Greg DalyJesuit Fr James Kelly is surprised but delighted with the Pope, writes Greg Daly
“I was surprised that he got elected, but I’m very delighted now,” says Fr James Kelly as he reflects on his former superior’s first two years as Pope.
Fr Kelly, who spent half of each year between 1979 and 1983 at Buenos Aires’ Jesuit-run Colegio Máximo, where the then Fr Jorge Bergoglio was rector, says: “Before Benedict was elected, a Christian brother wrote to me from Buenos Aires and he said, ‘Watch this man. He could be Pope.’ I wrote back, and said, ‘Not a hope!’”
Although he had been wary in 2013 when he heard his one-time seminary rector had become Pope, fearing that he might prove rigid and authoritarian, the Milltown-based Jesuit says: “I’m very pleased with the way things have gone. He has surprised me. He’s a changed man.”
Pointing out how the then Fr Bergoglio had been a divisive figure in Argentina’s Jesuit community, Fr Kelly says his superior had “a vision of the way things should be”, and while he largely admired that vision, it was clear that many, who would have preferred more dialogue, were uneasy with how strongly he pressed it. “It wasn’t that he was commanding obedience,” explains Fr Kelly, “but that he felt this was the way to go – he was certain that this was the way to go. And I’ve often reflected that maybe there was truth in what he was doing.
“He had a vision of priesthood, he had a vision of training people, he wanted them to above all be spiritual – the spirituality of this group, the way they prayed, was very impressive, and then the way they went out to help people, and the way they studied as well, so they were a very admirable group, and he was directing that.”
Students
There was no shortage of such students, adds Fr Kelly, who says the Argentine Jesuits had a vocations boom under his then superior. “There was a pull in Bergoglio, there’s no question about that – he was able to attract, which is extraordinary, because the regime was very tough: it was a very strict, austere regime.
“He was utterly demanding of the students, and yet they had great respect for him. I’ve never seen anything like it – this dynamism that he had, how the students even though it was austere and demanding in every way yet they had great respect and appreciation – because the regime was a bit too strict for me, for my liking – and yet the students reacted differently.”
Commenting on the then Fr Bergoglio’s “vision”, Fr Kelly says: “He was concerned always for the poor, but he didn’t follow the Jesuit ‘faith and justice’ – I never heard him use that phrase, and Jesuits were using it all over the place, ‘faith and justice’. He was very concerned with the poor, but their religious needs came first: you serve the poor, but you serve them religiously first. You helped all you could, but the emphasis was on the religious side. And that was kind of against the current in Jesuit thinking at the time.”
In this, he says, his onetime rector seems not to have changed.
“What’s remarkable for me is that he puts the religious needs first. Always the religious needs first. Concern to help others, concern with their problems, but always in this context, and that’s written several times in Evangelii Gaudium, that the religious needs of people are first. He says several times, ‘I regret there are people who haven’t heard of Christ’ – their spiritual needs are not being looked after. These are the greatest needs of people.”
“The other thing, of course, is going out,” he adds. “That’s a big thing with him. You go out to people – that is a huge concern. You try to meet them. Don’t be in the sacristy waiting for them – go out!”
Reflecting on his erstwhile rector’s theological influences, Fr Kelly describes him as deeply formed by the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius, and says that “he was a great admirer of Paul VI” with much of his thinking drawn from the 1975 encyclical Evangelii Nuntiandi. Fr Kelly notes too the influence of Romano Guardini on the spirituality of the then Fr Bergoglio, describing Guardini as “marvellous on the challenges of faith” and singling out The Lord as an especially important work.
Practical
“Guardini covered a wide range of theological issues made very practical, and again, Bergoglio is that. He’s a theologian in his own way, but practical – he’s geared to helping people, to problems.”
“I’d say he’d be a very good confessor,” adds Fr Kelly, explaining that his one-time superior was always a great listener, and observing, “I think for people, for students and that, who felt any difficulty, he was marvellously supportive.”
Describing the Pope as “a pastoral man” who “wants a merciful Church”, and has “a vision of what Christ wants and what the Church should be doing”, Fr Kelly says he is sure Pope Francis will work for that “to the utmost of his abilities”.
Certain the Holy Father “wants to do what’s right and best” and will not allow his hands be tied by those at the Church’s extremes, Fr Kelly is adamant that Pope Francis is doctrinally very conservative, and that “there’ll be no doctrinal change with him”. Nonetheless, he says, “I think he’ll try to put Catholic teaching in a more tolerant way, if you like, I think that’s a big thing with him.”
With reference to this autumn’s General Synod on the Family, Fr Kelly says, “I’m looking forward to seeing what will happen – I’d like to see how he will handle this. I don’t expect any doctrinal change, but he could apply the teaching in a more flexible manner, and he is concerned to help people that we would consider in wayward situations.”
Pointing out that Pope Francis is opposed to “dominating people with doctrine”, preferring instead to meet people where they are and accompany them, Fr Kelly stresses that the Pontiff’s devotion to mercy shouldn’t be misconstrued as laxity: “He’s terribly demanding,” he says, “He’s still as demanding as he was in Buenos Aires with his students.”
On the other hand, says Fr Kelly, his former boss seems more inclined to dialogue than in previous years. “He seems to have changed,” he says, adding, “He seems less authoritarian than he was. I feel myself that as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, when he got away from the Jesuits, he more or less found himself again – he got what he wanted: he wanted to be out with the people.
“I always admired him,” concludes Fr Kelly, reflecting on how Pope Francis seems to have grown even since becoming Pope, “and I have grown in my admiration for him.”