Sunday, July 6, 2014

Rumoured: Pope Francis seeks advice from US apologist Mark Shea on October Synod


Robert Allen (syndicated columnist)

Rome (RAP) - Sunday, July 6, 2014. Our Rome press office was contacted by an anonymous Vatican representative today, claiming that Pope Francis has been trying to reach Mark Shea, a Seattle-based US Catholic apologist for "advice."

The staff member of our Rome office who received the anonymous tip was initially dismissive. Upon further enquiry, however, the Rome office decided there was sufficient credibility to pursue the case. "Who's to say what can happen these days?" asked Tim Stuart, the staffer who took the call. "Things are just crazy enough sometimes, they can turn out to be true."

After several minutes of conversation with the Vatican agent, Stuart asked what possible reason the pope could have for seeking the advice of an obscure American apologist.

The unnamed Vatican representative was reported to have replied that the pope was seeking Shea's advice on the upcoming October Synod.

"The Holy Father is seeking the help of Mr. Shea in walking him through various schemas that could form the basis of a magisterially appropriate response to the conflicting voices jockying for a place of influence around the table this October," said Mr. Stuart.

When asked why the services specifically of Shea were being sought, rather than those of, say, Gerhard Ludwig Cardinal Müller, Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican representative reportedly replied that Pope Francis was an avid reader of Shea's blog, and had concluded that the future of the Church lies in the hands of Evangelical converts to the Catholic faith such as Mr. Shea.

"In particular, the pope reportedly cited Shea's 'zealousness' and 'clarity', as well as his more open attitude toward the socialistic mind-set of South Americans and the plight of the vulnerable and oppressed. This appears to be what won him over," declared Stuart.

Also cited was the optimism of Shea's blog title: "Catholic and enjoying it", according to Stuart.

When asked to summarize what he could surmise of the pope's thinking from this admittedly-sketchy hearsay evidence, Stuart suggested that the pope seems to be smitten with the "certitude" of Shea about his own Catholic convictions.

"It seems like he [the pope] finds in Shea someone who is more sure of what he believes to be true Catholic teaching than he may be sure of himself," said Stuart. "It's almost as if he sees Shea as a study in what it means to be authentically Catholic today, someone who 'makes a mess of things' (as the pope encouraged his followers to do) and who also 'enjoys it.' In fact, it could be that the pope shies away from the hard doctrinal stuff and sees Shea as the guy who could do this and yet put a good face on it."

While the report is based on little more than rumour, hearsay, and speculation, and could easily come to nought, in today's media world there is also just as likely a chance that we could be standing on the biggest bombshell case of a pope reaching out from the Sea of Peter to an obscure member of the laity in order to solicit his help in clarifying Church doctrine. The result would be stunning, historical, even earth-shaking.

Clearly this would take the papacy into unmapped territory, and it could also mean some questions about the status of Mr. Shea. One staff member in our Rome office asked whether Shea could become a sort of "Super-Pope." The prospect is unlikely, of course, although some contacts in Seattle have suggested that Shea would welcome such a prospect.

"I am not an 'obscure American apologist'", Shea is reported to have responded. "I am a very 'big' man in Catholic circles. I could help the pope sort things out." I

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