Pope Francis and Donald Trump – Icons for another year of Distrust and Trust

We face futures of both growing social and political distrust and (or so I believe) of growing awareness of the need for nurturing social and political trust.  Said differently, both trust and distrust will spread across the globe in the coming year(s) – one the result of Trump’s influence (and the influence of his ilk elsewhere); the other of Francis’ influence (and of many other like-minded leaders and writers). 

In my previous Christmas blog post December 19, 2023, I indicated that “a second and follow-up posting would contrast Francis with Trump as cultural icons for two very different political and social futures for our world.”  Herewith that follow-up posting.

Result? Divided, even polarized families, countries, global arenas of influence….  And growing efforts to overcome such polarizations.

In my Christmas posting, I focused primarily on Francis, with some references to William Lynch, SJ.  Especially on Francis’ great encyclical Fratelli Tutti and secondarily to Lynch’s plea (in his 1975 book Images of Faith) that we need to imagine faith as not just something vertical, but also something deeply horizontal or embodied.  And he meant not so much the mystical body of the church, but the complex body of relationships of trust that makes society possible.   Without such a real body, faith in God (or the nation, or whatever) will be little more than dangerous illusion.

I’ll try to keep this brief since I suspect the contrast between Trump and Francis is pretty obvious to all but the most hardened (or sclerotic) minds and spirits. 

Trump may be the next US president (God forbid!).  Yet even if this catastrophe is avoided, his “iconic” significance will continue to grow.  Here in the US (perhaps especially if he is justly imprisoned), as well as in Russia and China, in the many neo-fascist parties growing again in Western Europe, in the Middle East, and in many parts of southern Asia — Modi’s Hindu nationalism is the most frightening example.  Perhaps even in my beloved Australia.

In much of Africa, there is perhaps little need for Trump’s iconic influence since tyranny is already pervasive.  Even again in my beloved South Africa.

Yet many leaders and critics – Francis primary among them – are deeply concerned about the decline of democracy and human rights throughout the world.  I, for example, am among many who have long feared the militarization of both economy and politics in this country. 

In that regard, Pope Francis’ recent Christmas message to the world “Urbi et Orbi” – Christmas 2023 | Francis (vatican.va), before discussing many specific conflicts throughout the world, made these memorable remarks which are worth citing at length:

“To say ‘yes’ to the Prince of Peace, then, means saying ‘no’ to war, to every war and to do so with courage, to the very mindset of war, an aimless voyage, a defeat without victors, an inexcusable folly. This is what war is: an aimless voyage, a defeat without victors, an inexcusable folly. To say ‘no’ to war means saying ‘no’ to weaponry. The human heart is weak and impulsive; if we find instruments of death in our hands, sooner or later we will use them. And how can we even speak of peace, when arms production, sales and trade are on the rise? Today, as at the time of Herod, the evil that opposes God’s light hatches its plots in the shadows of hypocrisy and concealment. How much violence and killing takes place amid deafening silence, unbeknownst to many! People, who desire not weapons but bread, who struggle to make ends meet and desire only peace, have no idea how many public funds are being spent on arms. Yet that is something they ought to know! It should be talked about and written about, so as to bring to light the interests and the profits that move the puppet-strings of war.”

Yet while this ringing condemnation must be heard and repeated, it also needs to be seen within the context of Fratelli Tutti, “On Fraternity and Social Friendship” Fratelli tutti (3 October 2020) | Francis (vatican.va).  As his major contribution to the papal tradition of Catholic Social Teaching, that letter repeats the pope’s condemnation of war and militarism. 

Yet the larger context for that condemnation is his message about the fundamental reality of and the great need for social friendship and trust. 

(The reader may remember that any objected to the title’s “All My Brothers” and urged a change to include women as well as men – especially since it’s generally more women than men who nurture and mend the web of social trust.) 

Might Francis, then — in his person, his words, and his actions – actually become an influential and international icon for the growth of social trust, for the future development of those many relations of trust which constitute society’s body of faith?

His is no easy task, as the continuing loss of faith in his (my) Church demonstrates.  And I don’t mean loss of faith in God or even in specific elements of the Christian creeds.  Rather loss of faith in the way his church operates.  On its failures regarding sexual abuse; on its meandering and conflicted efforts to deal with changing understandings of gender and sexuality; on opposing positions about his call for a new “synodal” path.

Let me end with that idea or ideal of synodality.  Francis certainly means a process whereby conflicts and polarizations with the catholic church might be lessened, or at least mediated, by folks at all levels sitting together, speaking and especially listening, in order to discern paths forward.  Yet such a synodal path is needed and often practiced not only in churches and synagogues, mosques and temples.  It is very much needed – and, again, often attempted and practiced – in many dimensions of social life – what I prefer to call “the human city”.

Here I should probably say “let me count the ways” in which such synodal processes are evidenced in our society.  Rather, I’ll ask the reader to remember and think about their experiences of such processes in their city or social world.  I’ve already attempted to give my list in five previous postings (during November 2020) about “Fratelli Tutti in Denver.”