- Feb 5, 2002
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The new papal funeral rite has a striking detail: in the first phase, the one at home, the dead Pope is exposed in a simple white cassock. This is particularly unusual. Priests are composed in their vestments because a priest is a priest forever. All the more so for a bishop, who is “chief priest” and possesses what we call “fullness of orders” in Catholic parlance. All gets back to normality when the exposition is public, in the second phase, and the Pope is dressed in red vestments. However, the details says something.
The idea appears to be to make the Pope’s funeral rites the rites of a pastor. The Pope is no longer Pope but a man among men, and therefore, in a simple white cassock.
If this is the reading, it is problematic for several reasons.
First, the pope is still a priest and the sacrament of Holy Orders is not a sign of power. Even if the choice to expose the pope in a simple cassock at the beginning seems to be driven by a desire to uproot and discard every sign and symbol of clerical privilege—the stuff of clericalism—the exposition of a priest in in the vestments of a priest is mere acknowledgment of a vocation visibly worked among men as one called to be a minister of God.
So, the choice is problematic because it bespeaks a twisted approach to the whole papal symbology (and perhaps to symbols in general).
From the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis has not wanted to use the red mozzetta, considering it an example of the Pope’s temporal power. He never wanted to wear the red shoes, a symbol of the martyrdom of the popes. Regarding his preference for the bespoke clodhoppers that are his footwear, Francis is on record as preferring personal continuity and official discontinuity. These are the shoes he has always worn, and he is just a guy.
Continued below.
The idea appears to be to make the Pope’s funeral rites the rites of a pastor. The Pope is no longer Pope but a man among men, and therefore, in a simple white cassock.
If this is the reading, it is problematic for several reasons.
First, the pope is still a priest and the sacrament of Holy Orders is not a sign of power. Even if the choice to expose the pope in a simple cassock at the beginning seems to be driven by a desire to uproot and discard every sign and symbol of clerical privilege—the stuff of clericalism—the exposition of a priest in in the vestments of a priest is mere acknowledgment of a vocation visibly worked among men as one called to be a minister of God.
So, the choice is problematic because it bespeaks a twisted approach to the whole papal symbology (and perhaps to symbols in general).
From the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis has not wanted to use the red mozzetta, considering it an example of the Pope’s temporal power. He never wanted to wear the red shoes, a symbol of the martyrdom of the popes. Regarding his preference for the bespoke clodhoppers that are his footwear, Francis is on record as preferring personal continuity and official discontinuity. These are the shoes he has always worn, and he is just a guy.
Continued below.
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