WaPo | Francis is taking a different direction. Rather than surrendering the
moral distinctiveness of the Catholic Church, he is prioritizing its
mission. In the America interview, he vividly compared the church to “a
field hospital after battle.” When someone injured arrives, you don’t
treat his high cholesterol. “You have to heal his wounds. Then we can
talk about everything else.” The outreach of the church, in other words,
does not start with ethical or political lectures. “The most important
thing is the first proclamation: Jesus Christ has saved you.”
There is a good Catholic theological term for this: the “hierarchy of truths.” Not every true thing has equal weight or urgency.
But
this does not adequately capture Francis’s deeper insight: the priority
of the person. This personalism is among the most radical implications
of Christian faith. In every way that matters to God, human beings are
completely equal and completely loved. They can’t be reduced to ethical
object lessons. Their dignity runs deeper than their failures. They
matter more than any cause; they are the cause.
So Francis
observed: “Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the
existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?
We must always consider the person.”
This teaching — to always
consider the person — was disorienting from the beginning. The outsiders
get invited to the party. The prodigal is given the place of honor. The
pious complain about their shocking treatment. The gatekeepers find the
gate shut to them. It is subversive to all respectable religious order,
which is precisely the point. With Francis, the argument gains a new
hearing.
