KINGS OR NO KINGS

Both Kings and No Kings are in the news for very different reasons. First there is King Charles III of England who just visited Pope Leo in the Vatican and held a joint prayer service with him. The other is the No King rally in the USA on 18^th October where a reported 7 million protestors in over 2500 locations across the country rallied against US President’s draconian ways.

Let’s begin on a positive note with King Charles. Christopher Lamb, the Vatican correspondent for CNN, said that Leo and Charles praying together in the Sistine Chapel was an extraordinary moment. He described Charles as a person of deep faith and openness to ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue. It sent a strong message to the Christian world that the violent divisions or disagreements of the past need to be put behind us. Like Lot’s wife we cannot be looking over our shoulders lest we too become a pillar of salt (cf Gen 19:26). We need to look ahead with hope, trust and mutual respect; as expressed in the Jubilee motto “Pilgrims of Hope”.

Lamb observed that differences over women’s ordination, even more marked after the appointment of Sarah Mullally as the first woman archbishop of Canterbury, need not define the Catholic-Anglican relationship. We need to identify our common grounds, rather than accentuate differences.

Lamb stated that Charles’ visit had been planned in Pope Francis’ tenure but could not materialize because of the latter’s failing health. But it was good to see Leo continuing from where Francis left off. He continues with core issues like church reform, the environment and concern for migrants. Much of this flies in the face of No King Trump and could even invite a backlash from the conservative US bishops, who are more aligned to Trump than they were to Pope Francis.  

Watching the event on TV I got the distinct impression that the Leo-Charles interaction was warm and genuine. They were not just going through the motions. Charles is used to the grandeur with which British royalty is treated. But even he seemed a bit overawed with the cavernous interiors of the Vatican. Here is where I have my reservations.

Does the Catholic Church need to perpetrate the opulence of the past? Popes John XXIII and Francis were known for their simplicity. I cannot recall seeing Pope Francis wearing a red cape at public events. He always wore plain white. Even Pope Leo’s first papal exhortation “Dilexi Te” on a preferential option for the poor doesn’t ring true in the face of such opulence.

Lamb stated that Leo lacked the charismatic style of his predecessor. Nor is he a disruptor! I find this term insulting to the memory of Pope Francis. He was merely following in the footsteps of the master disruptor, Jesus himself, who had no hesitation in saying that he would be the cause of friction and division (cf Mat 10:34).

Catholic-Anglican dialogue has been in progress over the last 60 years. With Charles, and even Mullally, it may gain greater impetus. As an aside, I had written an article “Mullally or Mulakkal” shortly after the former’s selection. It generated much support, especially among women leaders. However, one male reader described me as a heretic for espousing women’s ordination. He said that my article was like a stinking sewer and that I was destined for hell. Never mind my going to hell, if at all a loving and merciful God permits such an irrevocable state. The criticism was symptomatic of deep rooted resistance to change in certain ultra-conservative pockets of the Catholic Church. They crave the return of the antiquated Latin mass and deny the new ecclesiology of Vatican II. This lobby seems to have a lot of money at its disposal. It is common knowledge that right wingers have more resources, including a collusive media, than the “Left Lunatics” can ever dream off.

Such pockets of resistance apart, it is the duty of the Catholic hierarchy and clergy, to educate its members about the importance and imperatives of Christian unity. The annual Christian Unity Octave (18^th – 25^th January) isn’t enough. That also seems to have devolved into a mere ritual or formality. It is significant to here note that the special chair on which King Charles sat had the inscription from Jesus’ farewell discourse “That they may be one” (Jn 17:21). None of us, Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox or Evangelical, can claim to be truly Christian if we do not actively pursue Christian unity.

Earlier the Catholic Church laid emphasis on organic unity, that is all sister churches coming under papal authority. That was the Big Brother approach. None of us can claim to be superior Christians to that of another Church. There are good, bad and ugly everywhere.

In India, at least, the one and only instance of organic unity is when a section of the Malankara Orthodox Church in Kerala, led by Archbishop Mar Ivanios, reconciled to the Catholic Church on 20^th September 1930. It’s now known as the Syro-Malankara Rite within the Church. For those unaware, there are several Eastern Rite Churches, described as “Individual Churches” that are in full communion with the rest of the Catholic Church, more properly referred to as the Latin Rite. The major groupings of these Individual Churches are – Chaldean, Syrian, Maronite, Coptic, Armenian and Byzantine.

There is a Vatican II Decree on Eastern Catholic Churches (Orientalium Ecclesiarum). I will make just one significant quote, “The variety within the Church in no way harms its unity, but rather manifests it. For it is the mind of the Catholic Church  that each individual church or rite retain its traditions whole and entire, while adjusting its way of life to the various needs of time and place” (OE 2). Such individual churches can even have married clergy.

Over to another King. A month from now we will be celebrating the feast of Christ the King. Many parish churches and institutions are named after him. The “Kingdom of heaven” is mentioned 17 times, all in Mathew’s gospel. The “kingdom of God” is mentioned 66 times, 52 times in the gospels alone. But the description of the kingdom by Jesus or others is far from the “Kingly” celebrations we have today – replete with gold crowns and triumphalistic processions that compete with each other for grandeur. We need to revert to the gospel narratives of the kingship of Jesus.

“Pilate asked – Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered – Do you ask this of your own accord or have others said it to you about me?” (Jn 18:34-35). When pressed further Jesus replied, “Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. As it is my kingdom does not belong here. Pilate said – So you are a king? Jesus answered – It is you who say that I am a king, I was born for this to bear witness to the truth” (v 36-38).

Just before this Jesus explicitly forbade Peter, his chosen successor, from any display of worldly power. “Put your sword back in its scabbard; am I not to drink the cup that the father has given me?” (Jn 18:11). Jesus even declined to be addressed as “Son of God”. In the gospels he referred to himself as the “Son of Man” (aam admi) 82 times. I cannot therefore reconcile myself to the type of kingship of Jesus portrayed today. The Good Shepherd is far more apt. 

Now to the next king, or No King – Donald Trump; whom his political opponents accuse of behaving like a dictator; throwing caution, common sense and constitutional values to the winds. In his typically dismissive style, and blindness to truth, Trump described those 7 million protestors as a joke, very small and ineffective, not representative of the country and a bunch of Left Lunatics!

Left leaning Democrat leader Bernie Sanders, at one of these rallies, said that the Americans fought a bloody 80 years war to attain independence from the British monarchy. They established the first democratic form of government in modern history, in which there was no room for more kings.

What is happening in America has many parallels in India; the mugging of the press, polarisation along communal lines, stifling of parliamentary proceedings and the building of a personality cult over a strongman with a 56” chest. One wants a Nobel Peace Prize, the other wants to be known as a Vishwaguru.

In such uncertain and tempestuous times we need to turn our gaze to the Good Shepherd as also to people like Pope Leo and King Charles who seek peace and universal brotherhood.

Also read “Mullally or Mulakkal”.