Now that the new Pope has chosen to be called Francis, we may ask what difference did his role model St Francis of Assisi make to the galloping beast of capitalism since its rise from the 13th century? The mendicant friars, represented by the Franciscans and Dominicans had appeared to provide timely pastoral solutions to the new urban problems, namely, urban poverty and the intellectual challenge of the new universities to the traditional Church-dominated teaching that did not satisfy the humanist agenda.
We need not forget that Franciscan friars went through problems of their own, breaking up into more and less observants of the poverty idealized by their founder. There were also Popes, such as Eugene IV (1431-1447) who took special interest in assisting the Franciscans in protecting their ideals. Unfortunately, the exile of Pope Eugene IV and the election of an antipope Felix V, made that process more difficult.
King Manuel of Portugal had opted for the Observant Franciscans to be sent to India to accompany his plan of discoveries, preferring them to the Conventuals that were available in Portugal. Even a cursory reading of contemporary documents leaves us with doubts about their performance. In the very first decade of the Portuguese in Goa, the Convent of St Francis in Old Goa was collecting anually a dozen wine barrels for the friars to drink. Mass wine was registered separately.
The viceroy Dom Martim Afonso de Sousa, who took Francis Xavier in his company to India, was upset on his arrival to see the Franciscan friars pressing for more convents in different Portuguese settlements in India. He described them to the king as restless and shameless, worried about other clerics who might take away the Mass stipends from them. They were clamouring against the new elfry of the See Cathedral, and threatening to leave their convent in protest. The viceroy wished they would carry out their threat!
A Franciscan comissary of the order confirmed the viceroy’s feelings about the behaviour of the Portuguese in India. Fr Rodrigo de Serpa wrote to the king: “Even if Our Lord descended from the heavens and walked among us, as he did among the apostles, it would not satisfy them, because none is content in India. All wish to command, while there is none left to obey.”
These cases suffice to suggest that neither the history of Franciscans, nor that of the Popes has been free from questionable developments. It does not seem likely that a Pope may be exiled and a replacement sought in our times, but who can really guess what neo-liberalism can do, if twarted in its designs?
If Pope Francis seeks to protect the poor, to promote peace and to care for nature, he has dared to devote himself to the three victims of modern capitalism, which prospers with production of arms, destruction of nature and exploitation of labour. We have yet to know if the noble papal objectives are to be achieved only through prayers, encyclicals and a base-metal pectoral cross.
There are too many well-entrenched Vatican structures that will resist dismantling. The same applies to the colonial episcopal structures around the world, including Goa, the ‘Rome of the East’. The poor may feel comfortable with the incarnated Jesus only if the high priests of his Church go beyond presenting themselves as servants, and join them in their struggle for survival.
The new Pope Francis has sounded the right chord when he mentioned that a Church without Jesus is just another pious NGO. But will he have the courage to hear and back up more radical voices inside the Church demanding greater freedom from the structural shackles of wealth and power that make the Church collaborate with capitalist demands?
This could be too tall an order to fulfill. If Pope Francis decides to transform the Vatican into a new Aracoeli and steps up denunciations of the varied excesses of neo-liberal capitalism, from his newly-gained privileged position, nothing may prevent capitalist forces from employing a drone-strategy to snuff out any Catholic version of Talibanism.
This predicament may be an exaggeration, given that Pope Francis has proved himself cautious or diplomatic in handling Argentinian generals. We do not wish to believe that new hopes will peter out, leaving the thirsty masses without the water of life, that needs to break forth from the Petrine rock.
