Pope Francis: The People’s Pope
Father Collins: Well, yeah, I guess so. But, I suppose in a sense, many bishops would more or less say, well, the Pope can’t be expected to be an expert in every nation. So, therefore, look, let us deal with it, let the Pope just stay above it. Yeah, I can see a tension there, and I know that there are some American cardinals who’ve been pretty vociferous in their criticism of Pope Francis.
Christopher Buck: Well, the Pope is God’s vicar on earth, so I imagine he will win this argument at some point.
Father Collins: Well, yeah, although, you know, he’s funny. He’s realistic, as well. And he always says, when he hears somebody complaining, he says, well, that’s good, at least we’re talking. It’ll be worse if we weren’t talking.
So, yeah, I think one of the things about Jorge Bergoglio, he’s very, very, very pragmatic. You know, he knows the battles he can win, he knows the battles that he can’t start because he’s certainly losing. And I think he’s tailoring his energy – he’s 78 at the moment. He’ll be turning 79 in December.
I think he realizes he has a certain amount of energy that he’s got to husband, although he said to his press officer, you know, it’s funny, I have more energy now than I did two years ago, because he was due to retire from Argentina as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he’s due – he’d just turned 75, gone to 76, he was due to finish off his job as Archbishop, and then suddenly he gets the top job in the church.
I think the funny thing is when somebody suddenly gets a new job, they get a second gust of energy. So, that seems to have happened with him.
Christopher Buck: Well, hopefully, he will be going strong for a long, long time.
Father Collins: It’s funny, Christopher, he himself said in St. Peter’s Square, it’s not a good idea for me to stay on forever, and Pope Benedict did the right thing by retiring and abdicating, and there’s no jobs which are for complete life any more in the church. We all have our terms, and we should get out while we’re able to.
