Pope's meeting with bishops will be 'more than selfies'

By John Bacon
USA Today
September 26, 2015

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/09/26/popes-meeting-bishops-more-than-selfies/72871690/

Pope Francis arrives to celebrate a midday prayer service with U.S. bishops at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington on Sept. 23, 2015.

Pope Francis watches The Pennsylvania Ballet at Festival of Families.

Pope Francis at Festival of Families along Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.

Pope Francis waves to the crowd as he arrives at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Sept. 26, 2015.

Sister Mary Celeste, left, and Sister Mary Rose of Nashville wait for Pope Francis to arrive at the World Festival of Families on Sept. 26, 2015, in Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA — Pope Francis is expected to hammer home his recurring themes of family and a welcoming church when he meets with bishops from around the globe Sunday at the World Meeting of Families.

That message may not sound too different from his speeches and homilies in Washington and New York this week, but the headline will be “more than selfies,” said Father James Bretzky, a theology professor at Boston College.

“It will be, in a certain sense, a collective reaffirmation of the importance of families,” he said.

Bretzky, a Jesuit like Francis, said the pope’s discussions with U.S. bishops earlier this week and the wider audience of bishops Sunday could be the “biggest takeaway” from the historic U.S. trip.

The pontiff, in a speech to U.S. bishops Wednesday, stressed the need for less confrontational dialogue on family issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage and euthanasia.

"Harsh and divisive language does not befit the tongue of a pastor. It has no place in his heart," Francis said.

Francis was “trying to offer a message of hope and engagement with the American culture,” Bretzky said.Francis has defined his 2½ years as pontiff by taking on controversial issues. He recently gave priests the authority to forgive the "sin of abortion" for women who are genuinely sorry about it — at least for one year. He also affirmed that “marriage is between a man and a woman” but gave ground on civil unions. “We have to look at different cases and evaluate them,” he said.

John Thavis, a former Catholic News Service reporter and author of The Vatican Diaries, agrees that Francis wants a more welcoming church. On Sunday, the pope may address the specifics about how bishops should deal with family issues, Thavis said.

“In Washington he stressed that harsh language doesn’t work,” Thavis said. That message conflicts with the undaunted, more confrontational style favored by some of the pope’s predecessors and current bishops.

The pontiff’s predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, traveled to Spain to contest a same-sex marriage bill there. In the U.S., Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia drew fire recently for expressing support when a diocese fired a teacher in a same-sex marriage. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, another of the nation’s most conservative bishops, was a leader in the fight to ban gay marriage in California.

Cordileone said his views are similar to the pope’s but admits he lacks the Francis' pastoral touch. “I say things that make people mad. I know that,” Cordileone recently told The Guardian.

That is not the church Francis wants to lead.

“Even if it (harsh dialogue) seems momentarily to win the day, we can’t say ‘We won the political battle, so we won,’” Thavis said. “The pope is saying that harsh language may alienate many people who are deeply involved in the church, who care about it.”