Every morning I enjoy Holy Mass in a chapel near my home. A couple of days ago, at the end of Mass, a neighbor of mine was waiting for me and after greeting me she asked, "what do you think Lupita, will the next Pope be conservative or progressive?"
I remembered a metaphor that helped me clarify my view on this. Imagine the following scene: a person who is a teetotaler is asked which he/she prefers to drink, tequila or vodka. The person responds, -I'm not really interested in liquor, I'll drink this non-alcoholic option.
The Church is like this teetotaler, it is not interested in temporal power, its interest lies elsewhere.
To think of the Church in these terms is to reduce it to a temporal order, to consider it a mere organization, to mutilate it and empty it of its essence and meaning. Nowadays many have fallen into this dichotomy that becomes an obstacle to know the depth and complexity of an institution that is human-divine. Journalists need to create attractive headlines and they know that establishing opposites attracts an audience.
Terms from the geopolitical field have been incorporated into the reality of the Church and those of us who listen to and read them are using the same language with all its reductionisms. However, to enter into the knowledge of it is to become fascinated with its origin and its history, it implies generating a relationship with a living entity, something that goes far beyond its structures, something that really forms a mystical body. It is not a democracy and neither is it an oligarchy.
Honest journalists know and respect, even if they are not believers, that there is a supernatural element to our profession of faith. The divine reality is a variable that exists.
There is much prayer around crucial events in the life of the Church.
Conclave 2025
We are living the conclave 2025 and the world is united in prayer, we know that none of this can be fully explained without Christ. The experts speak of the preferences of the cardinals, if they will elect a Pope who follows the line of Francisco They are unaware that the election will be carried out by the action of the Holy Spirit through people. The media ecosystem speaks of the "element of surprise", or of the "mystery" of the criteria of election; it is there, in these words, where the divine action takes place.
Let us remember that polarities in tension are essentially creative when the purpose is clear. Of course, the cardinals have their own criteria and there is no uniformity within the Church, but there is unity, which is why each one will give the vote that corresponds to God's will, without putting his personal preferences first, but rather the good of the universal Church. From Paul VI to Pope Francis, we can observe the perfect continuity in the gradual implementation of the Second Vatican Council, with its errors and successes, in its human-divine journey, but always under the permanent assistance, never intermittent, of the Holy Spirit.
Secular journalism presents the cardinals as if they were seeking the papacy with a desire for power, as confirmed by the series, movies and documentaries that swarm on all media platforms, but the reality is that our cardinals know that being Pope involves carrying a very heavy cross, being elected and accepting it is a sacrificial surrender of themselves.
The Cardinals vote for the one whose heart tells them to do so, and they clearly perceive that they are handing him a great cross, so they offer him their assistance, fidelity and companionship so that he can steer Peter's boat through the storm... with Christ, always with Christ. The Church is in His hands.
In God's hands
A reflection is circulating in the networks titled: it depends on whose hands the matter is in. It says that a basketball in our hands is worth about $19, but a basketball in Michael Jordan's hands is worth about $33,000,000,000.
A tennis racket in my hands is useless.
A tennis racket in the hands of Pete Sampras means the Championship at Wimbledon.
It all depends on whose hands the matter is in.
A slingshot in my hands is child's play.
A sling in the hands of David is the weapon of victory for the People of God.
A few nails in my hands can be used to build a birdhouse.
A few nails in the hands of Jesus Christ bring about the salvation of all mankind.
It all depends on whose hands the matter is in.
In the face of a media ecosystem that insists on polarizing, Catholic families are called to trust. Let us place everything in God's blessed hands. Our task: to pray and christify our environments with joy and serenity.
Our minds and hearts are already ready to receive the Pope with gratitude, affection and docility.
