Bishop-Emeritus Gaydos: Pope Francis did what God sent him to do
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When the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio rose to the papacy, Bishop Emeritus John R. Gaydos immediately saw the significance of the name the new pope had chosen.
He wouldn’t be following, as some suggested, in the footsteps of fellow Jesuit St. Francis Xavier.
Rather, he’d be taking up the command Jesus himself had given to St. Francis of Assisi: “Rebuild my Church.”
Pope Francis, like his namesake, knew that “his real mission was to work on repairing the many imperfections of the Church of his day, both in its leadership and in its people,” Bishop Gaydos proclaimed in a statement on March 13, 2013, the afternoon Pope Francis was chosen.
“I believe the Holy Spirit has given us in Pope Francis a good and true shepherd for the New Evangelization,” Bishop Gaydos surmised that day.
Now living in retirement in St. Louis, Bishop Gaydos, who led the Jefferson City diocese from 1997-2018, said in a recent interview that that prediction was based on his unyielding belief in the power of the Holy Spirit.
“We talk about the instrumentality of God — which, by the way, is very Ignatian,” said Bishop Gaydos. “God uses each one of us as he created us, to carry out his will, which is that all people come to the truth.
“Whether you’re the pope or the newest member of the Church, we all have the vocation to witness to the power of Jesus to save,” he said.
This couldn’t be any truer than for the 266-and-counting men — some of whom were very surprising — who served as successors to St. Peter.
“People don’t realize, each one of those individuals came with a completely unique set of gifts and traits, along with the exact backgrounds, cultures and family experiences of the places they were from,” said Bishop Gaydos.
“Not only does that have a profound effect on them, it’s how the Holy Spirit brings forth their gifts to the whole Church,” he said.
In the case of Pope Francis, who died on April 21 after leading the Church for 12 years, that included a distinctly non-European background, a uniquely South American experience of the Church.
“While some folks may have gotten their feathers ruffled,” Bishop Gaydos noted, “Pope Francis was telling us things we needed to hear and showing us things we needed to see.”
Bishop Gaydos hopes everyone realizes what graced moments these are as God takes one shepherd of the Universal Church home, and the Holy Spirit helps choose another.
He suggested that in praying for Pope Francis’s successor, people shouldn’t put too much emphasis on any specific talents or shortcomings.
“Rather, whenever we pray for any individual, we need to be claiming for them that overwhelming divine love that they had even before they existed, and which abides within them,” he said.
“Our prayers remind us and convince us of God’s continued support in every moment of our lives,” said Bishop Gaydos. “That’s how he transforms the world.”
And it could be what leads to another surprising successor to St. Peter, standing on the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square, amid cheers of “Viva il Papa!” — “Long live the Pope!”
“The fact of the matter is, we have to be open,” said Bishop Gaydos. “Because these are not political moves. They are the means by which the Holy Spirit will give us the man for this moment in history.
“Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia,” he said, echoing the ancient saying, “Where Peter is, there is the Church.”
“That has been the reality since Jesus chose Peter on the Sea of Galilee,” said Bishop Gaydos. “And we thank God for this great grace of the Holy Spirit, who is everything in the Church.”
