IT is grueling: three countries in 12 days, countless meetings, Masses, speeches, homilies, and hours on one’s feet on the popemobile. For one who had just gone under the knife, it is punishing. But he is “Santo Padre,” and the padre will be where the hijos and hijas are. I am sure, however, that this was a trip over which Papa Leon XIV would have strongly and staunchly resisted suggestions of postponing. It is, after all, a homecoming for him. The kind of Spanish that he speaks is familiar to the Spanish speakers of South America. A homecoming, for it includes a trip to his beloved Peru of which he is a naturalized citizen.
No one can draw crowds like the Pope can, not only in terms of numbers, but also in fervor. Uruguay is reputedly South America’s most secular state, but that did not prevent Catholics from gathering in crowds lining the streets and filling the plazas to overflowing. It was a very pastoral decision to celebrate the Mass at Paysandu — a city 300 kilometers from the capital Montevideo, but reaching out, really, to the geographical and social peripheries.
The crowd of 2.5 million in Buenos Aires was phenomenal — and nothing short of inspiring! At all events, choirs and altar servers clearly rehearsed their parts; physical arrangements — including provision for portalettes — showed unmistakable signs of meticulous planning; and civil authorities who welcomed the Pope appeared to be warm and truly delighted by his presence. And while all this doubtlessly warmed the Pope’s heart, most touching were scenes of the Bishop of Rome returning the embraces of children and teenagers, tracing the sign of the cross on the foreheads of the sick and the elderly, and sharing a quiet word with simple people.
When one pays heed to how the Church was gathered — after all, “Church” is gathering — in Africa; the European countries he visited, including Spain and the rambunctious crowds in France; and now South America — one sees that “rebel” factions like the Society of Saint Pius X, sedevacantists and others cannot take up too much of the Pope’s time and emotional energy. He has a whole flock to tend, and many are ecstatic to be in his presence. Wherever he celebrates Mass, and one sees a mass of priests vested for the Eucharist, mitered bishops and cardinals celebrating with him, one cannot but glorify God for the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church guided by Peter’s successor.
Without a doubt, there are many in the crowds that turn out to greet the Pope who may live far from Catholic lives, but that is the point of a papal visit: to strengthen our brothers and sisters in the faith and to remind them that they are not called to journey in lonely isolation, but as a community, each inspiring the other.
One of the most impressive scenes — witnessing to a Church that recognizes the role of women — was the Pope introducing the cardinals and bishops heading the Roman dicasteries to the heads of state who welcomed him. Among them — for the very first time ever in the history of the Catholic Church — stood the first woman and first lay person ever to be Prefect of the Dicastery for Communications: Maria Montserrat Alvarado. Seeing her, one understands how silly it is for some shrieking females to insist on the “right” to be ordained. “Montse” occupies a position to which no priest will be predictably appointed in the near future, and over which only a handful of bishops will preside. Service to the Church is not merely the service of the ordained!
But when the Pope intones: “Oremus... preghiamo... oremos... let us pray,” he remembers and reminds us too that all the fanfare is never about him, but about the God who is glorified in his Church, the Body of which Christ, the Eternal Son of God, is head.
rannie_aquino@sanbeda.edu.ph
rannie_aquino@csu.edu.ph