Pope Francis, Second Vatican Council and the New Model of the Catholic Church

• Main Author: Filippov Boris
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: St. Tikhon's Orthodox University 2016-02-01
• Series: Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Svâto-Tihonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta: Seriâ II. Istoriâ, Istoriâ Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Cerkvi
• Subjects: Pope Francis; II Vatican Council; clericalism; celibate; “Allience of Throne and Altar”; clergy; laity; сollegiality; women; bishops; primate; “Lumen gentium”; Early Church; believers without church; Post-Constantine era; Roman curia; bishops conference
• Online Access: http://periodical.pstgu.ru/en/pdf/article/3186

While the Earth’s population grows exponentially and with it grows the number of baptized Catholics, there is no corresponding growth among the Catholic clergy. On the other hand the number of “believers outside of the Church” and nonbelievers grows each year and the center of the world Christianity moves to the South. At the same time Christianity has become the religion of megalopolises. Finally, the growth of the “Charismatic communities” has become one of the most important challenges to the Catholic Church in the world. But the Catholic Church in its current state is unable to satisfyingly answer to any of these challenges. The image of the Church is tarnished by continuous sex scandals. It is then that an Argentine cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio is elected to be the head of the Catholic Church as the new pope. He chooses to be named Francis both acknowledging deeply problematic state of the Church in the world and symbolizing its readiness to restoration. The new Pope begins his work by reminding that the goal of the Church is evangelism, that is spreading the Gospel in the modern world. To be succeed in this the Catholic Church needs to change its image in the public’s eye. The Church needs to be seen merciful and poor, to get rid of the clericalism. Another goal set by Pope Francis is realization of the decisions of the Second Vatican Council on forming post-Constantine model of the Catholic Church, that is on collegiality in governing the Church and increasing the role of lay Catholics, including women, in the Church affairs. By these changes the Pope wants to shape a new model of the Catholic Church. This article describes this process and its implications.