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Interview 12 WHEN I meet Fr Joe Inguanez at his office in the Archbishop's Curia in Floriana, I find him at his desk ruf- fling some papers with a serene look on his face. He is one of the few intel- lectuals who not only has something to say about the world around him, but who speaks with the authority of someone who understands and in- terprets change. Father Joe Inguanez is thrilled by the way Pope Francis is thinking out of the protocol box to foment change within the Church. "He has removed the 'wall' of pro- tocol which naturally has the effect of categorising people, thus inhibit- ing direct interaction with the man in the street. Pope Francis removed all this and 'meets' with the people without intermediaries." But is this not simply a public rela- tions exercise? Inguanez defends Pope Francis's authenticity, noting that Jorge Mario Bergoglio's life has not changed since he was chosen to be the Pope, and that his behaviour has remained consistent. "When he was appointed Arch- bishop of Argentina, he refused to live in a palace and chose to live in a small apartment, and he used public transport instead, and low cost air- lines. What we are seeing now is not a show. It is an authentic reflection of his biography." Inguanez is wary of comparisons with previous popes, but he finds Pope Francis's defiance of protocol as reminiscent of Pope John XXIII, who revolutionised the church by convening Vatican Council II against the advice of his Churchmen in high places. When John XIII announced the Council, the Cardinals could not believe their ears and their first reac- tion was a deafening silence. "When a cardinal told him that it would be impossible to organise Vatican Council II in three years. John XXIII reacted by telling him that it will have to be convened in two years." Pope John XXIII was a shock to those who elected him to be a 'caretaker Pope' by calling the his- toric Second Vatican Council – the first session opening on 11 October 1962. "What looked to be a rash deci- sion proved to be providential." In fact the Pope did not live to see it to completion, dying on 3 June 1963 of stomach cancer, four-and-a-half years after his election. Inguanez notes that like his pred- ecessor, Francis is also being seen by some in the church as "rash and mis- calculating". But far from being the case, the current Pope's decisions not only reflect the analysis and the wish expressed by cardinals during the conclave – they are also based on "a life-long reflection". Is the Pope raising expectations sky-high, making disappointment inevitable? Inguanez however sees this as a positive sign. "Thank God for this! Unfortunate- ly, many the Church's ills are born as a result of spiritual and intellectual mediocrity. This may be an unfair generalisation on my part; however I am of the opinion that mediocrity is at the root of much of the trouble the Church has been encountering for the past fifty years." It was this medi- ocrity, which according to Inguanez has practically "gagged the spirit of Vatican Council II". He also accuses some elements in the church for frustrating the reforms decreed by Vatican Council II. "It is a pity that certain clerics, in- stead of speaking of the development of Vatican Council II as the late Cardinal Martini did, push for a re- form of the reform which effectively means a present day counter-refor- mation within the church." He sees the same tendencies at work within the Maltese Church. "These people are not in tune with Vatican II, and much less with history." Asked about the ramifications of the new papacy on the local church, Inguanez notes that the new papacy has "the most positive effect on the population in general, including skeptics and lapsed Catholics." But unfortunately "people who should know better" are looking at the way Francis is behaving with great cau- tion, if not outright suspicion. "It seems that some of us are be- ing quite economic in promoting his lifestyle and his way of doing things. There are even young priests who are still clutching onto an outdated image of the Church. Theirs is a Ba- roque Church full of pomp and cir- cumstance." He thinks that it is "very unfortu- nate" that some are "misjudging" the new Pope by thinking that he is "making a leap in the dark" through his insistence on living the Gospel without "buts" and "ifs". "The struc- tural reforms he is making in the Ro- man Curia and its apparata is not a capricious move. Church structures will not reflect substance and has produced an inverted view of the Gospel, because substance was re- flecting structure. That is why the is concomitantly insisting on spiritual and structural reform." "What I appreciate about the new Pope is that while he is emphasising, through words and deeds, the core values of the gospel, he is also chang- ing the structures of the Church to make them reflect the Gospel rather than the court of a medieval monar- chy." Inguanez would also like the Mal- tese Church to emphasise social is- sues like immigration. "On immigration, the Church in Malta is doing a lot when it comes to hands-on assistance and this is in line with Pope Francis's message. What it should do more is by way of denunciation of the policies which exclude migrants." He also insists that the Church's critique should address both Malta's actions and the European Union's. "We need a critique of what the Eu- ropean Union is doing with regards to these human beings. Individual- ism has made us very selective where human rights are concerned." During his first year, the Pope has shifted the focus of the Church to- wards a critique of capitalism and a condemnation of the "globalisation of indifference". In marked contrast to politicians who boast of their pro-business cre- dentials, in his Apostolic Exhorta- tion Evangelii Gaudium the Pope referred to "a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power". The Pope also expressed concern about a culture which cultivated glo- bal indifference. According to the Pope, society seems content to be- lieve that poverty is somebody else's problem. For him, the poor are not only exploited but also excluded. They have become "the outcast, the leftovers". Pope Francis also hammers the in- justice of growing inequality. He sees this income gap as a "result of ideolo- gies which defend the absolute au- tonomy of the marketplace". He even speaks of the "sacralised workings of the prevailing economic system". Inguanez notes that the Church's critique of capitalism harks back to Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum. But he notes that this encyclical, which fo- cused on the wickedness of "unbri- dled capitalism", had been overtaken by a capitalist mentality, which per- vades modern societies. Even John Paul II – who is best remembered as a staunch opponent of communism – was very hard on capitalism. But Pope Francis is going a step forward. "He is bringing a Latin American perspective to this critique. He is ex- pressing a complete disbelief in the system and is calling for a radical change." But rather than proposing an al- ternative himself, the new Pope is exhorting Christian economist and social scientists to think of an alter- native. "The Pope is not competent to propose an alternative economic system. But he is inviting economists and social scientists to bounce ideas on an economic system with a hu- man face." He believes that Malta sorely needs a similar concerted effort from like- minded social scientists and econo- mists. "Although I have no doubt that we have several economists who think in this way, there is no concerted ac- tion on how to fight neo-liberalism. We must fight the false idol going by the name of 'the market' or 'market forces'." While noting that in a time of crisis it is important to promote economic growth through investment and con- sumption, what troubles Inguanez is how this is often turned that ideol- ogy of consumerism. "We live in a society where are con- sidered to be almost worthless unless you consume." Rampant individualism is also fuelling the idea that "the burden of those in difficulty should be carried by someone and not by us… it's part of the 'Not In My Back Yard' cul- ture." This culture is contributing to- wards indifference to the fate of immigrants and other marginalised groups. He concurs with the view that on a global level, the Church is presently filling a vacuum on the left of the po- litical spectrum, even if it has been critical of the social consequences of systems emanating from commu- nism. "Back in the 1990s, US political scientist Francis Fukiyama optimis- tically spoke of the 'end of history' and the triumph of liberal capitalism all over the world. But in a very short time history proved him wrong." Six months into his papacy, Pope Francis sent shockwaves through the Roman Catholic Church with the publication of his remarks that the By James Debono MEDIOCRITY Mediocrity is at the root of much of the trouble the Church has been encountering for the past fifty years STUCK IN THE PAST There are even young priests who are still clutching onto an outdated image of the Church. Theirs is a Baroque Church full of pomp and circumstance maltatoday, SUNDAY, 23 MARCH 2014 'Don't be afraid of change'