Francis, Bishop, and Servant of the Servants of God

Monday, May 15th, 2023

A grey and drizzly Rome was under an intense security lockdown on Saturday as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came to town for the day.

The Italian government deployed some 1,500 security agents, stationed snipers on rooftops, and enforced a no-fly zone for the visit of the president whose country continues to fight the troops from neighbouring Russia that invaded Ukraine over a year ago.

Many Italian and Rome-based foreign journalists gave the impression that the singular purpose of Zelensky’s trip was to meet Pope Francis.

They opined that it was to discuss a nebulous behind-the-scenes peace plan the 86-year-old pope recently said the Holy See is working on.

A meeting with the Bishop of Rome was indeed on the Ukrainian president’s schedule, but it was not the main reason he came to the Eternal City. Not by a long shot.

Zelensky came for military aid, not a papal peace plan.

He was actually here to meet Italy’s president and prime minister. He had one particular objective: to obtain further aid for Ukraine’s war effort, especially in weapons — long-range missiles to be exact.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Italy is the 6th largest military arms exporter in the world, following Germany, China, France, Russia — of course — the (“We’re Number 1”) United States of America.

But the Italian populace is divided over their country’s military assistance to Ukraine.

That’s why Zelensky also secured a high-profile interview on Italian state television (RAI) at the end of the daylong visit with the hopes of shifting public opinion.

His meeting with the pope was also about trying to convince the head of the Roman Catholic Church that Vladimir Putin is not someone to be trusted at a bargaining table, certainly not until the Russian president moves every last one of his soldiers and their tanks out of Ukraine.

But Francis has talked about that “secret” plan to stop the war.

It’s apparently so secret that officials in the warring neighbouring countries have said they are unaware of it.

The pope, who has spoken out almost daily for peace in “battered” or “martyred” Ukraine, deserves our admiration for his willingness “to do whatever it takes” to help end the war.

But, as it’s been said several times in this column, there is no role for the Bishop of Rome in the Russian Orthodox world.

That includes Ukraine, too, which is actually the historic birthplace of this Eastern Orthodox Church, religious tradition and ethos.

Although the Jesuit pope has gone to incredible (and some would say embarrassing) lengths to create better relations between the Vatican and the Moscow Patriarchate (head of the Russian Orthodox Church), the Russians still do not trust the Romans.

Of course, we believe that miracles can happen.

And that’s exactly what is needed for there to be any role for the pope or his Holy See diplomats in ending the bloodshed in this inter-Orthodox war.

Looking after the flock

As the Bishop of Rome — yes, he is first of all a bishop –, the pope’s primary role is to “teach, sanctify, and govern” those who are part of his Church.

And since he is the ordinary of the See of Peter and Paul, he also exercises a distinctive primacy over those local Churches in communion with Rome.

But the pope’s “flock”, as it were, is minuscule in Russia — counting only 348,000 Catholics in an overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox nation of 104.9 million people.

The Catholic population is a bit larger in Ukraine, but those in communion with the pope are still in the minority.

Of the country’s estimated 42.9 million people, there are roughly 4.8 million Catholics.

But they are not all “Romans” or Latins.

In fact, most of them are Greek (or Byzantine) Catholics, which are similar in almost all ways to the Eastern Orthodox, except they are in communion with and subject to the pope.

Roman Catholics, mainly based in western Ukraine and of Polish ancestry, don’t even amount to one percent of the country’s population. Greek Catholics make up only 8%.

The point here, as the Russians often point out, is that this part of the world is not historically part of the Bishop of Rome’s territory, either spiritually or juridically.

Obviously, the ecumenical age in which we currently live demands that the different Christian communities (and other religious traditions) strive to work together for peace, harmony and the common good everywhere in the world.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow is the pope’s interlocutor in this matter.

But they are kind of not talking to each other right now… They also have opposing views about the legitimacy of Putin’s invasion.

The Roman pope as monarch and statesman

What’s going on here is not about Francis fulfilling his role as a bishop or even the spiritual leader of the world’s largest and wealthiest Christian Church.

Although he prefers to position himself as a sort of global “pastor”, in this case, he’s really using his prerogatives as a monarch, a role the Roman papacy accrued over the course of its long history.

The Bishop of Rome is also the Sovereign of Vatican City State.

Like a monarch (or dictator, if you prefer), he “enjoys supreme, full, immediate and universal ordinary power in the Church” and the postage stamp-sized remnant of the Papal States that is the Vatican, territorial home of the Holy See and guarantor of the Catholic Church’s freedom.

If you don’t believe that, consider this: Francis on Saturday issued an updated version of Vatican City State’s “fundamental law” (i.e. constitution), as well as this tiny country’s flag, coat of arms, and official seal.

And on all three, the papal tiara (triple crown) is prominently featured, even though the last two popes replaced the tiara with a bishop’s mitre on their own coat of arms.

Bishops don’t normally enjoy the rights and privileges of kings or heads of state as the Bishop-Sovereign of Vatican City does. And Francis wants to ensure he and his successors continue enjoying this role.

From this point of view, one can say that the pope is absolutely justified in using his internationally recognised status as a state sovereign to engage other world leaders for the good of humanity.

But here’s the thing — his influence is waning.

But that’s not his fault or the fault of his pontificate.

This is the state of the Roman papacy today.

The world where it once played a significant diplomatic and political role has largely collapsed or just faded away.

Old Europe, which was made of monarchies like the pope’s, no longer exists.

The papacy enjoyed geopolitical power when the world was Eurocentric.

That’s pretty much all gone now.

If you want proof, think of the inability of Francis — a Latin American pope — and his top papal diplomats to help negotiate peaceful solutions to conflicts (directly affecting local Catholics!) in places like Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The papal nuncio was even booted out of Managua, and a local bishop has been thrown in jail, while at least one other has been forced into exile.

It would be marvellous if the pope could end the horrible war in Ukraine, but short of a miracle, that’s not likely to happen.

The best thing he can do is continue “teach, sanctify, and govern” his people in the ways of Christ’s peace and fellowship, as he does so well.

Francis, Bishop, and Servant of the Servants of God — as Paul VI signed the documents of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) — has brought much light to our often dark and violent world.

But he is only its servant, not its saviour.