Christopher Hitchens and Pope Francis
I AM a member of that unexpected subset of American religious life, atheists who love Pope Francis. I share my Catholic brothers and sisters' enthusiastic affection and admiration for this humble, cheerful, remarkable man who, like the saint for whom he is named, seems to transcend the usual boundaries of faith, culture and politics with his simple message of unconditional love and hope. Unlike Francis of Assisi, the Pope's zoonotic charism hasn't yet extended to the taming of wolves, but that's relatively small potatoes compared with the fact that he wasn't booed by the Republican caucus: they are a far more unruly bunch.
Though I am an atheist, I am not anti-Catholic. In fact, I come from a very old Catholic family. My Catholic ancestor, Sir George Calvert, was a contemporary of Guy Fawkes and a friend of the Protestant King James I, who is less famous for his notorious witch-hunts than the unfortunate Bible that bears his name.
Somehow, Sir George survived the anti-Catholic purges that followed Fawkes's ill-fated gunpowder plot and went on to found the colony of Baltimore, which was the first Catholic colony in colonial New England. Unlike the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which was governed as a puritanical theocracy in which one could be hanged for not being Calvinist enough, Baltimore was the first religiously-tolerant colony in New England, where one could be Catholic, Protestant, or any religion, without fear of persecution. For this reason, Maryland is known as the birthplace of religious freedom in America. I take no small measure of pride in having descended from the man who sorted that out.
Though I do not share Sir George's religious beliefs, I understand the profound importance of the Catholic Church. For over a thousand years, for better or worse, the Roman Catholic Church was the primary stabilizing force in the Western world. Today, Catholicism remains the largest and oldest branch of Christianity, which is by far the largest religion on earth. What the Catholic Church does is important because it affects billions of people around the world, and has far-reaching implications for society.
What the Pope says and does matters. And that's why Francis is so important.
Like the great polemicist and atheist, Christopher Hitchens--another hero of mine--Francis is challenging old ways of thinking, inspiring us to reexamine our relationship with faith, but more importantly, our relationships with each other. The wonderful irony is that the leader of the largest and most inculcated religion on earth is teaching us lessons that have nothing at all to do with religion. This is what makes Francis a great Pope, and a great man. He is a moral leader in the best sense of the word at a time when our troubled world desperately needs one. He is a spiritual leader who condemns religiosity and fundamentalism; a devout Catholic who says that you don't have to be Christian, or even religious:
"The Lord has redeemed all of us, not just Catholics. 'But I don't believe, Father, I'm an atheist!' But do good. We will meet one another there!" - Pope Francis
I don't believe that Catholics today buy into the creaky old dogma of Papal Infallibility--I suspect Francis doesn't--however as far as I'm concerned, he can do no wrong.
In any case, he's doing a world of good.