred and contempt for people, immigrants, and refugees, but also attempt to infuse that hatred into most of the peoples they lead. We must remember Pope John and Pope Francis for the love they brought their huge institutions as a whole, the individual people who attend them, the whole Human Community and Earth.

Please join me in prayer that the Conclave which begins meeting this week will find itself moved by the memories of two great Popes who would move forward, not reverse, the energy these two Popes have brought. Let us use in prayer the languages into which we can pour our best passion, our greatest love – English and Spanish and Portuguese, Hebrew and Arabic, and all the others, ancient and modern.

O You Who are One and Who burst forth joyfully in every aspect of the universe, help us to honor each of Your sparks by enacting and embodying love and justice for all.

— Arthur