Opinions Afterward

While Abraham Lincoln was in office, and soon after his death, the general public opinion of him was not the same as the majority opinion now (in case you are unaware, the people who knew him best would not agree with the modern positive views of him). As time has passed, history was "changed", and (sadly) most people do not know what he was really like (two different books, both titled "The Real Lincoln", are helpful to clarify the issues).

Pope Alexander VI was possibly one of the worst Popes ever. During his lifetime, some people viewed him as a scoundrel, while many others had no idea of what he was actually like and thought everything was fine. After his death--and it appears he did repent before his passing--there were even some who claimed that he was as holy as St. Peter himself. That is quite a mixture of perspectives.

Here we stand just a few days after the passing of Pope Francis, and already there are a vast number of different views on what his legacy will be. Some are bold enough to begin pointing out his worst errors, while others seem to believe that any negative word is a guarantee of eternal condemnation. Even protestants range from giving him praise as the best Pope ever, to mourning the loss of what they call "the first protestant Pope" (!).

I am not about to emphasize the late Holy Father's beliefs that were apparently in contradiction to the Catholic faith. All in all, what we say about the late Holy Father in the next few months will likely be charged with our personal attitudes and convictions more than actual facts. Our duty at this time, is to learn from the past twelve years, not to presume that we know all the details of what happened and pronounce judgment.

Let us seek to control our hearts during these days, and work to trust the Lord for what He has done over the past decade, and also what He is going to do in the future. How we speak, and think, and feel about the late Pope Francis, will impact how we speak, think and feel about our next Pope. Our hearts are either going to behave like he is our Holy Father, or like he is our subject that we are to judge.

I have expressed before that I too struggled with many things that Pope Francis said over the last twelve years. I have also expressed that our hope must be in God and not in any fallen human. We are to trust that God worked through Pope Francis (even if it was for our discipline) and thus be able to trust that God will work through our future Pope; whether we like him or not. "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord."