The Rabbi And The Pope
Maryknoll Headquarters/Seminary
The quote struck like a thunderclap…
And we’ll return to it quickly.
Looking for an explanation for why we write AuthenticHealers, we thought of Rabbi Asher Finkel…
Researching his background, we stumbled (“inspiration of the Holy Spirit” in traditional Catholic terms) across The New York Times Christmas 1977 (God’s sense of humor, maybe) headline “Rabbi in a Catholic Seminary”). Rabbi Finkel was described as “perhaps the first rabbi to serve on the faculty of a Roman Catholic seminary in the United States. His specialty is the New Testament.”
A powerhouse of ecumenical spirit and absolute enthusiasm for his subject matter, Rabbi Finkel taught courses at the Maryknoll Seminary, including “The Teachings of Jesus” and “The Prophets.”
Maryknoll Headquarters/Seminary
The role of the prophet, he emphasized, was fourfold: to observe and understand the “signs of the times” – the religious/political or political/religious world in which he lived; to step back and reflect on those signs of the times in light of the Will and Word of God; then to go back into that world, accusing the community and its leaders of their violations of God’s Will and calling them back to their relationship with God in Justice and Humility; finally, to stand outside the circles of power and, when new rulers came to power and committed the same injustices, to repeat the process.
Years before he came to Brown University, New York University, Amherst College and Maryknoll, Rabbi Finkel studied at the Institute of Jewish Studies at Germany's Tubingen University.
Now, Rabbi Finkel’s power quote: “I felt the Germans under Hitler weren't Christians. They had no true biblical consciousness.”
In the Roman Catholic Rite of Christian Initiation (Baptism), immediately after the pouring of water and while anointing the foreheads of those being baptized with the Oil of Chrism, the priest or deacon charges the newly baptized “As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet, and King, so may you live always as a member of His body, sharing everlasting life.” In ordination to the diaconate, the bishop expresses the Church’s supreme hope for those about to be ordained: “May God who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfillment.”
Rabbi Asher Finkel
Because we have been baptized, because we have been ordained, because – today - we fear, we write.
No!.
We fear, so we present.
We fear that too many American Catholic bishops are so afraid of a thrice married, serial adulterer, criminally indicted and found guilty on thirty-four felony charges president of the United States and his minions that they will not publish or direct that a papal letter to the Roman Catholic bishops of the United State be read from Sunday pulpits across the land. We fear that too many bishops, afraid of alienating their wealthy supporters, will remain silent and not present Pope Francis’ letter of Monday, February 10 to the People of God.
We fear. Therefore, we present:
The motto of Pope Francis is taken from a passage from
the Venerable Bede, Homily
on the Feast of Matthew, which reads:
“Vidit ergo Jesus publicanum,
et quia miserando atque eligendo vidit,
ait illi, ‘Sequere me.’”
[“Jesus therefore sees the tax collector,
and since he sees by having mercy
and by choosing, he says to him, ‘follow me.’”]
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,
I am writing today to address a few words to you in these delicate moments that you are living as Pastors of the People of God who walk together in the United States of America.
1. The journey from slavery to freedom that the People of Israel traveled, as narrated in the Book of Exodus, invites us to look at the reality of our time, so clearly marked by the phenomenon of migration, as a decisive moment in history to reaffirm not only our faith in a God who is always close, incarnate, migrant and refugee, but also the infinite and transcendent dignity of every human person. [Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. “Dignitas Infinita. Declaration on Human Dignity.” April 2, 2023.]
2. These words with which I begin are not an artificial construct. Even a cursory examination of the Church’s social doctrine emphatically shows that Jesus Christ is the true Emmanuel (Mt 1:23); he did not live apart from the difficult experience of being expelled from his own land because of an imminent risk to his life, and from the experience of having to take refuge in a society and a culture foreign to his own. The Son of God, in becoming man, also chose to live the drama of immigration. I like to recall, among other things, the words with which Pope Pius XII began his Apostolic Constitution on the Care of Migrants, which is considered the “Magna Carta” of the Church’s thinking on migration:
“The family of Nazareth in exile, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, emigrants in Egypt and refugees there to escape the wrath of an ungodly king, are the model, the example and the consolation of emigrants and pilgrims of every age and country, of all refugees of every condition who, beset by persecution or necessity, are forced to leave their homeland, beloved family and dear friends for foreign lands.” [Pope Pius XXII. Apostolic Constitution “Exsul Familia, The Emigrant Family of Nazareth.” Pope Pius XII. August 1, 1952]
3. Likewise, Jesus Christ, loving everyone with a universal love, educates us in the permanent recognition of the dignity of every human being, without exception. In fact, when we speak of “infinite and transcendent dignity,” we wish to emphasize that the most decisive value possessed by the human person surpasses and sustains every other juridical consideration that can be made to regulate life in society. Thus, all the Christian faithful and people of good will are called upon to consider the legitimacy of norms and public policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his or her fundamental rights, not vice versa.
4. I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations. The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality. At the same time, one must recognize the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival. That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.
5. This is not a minor issue: an authentic rule of law is verified precisely in the dignified treatment that all people deserve, especially the poorest and most marginalized. The true common good is promoted when society and government, with creativity and strict respect for the rights of all — as I have affirmed on numerous occasions — welcomes, protects, promotes and integrates the most fragile, unprotected and vulnerable. This does not impede the development of a policy that regulates orderly and legal migration. However, this development cannot come about through the privilege of some and the sacrifice of others. What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly.
6. Christians know very well that it is only by affirming the infinite dignity of all that our own identity as persons and as communities reaches its maturity. Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. In other words: the human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings! The human person is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can gradually mature in his identity and vocation. The true ordo amoris [“order of love]* that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the “Good Samaritan” (Lk 10:25-37), that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception. [Pope Francis. Encyclical “Fratelli tutti. On Fraternity and Social Friendship.” October 3, 2020.]
7. But worrying about personal, community or national identity, apart from these considerations, easily introduces an ideological criterion that distorts social life and imposes the will of the strongest as the criterion of truth.
8. I recognize your valuable efforts, dear brother bishops of the United States, as you work closely with migrants and refugees, proclaiming Jesus Christ and promoting fundamental human rights. God will richly reward all that you do for the protection and defense of those who are considered less valuable, less important or less human!
9. I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters. With charity and clarity we are all called to live in solidarity and fraternity, to build bridges that bring us ever closer together, to avoid walls of ignominy and to learn to give our lives as Jesus Christ gave his for the salvation of all.
10. Let us ask Our Lady of Guadalupe to protect individuals and families who live in fear or pain due to migration and/or deportation. May the “Virgen Morena,” ** who knew how to reconcile peoples when they were at enmity, grant us all to meet again as brothers and sisters, within her embrace, and thus take a step forward in the construction of a society that is more fraternal, inclusive and respectful of the dignity of all
Fraternally,
Francis
* In a recent Fox New interview, Vice President Vance attempted to argue for an “old school, and I think it is a very Christian concept, by the way, idea that love begins with family and then you love your neighbor and then you love your community…” – a series of concentric circles. When religious leaders and others challenged this idea, on January 30, he attempted to bolster his position by posting to the social media platform X “Just Google ‘orden amoris.’” The vice president was referring to a concept that originated with St. Augustine (354-430 AD) and was further explored by Thomas Aquinas (c 1225 -1274 AD).
Responding in America:The Jesuit Review (February 5, 2025), Terence Sweeney, a professor in the Honors Program at Villanova noted:
“The ordering of loves arose for St. Augustine in the fifth century out of his realization that everything that God made is good. In Augustine’s conception and in later iterations in church teaching, including Aquinas, the ordo amoris is a pedagogy of the heart meant to teach us to love all of this goodness rightly.
“When we get our order of love wrong - when we love less what we should love more and more what we should love less - we sin.
“Augustine explains the order of loves in two ways. The first is that we ought to love God first and all things in or for God. After and in God, we ought to love virtue, ourselves and each other, and then material goods…
“What Mr. Vance gets wrong is that the point of Christian teaching is to expand, even transform, our order of loves. If our explanations of Christianity do not ‘build up this double love of God and neighbor,’ as Augustine writes in On Christian Doctrine, then we have failed to understand Christianity. Mr. Vance has gotten the letter but not the spirit - and ‘the letter kills but the spirit gives life’ (2 Cor 3:6). The goal is to broaden our loves, expand our hearts and intensify our attempts to reach people who are in need….”
La Virgen Morena
** “La Virgen Morena” or the “Dark-Skinned Virgen” or “Brunette Virgen” is a Mexican expression of endearment for the Virgin of Guadalupe, patron saint of Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala.