France: The Political Aspects of the Pope's Visit to Marseille (1)

“The problem of the Mediterranean is a problem that concerns me,” said the Pope. “That's why I'm going to France. It is criminal to exploit migrants. Not in Europe because we are more civilized, but in the Lager [camps] of North Africa” where migrants are held. He continued:

“The Mediterranean area bishops are meeting with politicians to seriously reflect on this migrant tragedy. The Mediterranean is a cemetery, but it is not the largest cemetery. The largest cemetery is in northern Africa. I’m going to Marseille for that.”  And Jean-Marie Guénois explained:

“It took all the force of persuasion by Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline [Archbishop of Marseille] for Francis to finally agree to preside over a Mass at the Velodrome Stadium on Saturday afternoon where nearly 60,000 faithful were expected.”

“Similarly, he would not have met the priests and religious of Marseille as he should do as soon as he got off the plane on Friday at Notre Dame de la Garde. The introduction of the religious aspect in the second version of the program gives this ‘true-false’ papal visit to France similarities with the usual pattern of pontifical trips.”

In fact, in the Pope's mind, it was above all a political visit; it was only apostolic by accident.

Francis’s Utopian Dream

Francis's particular interest in Marseille is explained by progressive sociologist Danièle Hervieu-Léger in a column published on the La Croix website on September 21. According to her, “Between North and South, between East and West, multicultural and multireligious, Marseille offers, in many respects, a dream space to once again affirm the renewal of the relationship between Catholicism and universalism which the Jesuit Pope is working to achieve, theologically speaking, as one of the pillars of his pontificate.”

“From this point of view, the call to uphold cultural plurality and equity within the Church itself goes further than an ethical admonition addressed to the complacency of the ‘great Western Churches’ or a pastoral recommendation of openness to the diversity of the world: He participates in a major ecclesiological reconfiguration, which places on the horizon of the Church's accomplishment, not the unifying encompassment of all peoples placed under its governance ‘to the ends of the earth,’ but the dynamic realization, to be concretely inscribed in history, of a fraternal communion bringing together these peoples, in their diversity, into a single People.”

The French sociologist expresses Francis’s thoughts, which she faithfully quotes: “Explained in the encyclical Fratelli tutti, this renewed approach to the universal vocation of the Church tears the notion of ‘mission’ from the imagination of conquest or reconquest: it refers to a way of inhabiting the world with a view to a common good, inseparable from the community and spiritual accomplishment promised by Christianity.”

“Pope Francis himself agrees: the advent of this Christian ‘way of living’ which requires that we ‘think and work as brothers and sister of all.’ This may seem to be an unrealistic utopia. But, we prefer,’ he adds, ‘to believe that it is a dream that can come true. For it is the dream of the triune God. With his help, it is a dream that can begin to become reality, also in our world” [Message to the Centesimus Annus Foundation of October 23, 2021].

Superbly ignoring what St. Pius X said about modernist utopia, Danièle Hervieu-Léger expressed her expectations: “Does the dreamed utopia have a chance to become a practiced utopia, concretely engaging all the laity, men and women? The synodal process launched by the pope two years ago, and now entering its final phase, is, in principle, going in this direction.”

“One thing is certain, however: this ecclesiology of communion can only take shape in a form of diasporic, pluralist and inclusive Catholic communalization [one could add: polyhedral, and even kaleidoscopic…], which directly contradicts the centralizing and imperial clerical logic of the Roman system with which the institution is identified.”

And she compulsively criticizes: “the inertia of this system and the powerful organization and the powerful organization of the forces hostile to its questioning [which] combine effectively to ward off [plug] the slightest breach likely to introduce play into this logic.”

We can think that Francis has not disappointed Danièle Hervieu-Léger too much. During his visit to Marseille, he attacked European countries which used “alarmist propaganda” to justify closing their doors to migrants, and shamed them into responding to these massive arrivals through charity.

He called for migrants to be given legal pathways to citizenship and for the Mediterranean Sea, which many people cross to reach Europe, to be a beacon of hope and not a graveyard of despair.

He told French President Emmanuel Macron and the bishops present that “the Mediterranean cries out for justice, with its shores that, on one side, exude wealth, consumerism and waste, while, on the other, poverty and instability.” Adding: “Faced with the terrible scourge of the exploitation of human beings, the solution is not to reject but to ensure, according to the possibilities of each person, a sufficient number of legal and regular entries.”

When nearly 7,000 migrants boarded smugglers' boats in Tunisia and landed on the small Italian island of Lampedusa in the space of one day, Francis said in Marseille: “Those who risk their lives at sea do not invade, they seek hospitality, life. As for the emergency, the migratory phenomenon is not so much a cyclical emergency, always good to fuel alarmist propaganda, but a reality of our time.”