 Thank you all for being here, the, I'm saying the 30 or so people in here and the 175 online somewhere around the country. Anyway, thank you all for being here. My name is Paul Lakeland. I direct the Center for Catholic Studies here at Fairfield and so it's my pleasure to be able to introduce our speaker tonight. Just before I do, this is not for you in the room but for people online just a reminder that if you come up with a question you'd like to ask or a comment you have for Father Massaro, you will not be able to, it's a webinar so you will have to type it into the Q&A section on your screen and I will see it and I will be able to pass the questions along to Father Massaro at the end of his presentation. If you're in the room, we do it the old-fashioned way raise your hand. Okay, good. So it's a great delight for me to be able to welcome Father Tom Massaro here who is Professor of Moral Theology at Fordham University to deliver the annual Bellarmine Lecture which is given each year by a distinguished Jesuit scholar with the exception of last time when we asked Professor Susan Ross formally from Loyola, Chicago to deliver the lecture because it was the 50th anniversary of women at Fairfield and we thought that it would be a good idea to have a woman talk about the Jesuit tradition for once so but it's normally given by a distinguished Jesuit scholar and we have a distinguished Jesuit scholar with us this evening. Father Massaro is from the northeast province, that's this province and has served at Western Jesuit School of Theology, Boston College, Jesuit School of Theology in Santa Clara and now at Fordham. His educational background is extensive Amherst College, Fordham Western Jesuit School of Theology and a doctorate in Christian social ethics from Emory University in Atlanta. His nine books and well over a hundred published articles are predominantly focused on Catholic social teaching and its connections to public policy issues, social justice, peace, workers' rights and so on. He, among his many books, I'm not going to list them all, are two that I'm particularly aware of. One is called Living Justice, Catholic Social Teaching in Action which was in its third edition I think, maybe it's coming up for fourth, fourth edition. A book I've used with students to great effect in class so it's a terrific book and most recent book Mercy in Action with Social Teachings of Pope Francis which perhaps brings us a little closer to tonight's talk. Father Massaro is not just a scholar, he has a commitment to hands-on social activism so some years back he served a six-year term on the peace commission of the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts and he's a co-founder and national steering committee member of the most important organization not a lot of people know about, Catholic scholars for worker justice. He's also director and vice president of an organization called A Faith That Does Justice. This is an interfaith organization that raises consciousness about social issues affecting the most vulnerable among us. As he once wrote in American Magazine, use the full power of your citizenship to forge lasting social change. When we think about his achievements and his work he is so evidently an exemplar of the Jesuit commitment to what we call the Marges to the concern to do and be more and better. So please join me in welcoming him to speak to us this evening on the topic. Pope Francis, the end. Very grateful to Paul for that generous introduction. I've always enjoyed my business to Fairfield University. I don't usually have to get so dressed up and read a speech but this is a great opportunity and I'm grateful for those also live streaming at home. Can you take somebody who talks fast? I was raised in New York and I have a long text that I'm going to get through in 45 minutes but it's going to be a good clip. You ready? Let's talk together about Pope Francis. By now you've probably heard and read millions of words about the nearly nine years of his papacy. The many dimensions of his global leadership as he interacts with the worldwide Roman Catholic community and wider audiences as well have been frankly astonishing. There's always seems to be some novel and promising initiative or some stunning new round of papal visits abroad, the conducting of an inspirational jubilee year of mercy, the staging of worldwide synods like the two-year synod process currently underway on the topic of synodality itself, the announcing of refreshing reforms within the Roman curia or in canon law to address festering scandals in church governance. You may even have grown tired of hearing about certain of these topics as many of these issues have been shall we say well picked over in the religious media and in the secular press as well. It is no secret that Francis has his detractors and I sometimes worry that accounts featuring the storyline of intransigent internal ecclesial opposition threatened to eclipse which should be the main narrative, the narrative that this first modern non-European pope not to mention the first Jesuit pope in history has challenged the world's largest Christian community to partake in an energetic program of spiritual renewal in service to its mission of evangelization and radical inclusion. But one era, one area that has so far eluded adequate coverage is the contribution that Pope Francis has made to the field of moral theology and ethics, specifically social ethics. Now to help situate this topic that I will treat over the next 45 minutes or so, let us recall the central importance of moral theology, the sub branch of Catholic theology that addresses the behavioral implications of our faith. If we are sincere in the belief, the beliefs that we profess as Catholic Christians, then how are we to act? What moral obligations do we recognize and resolve to enact in our daily lives? What specific guidance for our daily decisions derives from our religious commitments and from reflection on the gospel of Jesus Christ? We of course need to consider both personal morality which considers the duties that each of us observes in our intimate face-to-face relations with family, friends, neighbors, co-workers on one hand and also social ethics which treats the principles and priorities that are appropriate for large-scale social relations on the other hand. The latter is the realm of collectivities such as governments, corporations, non-profits and other organizations holding power and influence in our society. While it is certainly possible to benefit from strictly secular, philosophical reflection on social principles such as justice and human rights, it is in religious communities where the most profound grappling with the meaning of social justice and right order has unfolded over the course of human history. In this regard, we are all heirs of valuable religious traditions which have posed and pondered the most sweeping questions of all, like what is the good life? What constitutes the deepest meaning of human existence? To what ultimate destiny are our lives oriented? How shall we shape our society in order to serve immediate goals and long-term objectives as well? What moral obligations do I have to my neighbors near and far? We could multiply these questions ad infinitum and to each of them religious voices, traditions and communities have made outstanding contributions. Every pope is conscious of being an heir to this tradition of religious reflection and seeks to play his special role in adding to the distinctively Catholic discourse on social ethics. For well over 100 years now, our popes have exercised special leadership in continuously updating the tradition of modern Catholic social teaching so that members of our church enjoy the advantages of plugging into an entire grammar of principles and priorities appropriate to our complex contemporary economy and our political and social institutions. Even if it is still true in some sense that Catholic social teaching remains our church's best kept secret, you've heard that phrase. I am continually impressed that the vocabulary of Catholic social thought has insinuated itself almost by a process of osmosis into common parlance everywhere I look. Even when I encounter callous sophomores and introductory theology classrooms at Fordham University, as I do every semester, these inexperienced teenagers display an intuitive sense of the meaning of the common good, solidarity, of human dignity, of responsible stewardship of the environment and a preferential option for the poor. Now they usually require a bit of prodding to articulate the precise commitment to these ideas, but the idealism and dedication to service of neighbor is surely present, often lying just below the surface. More generally, these principles and priorities have a felicitous way of seeping into the consciousness of most of the people we might encounter and shaping our discourse even subconsciously. Let us never take for granted here the role of Catholic education, both in the narrow sense of years spent in our wonderful church-sponsored schools, but also in the broader sense of personal example and institutional service. By word and deed, Catholic social actors disseminate very broadly a distinctive discourse grounded in the practice of our faith community and its catechetical outreach, exposing Catholics and our fellow travelers along the path of justice in this valuable tradition of Catholic social thought. Enter Pope Francis. He is of course the first Jesuit Pope and the first Pope from the southern or western hemispheres. He does check a lot of boxes, doesn't he? At the time of his election in March 2013, few commentators, as they looked into their crystal balls, made any mention of likely future papal agenda items that would touch upon updating moral theology or renewing Catholic social teaching in any specific way. And I know, I was listening very attentively those months to the news coverage generated by the professional Vatican watchers for any mention of the academic specialty moral theology, that is, to which I have devoted my entire adult life. And yet, nine years later, it is no exaggeration to say that a well-focused theological eye will easily recognize an extraordinary contribution on the part of Francis to advancing the moral theology and the social ethics inherited within our Catholic community. The title of my address tonight, Pope Francis the Ethicist, Ignatian Roots, Jesuit Priorities, Contemporary Challenges. This title pretty much spoils any remaining suspense about the angle I will take regarding the features of his contributions in this area. The three phrases in the subtitle capture the main theses that I will be proposing and supporting. First, the ethical approach of Francis features roots in Ignatian spirituality, far more than is commonly recognized. Second, the ethical topics he emphasizes display many of the same social priorities that the society of Jesus, the Jesuits, have pursued in its global work for social justice in recent decades. Third, Francis has contributed in outstanding ways to the Catholic community's ethical response to several massive contemporary global challenges unfolding in real time before our eyes, including the threat of climate change, the ongoing refugee crisis, the urgent need for arms control and peace building, and persistent economic injustices such as the mistreatment of workers and escalating economic inequality. Our limited time together this evening allows for only a fraction of the relevant connections to be drawn but I am confident that we can connect enough of the dots to come away with a deeper appreciation for how Francis accomplished a thorough renewal of the church's approach to these ethical issues as well as a deeper understanding of the sources and motivations that undergird his social concerns and his ethical leadership in addressing. Part one, Ignatian roots. And by the way, this is by far the longest part, don't be discouraged, it's two-thirds of the talk. Part two and three are very short. Ignatian roots, part one. Are you ready to tread upon a minefield of sorts? A lot can go wrong when trying to explain the ethical stances of any one person in terms of an underlying spirituality. In the end, only that person is qualified to give an account of how he or she bridges the distance between inner spiritual perspectives and outward facing ethical commitments. Whatever outside observers might venture to claim about these linkages remains mere guesswork. Educated hypotheses at best, baseless conjectures at worst. If you were to veer too far in one direction on this minefield, that is the direction of vagueness and indeterminacy, you stray into the territory of stating the obvious and perhaps wasting your time. If you stray too far in the other direction of pretending to have explained everything about a figure from highlighting just a few core spiritual principles, then you may be guilty of a strange kind of determinism. An objectionable overstatement of what you might claim to have established about why that figure does and says those particular things. Experience has taught me that the best way to overcome this dilemma is by relying on certain helpful metaphors when speaking about Pope Francis and how his Ignatian spirituality influences his moral stances and his ethical activism. Metaphors have a felicitous way of saying neither too much nor too little, but suggesting a complex matrix of causality and influence. Let that word influence be the key term, conveying my point and allowing me to dodge the worst dangers of this minefield. One such metaphor is to speak about the Jesuit or Ignatian DNA of Pope Francis. Like the biological DNA that scientists study, exposure to a spiritual heritage has a way of shaping a person in certain directions without determining precise outcomes, whether of organic structures of our body or of actual behavior. When speaking of the spiritual DNA of Francis, the first thing to note is the several decades that the young Jorge Mario Bergoglio spent in Jesuit communities and apostolates. 15 years in his own formation followed by a whirlwind of leadership positions, including novice director, provincial superior of all about hundreds of Argentinian Jesuits, and then a number of other rectorships, academic posts, and pastoral responsibilities. Long before he became an auxiliary bishop in 1992, and then later Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio was considered a spiritual master, conducting retreats and providing spiritual direction to hundreds of people, in addition to being faithful to the practice of making his own annual retreats, generally of eight days in length with sometimes of 30 days in duration in total silence. By all accounts, he has remained a man faithful to prayer and the spiritual life in the Jesuit tradition. Even though Francis has not actually lived in Jesuit communities for 30 years now, if we were to create a scale measuring exposure to Ignatian spirituality, Pope Francis would achieve easily 10 out of 10 on that scale. To invoke another metaphor that I favor, the fingerprints of Jesuit life and Ignatian spirituality that imbues it are highly evident in the homilies, addresses, and many writings of Pope Francis, and especially in his moral teachings, as we shall see below. Equally helpful to the project of capturing this profound influence on Francis is a bundle of metaphors relating to water. A simple one evokes the image of a river which is formed by the confluence of various streams. If a person, in this case Pope Francis, can be said to bear the marks and reflect the content of various influences that might come together to form that person, then the river metaphor reminds us of the complex interplay of the many tributaries that form the finished product, which is never quite finished, as humans have known at least since the time of Heraclitus with his famous quip that one never steps in the same river twice, from your Greek philosophy. Ignatian spirituality is admittedly just one of many tributaries that have contributed to forming the Francis that we know today, but it does appear to be a highly influential stream, perhaps the most dominant font or stream of all. There's no need to take my word for it. On several occasions, interviewers tried to pin the newly elected Pope down on the intriguing question of the significance of his choice of papal name Francis. Without exception, the new Pope identified Saint Francis of Assisi, notably not Saint Francis Xavier of the Jesuit, as the inspiration for his selection, and he always proceeded to praise the humble Italian saint from Assisi for his love of nature, his dedication to peace, his closeness to the poor, and those three items in retrospect had provided programmatic guidance to papal ethical initiatives over the past three years, have they not? But mischievous interviewers seeking to press the point were met with stern denials that this church leader had in any way traded in wholesale Ignatian for Franciscan spirituality. You may recall him offering this clarification, and here's a quote from Francis. I feel that I am a Jesuit in my spirituality, in the spirituality of the exercises, the spirituality I have in my heart. I have not changed my spirituality, no. Francis, Franciscan, no. I feel Jesuit, and I still think like a Jesuit. That's a quote from a 2013 interview, just two months after he became Pope. Actually, my favorite water metaphor to capture the perduring Ignatian spiritual influence on Pope Francis involves not rivers and streams flowing together, but the water that one draws from deep artesian wells. Authentic spiritual influences run deep in our souls, and once we drink deeply of a tradition of prayer, this water nourishes our whole body, our whole being. A profound exposure to Ignatian spirituality has a way of marking the practitioner permanently. What does the Jesuit volunteer for say? It ruins us for life. I cannot resist making an obvious connection to Bergoglio's native continent of South America, which produced a man of the same generation, Father Gustavo Gutierrez, now a Dominican, who is recognized as the father of liberation theology. A remarkable book published in English in 1984 by this Dominican theologian, Gutierrez, is titled, We Drink from Our Own Wells, and it is subtitled The Spiritual Journey of a People. Gutierrez weaves a narrative of how the people of Latin America force the distinctive spirituality from the experience of oppression and the drive for liberation, all the while avoiding an overly deterministic approach to the influence of one's cultural background upon one's subsequent actions. Similarly, I am eager to affirm a strong Ignatian influence that I see at work in the ethical teachings and actions of Pope Francis without insisting on excessively tight lines of causality. Francis drinks consciously and especially deeply from the well of the Ignatian spirituality that he knows so thoroughly and the nourishment that he imbibes contributes markedly to the overall shape of his identity and his actions. By considering what it means to inherit and to be influenced by a spiritual legacy, we have now cleared the ground for the next stage of our examination of Pope Francis as an ethical thinker and agent. If Ignatian spirituality does indeed shape the style, method, orientation, and content of the moral theology of our Pope, then what specific elements within Ignatian spirituality are on display in the ethical teachings and commitments of Pope Francis? I propose that at least these five items belong on any such list, so about a page on each of five items. Number one, Christian humanism. There was nothing narrow about Saint Ignatius Loyola and the spiritual vision that he lent to his followers is broad and richly open-ended in nature. Ignatian spirituality is remarkably appealing and adaptable to people of many cultures and backgrounds because it projects nothing that is true and genuinely human in our experience and our aspirations. Though the spiritual exercises and really all of the achievements of Ignatius were thoroughly Christ-centered, hence the adjective Christian, modifying the noun humanism here, in principle, anything worthy of the label Ignatian exhibits an expansiveness of horizon, an openness to all people of good will, and this is what supplies the human in the humanism of this title. In keeping with the Renaissance and the early modern movement of humanism associated with Erasmus and Petrarch and other exemplars who were even closer contemporaries of Ignatius himself, the humanistic impulse is one that drives us to seek ever greater levels of knowledge and mutual understanding, especially with those who are quite different from us in any way. The humanist seeks truth wherever it may be found, unafraid of novelty or the challenges that may confront accustomed modes of thinking. It includes an eagerness to explore commonality and to open up lines of communication, themes that were among the most brilliant legacies of the classical civilizations undergoing a revival and reappraisal in the time of St. Ignatius, 16th century. The ethical tilt here includes not only an embrace of so many positive things, such as a cosmopolitan spirit and sincere dedication to the common good, but also a firm disavowal of any tribalism or defensiveness that might prevent meaningful human interaction across artificially constructed boundaries. I hope it is obvious how this humanistic feature of Ignatian spirituality has echoed through the history of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, with its constant efforts to inculturate the faith with sensitivity and enthusiasm, and how it has imbued its members with a love of learning and a commitment to genuine dialogue. Think of Matteo Ricci bringing the Christian faith to an initially leery China, or the missionary work of Robert De Nobley and John de Brito in 17th century India. None of them culture warriors, but rather brilliant evangelizers, displaying a keen sensitivity to local cultures and native religious traditions, who garnered a favorable hearing for the Christian faith in their time. And I would propose that Pope Francis is a worthy successor of these Jesuit achievements and absolutely an exemplar of this element of Ignatian spirituality. His words and actions reflect a certain magnanimity of character and a broadness of horizon that is found in St. Ignatius and his followers. The Pope's practice of Christian humanism comes across especially clearly in his dedication to build bridges rather than walls incidentally, an image that is an image for wholehearted engagement that he is invoked very frequently in his diplomatic pursuits. Openness to dialogue is a hallmark of so many initiatives of Francis, including his ambitious and unprecedented outreach to Islam across the world. His ready embrace of insights from climate change science, in drafting his encyclical Laudato Si, and especially in his calls for a culture of encounter on many high profile occasions. The genuine Christian humanist never feels threatened by unfamiliar cultures or religions nor intimidated by secular disciplines of learning. These are features that united Ignatius and Francis and the best works and members of the Society of Jesus between their two times. Conversely, these very qualities relating to open-ended pursuit of truth and cordial relationships across previous divides are among the things that have prompted the harshest criticism of Francis and also of Ignatius over many centuries. Item number two, Christian personalism. The 20th century witnessed a proliferation of individuals and groups who embraced the label personalist from Emmanuel Mounier and Jacques Maritain in France at mid-century to Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement in the US to a loose school of thought at the University of Lublin, Poland, which influenced John Paul II, as well as many other Catholic circles as well as Protestant. Check out by the way the Boston personalists who taught and influenced Martin Luther King Jr. during his doctoral years at Boston University. The term personalism is inherently imprecise so it can be applied to any figure who places the value of the human person at the center of the moral universe with evident concern to preserve and uphold its dignity against all the forces and adverse conditions that might threaten it. Since personalism exhibits both spiritual and moral components, I propose that we might ascribe this set of values to Ignatian spirituality and further that we might identify Pope Francis as a premier contemporary practitioner of the commendable approach to moral life that we call personalism. Neither of these claims should surprise anyone familiar with the work of Ignatius or of Pope Francis. Each man embodies deep concern for the needs and well-being of the persons they encounter, never treating them as abstractions but ever eager to extend care and attention to them in all their concreteness. Near the end of his first major teaching document it's called Evangelium Gaudi, the Joy of the Gospel. Francis proposes the axiom, realities are more important than ideas. Got that? Signaling his aversion to adherence to any ideologies that may present a threat to flesh and blood persons. What can be asserted about these two exceptional Jesuits, Ignatius and Francis, can also be applied to the Jesuit-sponsored institutions like Fairfield University, especially educational apostolates in general. Perhaps the most off-repeated soundbite associated with Jesuit education is its dedication to the principle of Chora personalis, care for the whole person, body and mind and soul and spirit as well. This ubiquitous motif is the centerpiece of the entire Jesuit educational philosophy, intent as it is to serve the full set of human needs of students of people anywhere. The power of Christian personalism to orient the choices of an individual and the activities of an organization such as a Jesuit school absolutely depends upon the implicit commitment to respect the individual human person in all of his or her freedom and complexity. Notice especially the holistic aspect of this commitment. This appealing all-inclusive quality leaves ample room for both the material and spiritual dimensions of the human person. A premier faculty of the human person in this regard is the conscience, the very foundation of full moral agency which directs a person's actions in accord with one's intellect and one's free will. In writing the spiritual exercises as well as the constitutions of the society of Jesus, St. Ignatius consistently defers to the well-formed conscience of the individual. In his writings on morality Pope Francis also displays utmost respect for the individual conscience. The best example may come in paragraph 37 of his 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia on Love in the Family where Pope Francis asserts, here's a quote, we have been called to form consciences not to replace them. Needless to say it is not always easy for church administrators in their roles as authoritative gatekeepers of moral doctrine to uphold so consistently the Catholic tradition of the inviolability of the voice of conscience but the influence of Ignatian spirituality amplifies this personalistic impulse in the full range of moral matters. Item three on my list of five, embrace of the emotions. So far our survey of the Ignatian roots of Francis's moral teachings has remained rather cerebral in focus. It's time now to balance this portrayal by recognizing the insight that Ignatius is indeed a theologian of the heart of the emotions of the effort. In his lifetime Ignatius was known as a man given to profound emotions often derided as a fiery bask but also recognized as a mystic displaying the spiritual gift of tears on many occasions. The spiritual exercises call us to consult the full range of emotions most prominently consolation and desolation but also sorrow, indignation, joy, desire. A bedrock principle of Jesuit style spiritual direction is to consult the emotions at every turn as they emerge as generally reliable resources for moral judgments and decisions that face us. Ignatius knows knew this well and he passed it on to his latter day followers including Pope Francis. Just to clarify none of this contradicts the role of the intellect in moral life. Ignatius highly valued the life of the mind and the contemporary society of Jesus is perhaps best known for its intellectual apostolates including a global network of schools at every level. It is helpful to recall that Ignatius spent some of his prime years of his life mostly his the decade of his 30s in fact going back to school to study classical language philosophy and theology in preparation for priesthood and also to enhance the credibility that he would need in the learned circles of Europe in which he would move. As the first superior general of society Ignatius prioritized learned ministry missioning some of his best men to acquire prestigious university degrees so they could serve the church more effectively. He eagerly responded to the request of Pope Paul III to provide theological counselors to the papal legates presiding over the opening sessions of the Council of Trent and these included the highly esteemed experts Pierre Favre, Diego Leinez and Alfonso Saumarón. Francis walks capably in this tradition of integrating the affect and the intellect in his moral teachings and in every aspect of his people ministry. He never hesitates to display his own feelings nor to speak about his emotional reactions to world events referring on many occasions to the tears of sorrow and even the outrage that wells up within him when he hears of preventable human tragedies such as the exploitation of traffic persons, the cruel senseless deaths of refugees on the high seas. His embrace of certain elements of Franciscan spirituality may well be interpreted in part as an indication of his desire to integrate further the emotional dimension of ministry to express the heart of the living pastor, the loving pastor that he is as he is drawn to a balanced spirituality very appropriate to our times. Item four, spiritual freedom linked to social action for material improvements. It's a spiritual and material. No phase captures the goal of the spiritual exercise is better than spiritual freedom. What an important phrase for Ignatius who prayer and enhanced self knowledge, the retreat and following this program of prayer may achieve an inner freedom that produces great spiritual fruit, particularly valuable is the gift of indifference a stance that allows one to rise above self interest and any narrow concerns to attain a more comprehensive picture of reality in line with God's intentions for the universe, not mine. The ethical import of this call to a radical humility is clear. If I truly see the world more and more as the creator does, I will readily accept whatever is in line with the divine purposes, not my own partial and possibly distorted perspective. When ethicists speak of the importance of avoiding conflicts of interest, such as with holders of public office, although serving on institutional boards of trustees, their discourse parallels quite closely the spiritual principle of inner freedom explored by Ignatius five centuries ago. Whether we think in terms of attaining spiritual freedom to set aside self regard or of ethical imperatives to engage in dispassionate analysis, these are rare and difficult attainments indeed. The closely related aspiration comes at the very end of the spiritual exercises where Ignatius proposes a meditation called contemplation to attain divine love, a meditation that includes the admonition that love shows itself more in deeds than in words. Our love for God, which necessarily includes love of neighbor, must issue forth ineffective acts of service. Lip service does not suffice, as words alone do not completely fulfill our moral obligation to others. Further, our neighbors possess bodies as well as souls, so their concrete material needs, especially their sufferings of any sort, issue duties and rightly set our moral agendas. The disciple of Jesus Christ must be a servant of others on a small scale, a doer of good deeds, charitable works, on a larger scale, the scale of social ethics, and agent of constructive change in society. That is admittedly a lot to unpack from a short meditation written five centuries ago by a mystic and a saint in another social context entirely, but those spiritual admonitions and directives for service and freedom provide the moral compass for the entire worldwide Ignatian family even today. There is a direct line from the eliciting of inner spiritual freedom to the desire for deeper discipleship, which in turn issues forth in acts of social reform and activism for justice. This spiritual vision affects not only what we do and pursue, but ultimately who we are and how we understand ourselves. In the words of Ignatius, we are simul in oxione et contemplativos or contemplatives in action. The activist spirituality that follows from these commitments is not optional for the disciple who intervenes in the social order with a style of engagement that blends boldness with prudence, embracing whatever is needed to remain faithful to a vocation, to help souls to forge a better world and to be a catalyst for constructive change. There's surely still some quiet time available to rest, to meditate, but never to be fully satisfied as Ignatius calls his followers to the mages, to render ever greater service to church and world. It's very easy to find references to all these spiritual and practical commitments in the words and actions of Pope Francis, his call to overcome indifference to the suffering of others and especially to the plight of refugees is inescapable. In his latest encyclical Fratelli Tutti, Francis seems especially eager to establish a convincing case that religion cannot be reduced to a private affair of the heart, but rather that disciples must tread the path of public social action. One of the sizzling soundbites produced by Archbishop Bergoglio and Buenos Aires and often repeated in his papal lexicon as well is this, a good Catholic medals in politics. To do otherwise would be to truncate the faithful and to settle for less than the fullness of the gospel and the spiritual heritage of radical humility and committed Christian service to neighbor that comes to Francis and to each of us from Saint Ignatius Loyola. Fifth and final item on this list, careful spiritual discernment. The treatment of discernment in the spiritual exercises is perhaps the element of Ignatian spirituality most easily identifiable as providing guidance for moral theology. Lest Ignatian discernment be misinterpreted as a rigid point-by-point program for analytic decision-making analogous to a computer algorithm where inputs and set procedures mechanistically determine outcomes, it is helpful to recognize that all four of the elements of Ignatian spirituality treated just above contribute to authentic discernment. The role of the emotions deserves special mention when treating the process of discernment whose full description must include such Ignatian motifs as testing of spirits and Caritas discreta or discerning love and even a journey of discovery on the way to sound decisions. Francis' own practice of papal discernment was perhaps most publicly on display in the way that he conducted two worldwide synods of bishops in October of 2014, October of 2015 on the topic of challenges to contemporary family life and then how he synthesized the findings of these two rather contentious deliberations into his inspiring 2016 apostolic exhortation on Morris Latizia. Though the open-endedness of this papal document provoked considerable backlash from traditionalist voices who were afraid that Francis in extending a hand of mercy to couples in irregular second unions without benefit of an annulment was watering down the principle of the indissolubility of marriage in compromising doctrinal clarity, the overall process represents an extended ecclesial discernment on a global scale. Even putting aside the controversy over the conclusions, the commitment of Francis to deep and empathetic listening to those affected by broken marriages and exclusion from the sacraments models all the principles of Ignatian spirituality that we have seen and others as well. Though no church doctrine was actually changed, merely sending these signals a renewed openness to pastoral flexibility and the embrace of prudent strategies characterized by gradualism rather than curt judgmentalism towards families and crisis represents a real breakthrough. Ignatius would readily recognize Francis' gestures toward mercy as the fruit of Caritas discrepancy in the application of pastoral flexibility. Genuine Ignatian discernment is always open to discovering the finger of the divine in surprising places indeed to finding God in all things. Another popular sound bite associated with Jesuit spiritual practices. Listening to the pain and the yearning to be readmitted to communion as expressed by members of these sundered families is just one example of how Francis has prioritized hearing the voices of the marginalized and meeting people where they are, a stance that contains a world of ethical implications. When Francis lauds the culture of encounter and the culture of inclusion as he often does. We should recognize his eager embrace of an ethical program that includes reaching out to those on the peripheries of human society, hard-pressed people rejected for perceived faults of various types. He has indeed made a hallmark of his papacy the creation of spaces where such encounters are possible, exhorting us to evangelical renewal and encouraging ecclesial reforms that will foster a church that goes out to the peripheries, pastors with the smell of the sheep, and parish communities that resemble a field hospital after battle, tending to the wounds of the hurting. The Ignatian discerner in him is always on the lookout for ways to enact the principle of mercy, which is a far better guide to pastoral decisions than the desire merely to perpetuate inherited patterns and to impose rigid one-size-fits-all solutions to pastoral quandaries. And to part one, part two and three are even short. Part two is labeled Jesuit priorities. With those five Ignatian roots in mind, we next ask the question, how has Pope Francis also incorporated distinctive Jesuit priorities into the ethical commitments evident in his papal ministry? How has his papal agenda been shaped by the actual society of Jesus beyond its early Ignatian inspiration? Because the overlap is so extensive as both Francis and the Jesuit community from which he emerged share a large core of ethical concerns, this section can actually remain quite brief. Indeed, the sole item to be covered here that may surprise some attentive listeners like you may be summarized in one word. And that word is structuralism. Allow me to explain this term, how it originated in church and Jesuit circles, and how Francis employs a structural analysis of so many ethical issues. When the future Pope Francis entered the Jesuits in 1958, nobody could have predicted the series of stunning changes in the church that soon unfolded. On the universal level, the Second Vatican Council would soon commit the Catholic Church to reading far more analytically the signs of the times that included the deep poverty and the massive oppression of much of the world's population, even as the old colonial empires were breaking up. On the regional level, Bergoglio's native Latin America was waking up to the moral imperative of urgent social reform that would address deep social injustices baked into the economies of every country on that continent. Bold religious leaders issued appeals to gospel values like freedom and justice in movements like liberation theology. And at important meeting, regional meetings, such as the Conference of Latin American Bishops, known by the acronym CELAM. Simultaneously, the Society of Jesus was rededicating itself to the service of faith and the promotion of justice, insisting that the two go hand in hand in all Jesuit ministries. In stirring documents produced by a series of general congregations, Jesuit leaders, and especially its longtime superior general Pedro Arrupe, a particular hero of Bergoglio's, committed tens of thousands of Jesuits worldwide to an agenda of conducting learned social analysis aimed at the reform of structures that systematically hinder the attainment of justice. Ministers of the gospel need to probe the causes of injustices beyond merely recognizing their consequences. Pope Francis treads fully consciously upon these paths of faith-inspired advocacy for social justice as pioneered by Vatican II and the Latin American bishops and Jesuit leaders as well. He displays a particularly astute structural eye to detect the distortions of proper social order that cause so many global injustices. Almost instinctively, his vision penetrates the symptoms of social problems to reveal the deepest causes behind the maladies that plague the most vulnerable in our turbulent world. Here are five brief sketches of areas where Francis has focused his structural eye on egregious examples of injustice, and here I'm going to hold up my book and shamelessly promote it. I'm just going to give a paragraph of these five. You'll get a whole chapter of each of these five in my 2018 book, Mercy and Action, The Social Teachings of Pope Francis, and there he is visiting refugees on the island of Lesbos, April of 2016. Agree, Kyle. First, Francis identifies many offenses against economic justice, including violations of workers' rights, escalating income inequality, and distortions within the financial sector of the economy. Each is caused by hidden mechanisms. Francis is not afraid to join earlier popes who label them structures of sin. Things that contribute to the poverty, misery, and exploitation of billions of people. He frequently and quite vehemently denounces the idolatry of money, which seems to drive inordinately most economic relations today. While religious leaders like popes enjoy limited ability to actually solve these massive problems, Francis is eager to expose the distorted incentives and the warped values behind unethical, unscrupulous practices of those who take advantage of billions of souls desperate for subsistence in our globalized economy. Second, Francis has become the most prominent global leader advocating for an end of the environmental degradation that contributes to the existential threat of climate change. Now, I admit Greta Thunberg rivals the Pope for sheer global exposure, but then again, has she published a book-length treatment of the deep causes of disregard for our common home? The Earth, as Francis did in his 2015 brilliant and cyclical Laudato Si, on care for our common home. I don't want to put Greta down. She actually has published a book, but it's not quite as good as this one. Francis is eager to deliver, to delve beneath the surface of such realities as atmospheric carbon levels, cabin trade proposals, other policies, as important as those are to diagnose the root causes of our ecological abuses, attitudes such as tyrannical anthropocentrism and technocratic rationality. We urgently need to change our policies, our practices, but above all our culture to adopt a culture of care that Francis proposes, an overarching stance that embraces the earth itself as well as the poor who suffer disproportionately from the short-sighted wastefulness and selfish callousness of our consumer society. This is structural analysis at its most universal level and its most urgent expression. Third item, when Francis turns his structural eye to the crisis of contemporary family life, many interrelated phenomena come under his microscope. We already considered some of the ecclesial implications of his discernments related to families and crisis, but Francis identifies an alarming range of threats to healthy families in our world. Some of them economic or sociological in nature, others relating to deformities in our culture, such as the uncritical embrace of technology and its corrosive effect on relationships within the family. Francis speaks and preaches frequently on the root of the many challenges to the family and his longest document to date, Amoris Latizia that I mentioned, treats this very topic. Fourth item, when Francis trains his structural eye on the unprecedented refugee crisis, he again comes up with an insightful diagnosis and some challenging prescriptions for improvement. His constant advocacy for more humane migration policies on the part of the affluent nations should not eclipse the underlying analysis that identifies the many distressing root causes of the crisis of people on the move, tens of millions of them. The tens of millions of refugees and asylum seekers are displaced by a confluence of factors that include gang violence, civil strife, diminishing economic opportunities in many places, and increasingly inhospitable climate. And he treats all of us. Climate change, refugees fleeing flooded, low-lying terrain, deforested tropical regions, and farmlands ruined by sudden desertification present global challenges that can only be met through ethical leadership that is exerted by people like Francis, but also our political figures. Fifth and finally, Francis has well earned the accolades that he regularly receives as a foremost peacemaker in the world. While his diplomatic initiatives in pursuit of peace are numerous and impressive, his most distinctive contribution in this area may be the way that he employs structural analysis to identify the root causes of conflicts, not just traditional large-scale armed warfare, but also low intensity conflict, insurrections, terrorism, local rebellions, and simmering resentments that flare up with deadly consequences. His most high-profile advocacy of all consists of his repeated pleas for an end to the global arms bazaar as he identifies the indiscriminate sale of weapons as the catalyst for untold bloodshed every year. I'll keep going. A halt to the international arms trade was the urgent agenda item that he brought before the United Nations and the U.S. Congress during his visit to the United States in September of 2015. Because he focuses so insightfully on the need to address the full range of underlying conditions that threaten peace, his approach is best captured with a relatively new term, peace-building, with its emphasis on changing the entire equation, not just applying temporary patches to uneasy tinderboxes waiting to explode. So that is an impressive collection of five areas where Francis has demonstrated his structural eye in social justice issues during his papacy. Equally remarkable is how the Society of Jesus has worked in parallel ways to identify and address ethical problems in our world today. The Jesuit Curia office in Rome maintains an office called the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat that produces occasional reports, position papers, and other resources that provide directions for Jesuits and their works worldwide. Well, not quite identical in scope and focus to the documents that Pope Francis in his own social justice office produces. They overlap a great deal with the structural-minded approach. Is this surprising? Of course. Since Francis comes out of the world of Jesuit institutions and a nation's spirituality, and so shares abundantly in these same concerns and methods, this is structural analysis and its best. And by the way, his great hero, Pedro Arrupe, was the founder in the year 1980 of the Jesuit refugee service, the JRS, that surely inspired much of Francis' own advocacy for refugee rights. And other Jesuits openly admired by the Pope over the years have been active in interreligious dialogue and peacemaking and social justice works of all sorts. Nothing about these overlapping concerns and approaches to global problems should be attributed to mere coincidence, since the Society of Jesus has been a beacon for putting forth into action for social justice just as surely as Francis has been doing as well. Two final words about the Society of Jesus and its social justice priorities. Because I worked in Jesuit formation myself for over two decades, incidentally covering some of the same duties that the young father Jorge Bergoglio took up in Argentina, I feel especially confident in making this first claim. One of the most important efforts in the Society of Jesus that must continue and we must prioritize is to train its newest youngest members thoroughly in the ways of peace and justice. The legacy of leadership and social justice thought in scholarship and ministry must be perpetuated, as the church absolutely depends on the Jesuits to maintain excellence in this area and the next generation of Jesuits have a heavy torch of social justice priorities to carry forward. And second, the most recent and highly encouraging sign of this enduring Jesuit commitment to many of these values that shape Pope Francis is a Jesuit document that was promulgated almost exactly two years ago today, that's February 19th, 2019. It's called the Universal Apostolic Preferences and not meant to be exhaustive in nature and explicitly not excluding any particular Jesuit works or institutions from its concern. This document identifies four areas of special focus and commitment, at least for the next 10 years. And here's the numbered list, it's the sentence each of those four priorities. One, to show the way to God through the spiritual exercises through discernment. Two, to walk with the poor, the outcasts of the world, those whose dignity has been violated in a mission of reconciliation and justice. Three, to accompany young people in the creation of a hope filled future. And four, to collaborate in the care of our common home. Some of those sound familiar? Pope Francis Society of Jesus, lots of work. Jesuits working in all these sectors and their colleagues collaborating in the full range of Jesuit sponsored institutions are encouraged to join these corporate efforts and not coincidentally, to follow Pope Francis in advancing each of these four areas. Let's now go to part three, and it's extremely short, it's less of the page. Part three, contemporary ethical challenges. This will be the briefest section, we've already had occasion to note many of the ethical challenges addressed by Pope Francis in our world today. Let's just tie up the package with some nice strength, shall we? Our world is hurting. We all know this. Unfortunately, we have a Pope who never turns a blind eye to human suffering of any sort. He is that rare religious figure who never seems to miss an opportunity to leverage his worldwide notoriety and high media profile to call attention to dire human needs. Deliberate or not, Francis presents as an ethical prophet, speaking out for causes of justice and peace, even when it may not be popular to do so. Maximizing the value of the bully Pope that every Pope possesses, he exhibits a special skill in publicizing the plight of people in need and engaging in rich symbolic gestures to communicate support and solidarity with them. In the course of our analysis, we have seen the Pope's advocacy for a variety of hard-pressed groups, refugees, exploited workers, traffic persons, etc. We have also had occasion to view the ways that he responds to systemic crisis, which threaten the well-being of every person, especially the environmental crisis and the scourge of war on a global scale, which Francis seems to address through his advocacy for conflict transformation, through diplomacy, his stiff opposition to nuclear proliferation, his championing of efforts to halt arms sales, etc. Aware that our Pope grapples with these grave topics around the clock every day of the year, I often wonder how Pope Francis fends off burnout, compassion fatigue, utter despair. The best answer I can provide is to point to the many elements of Ignatian spirituality, a selection of which we explored in the last hour. Implicit in them is a kind of wager, a bet on the active presence of God, the Lord of history, who's at work in our world, according meaning and lending hope to our active efforts at social transformation. St. Ignatius certainly promoted an image of God as one who beckons us forward to improve our world with all of our strength. The Jesuit founder intently urged members of the Jesuits to dedicate themselves to ministries of reconciliation, which is a biblical theme with rich resonance in subsequent Jesuit practice and also in the papacy of Francis, a son of Ignatius. Since we have discovered so much about Pope Francis, allow me to offer a final word involving the other half of our topic, the discipline of ethics and moral theology itself. You may be somewhat surprised that so much of the foregoing treatment of Francis and his ethical leadership proceeded on the level of spirituality and emotions and attitudes, rather than pivoting upon systematic propositions, precise ethical distinctions, analytic rigor, logical syllogisms. These are qualities traditionally associated with Roman Catholic moral theology at its best. It is not that Francis discards such rational categories or thematic materials entirely, although he may at times frustrate some people who expect such things. My personal takeaway is that we now have a Pope whose agenda is more oriented toward what may be called the softer side of moral theology, prioritizing items such as empathy, dialogue, mercy, and social concern for the vulnerable, less engaged with abstractions. In short, much like Jesus in his technique of teaching through parables, Francis is after our hearts, not just our cerebra. Sure, he wants us to think clearly, but he mostly encourages us to care more, to open our hearts to renewed conversion, to respond to the summons to overcome every form of apathy and exclusion. This refreshing challenge is indeed the theme of many of his writings, especially in his 2020 World Day of Peace, where he introduced this great phrase, the culture of care, a care that will be required if we are ever to establish a more peaceful world. This is his all-encompassing ethical program, his prescription for positive social change. The momentous and urgent adoption of this culture of care is a precondition for resolving all the social crises we have seen and addressing the central pressing ethical issues, including some we have not talked about. In Francis then, the church has a universal pastor who so evidently maintains the heart of a local pastor, walking the precincts of his neighborhood, to seek out the needy, the hurting. His care for souls proceeds according to Ignatian rhythms and with a full set of ethical priorities affirmed in recent decades by the Society of Jesus. In sum, we need not look far at all to locate what it is that makes Pope Francis tick. The elements of his moral compass are hidden in plain sight for those familiar with his Jesuit background and perduring Ignatian spiritual commitments. Thank you for your attention. Thank you Father Massaro. I have several questions online here, but I'm going to give the first opportunity to someone in the room, Professor Van Dyck. You mentioned there are some well-known catchphrases of Jesuit education. Did I miss any of them? Well, no. In fact, I'm curious why there seems to be one missing. So you, and not from your talk, but just from kind of catchphrases in general, because you mentioned that both Pope Francis and Ignatius elevate the importance of conscience. And I cannot think of any catchphrase that mentions conscience. So my first question is, why is conscience missing from our slogan vocabulary? And then my second question related to that is, in what way, though, is conscience and discernment are those related? Absolutely. Professor Van Dyck, you are a various professor of science, right? How did you pull this off? Conscience, I agree. Conscience is a term in Catholic theology that goes back all the way. St. Paul used the word syndarises. I mean, it's got such a long lineage conscience and the Greek roots of it. And yet, I believe I'm with you. I'm frustrated that it has fallen out of so many of our thoughts, calculations, approaches to moral theology, decision-making, discernment. So what explains that? I don't have the slightest idea. Conscience is always in tension with authority, right? So there's a tension there. It can be a creative and positive tension, because after all, authority, whether it's church authority, legal authority, political authority, informs us, guides us, does some of our homework, but never all of our homework, we still need to do the See, Judge, Act, the methodology of applying the principles, the values, the virtues to our own situations. So that can only happen in the conscience of a person. St. Thomas Aquinas, this is back on the 13th century, emphasized the conscience as inviolable. It's the proximate norm of all of our decisions. The German soldiers at the Nuremberg trials just said, oh, I was just following orders. We're supposedly surrendering their conscience, and they were still convicted, because the judges wisely said we never surrender our conscience. So we need to revive conscience. I have a colleague, a former colleague at Santa Clara University named David DeCasse. Look up that name. He's written many articles and popular journals like National Catholic Reporter. He has a couple of books now about conscience. So we're trying to revive this. So thank you for pointing that out. I, too, would like to put that back into the lexicon. I mean, it's there, but I'll give you the sound bite though. We're here to form conscience, not to replace it. So thank you very much. Okay, so we have a second question for you from one of our many people online. This is from Rose Marie Ganley, who asking, as a Canadian, she'd like to comment on her mystification about the widespread resistance to Francis' ideas and reforms from the U.S. Catholic bishops. So first of all, I'm so delighted that this talk is reaching across our border to Canada. I'm still a little angry that the Canadian women's hockey team defeated our U.S. women's hockey team at the Olympics 42, but we got a lot of shots on goal. So maybe we'll keep them in the questions. It's a very wise question. So a book just came out. Am I going to remember the name? Massimo Borghese, an Italian theologian, just published a book, Catholic Discordance. Do I have the title correct, so Dr. Lakewood? I believe it. The word discordance is the top word. It came out last month. A blurb for me is on the back cover of the book. So I should read the title. And in 300 pages, Professor Borghese analyzed, basically he said the resistance to Pope Francis, the pushback, the people who oppose him, especially in the press in public ways, are largely in Italy and the United States. Not that there's no discordant voices anywhere else, but those two countries seem to be like the ground zero of opposition. I read the book. I digested it. I think I agree with it. I don't have the data that he has in front of me. I just believe that there are pockets of places in the world that have not been receptive to the message of Francis. Could it be on substance or is it mostly on style? I don't know the answer to that. Just I can't imagine substance because he literally hasn't changed a word or a bit of doctrine. The few changes he introduced in canon law had to do with a little bit of mercy here on the speeding up the annulment process. And there's been some excellent revision of the way that sexual abuse in the church, in ways that we can protect children from clergy abuse, how those cases are prosecuted and bringing just the word transparency to the church procedures. So I can't imagine anybody on the substance of that saying he's got it all wrong. Maybe it's style. Maybe they don't like a pope that speaks in familiar parlance in an idiom that his friend, remember when he was first elected pope, his greeting was in up the solo greetings from Rome. It was bonjour or no. Good evening. And what was the first thing he did? He bowed and said, please pray for me for the next 30 seconds or so. I'm not aware of any pope that did that before. And it could be that these expectations of papal regalness or imperialism or maybe just protocol standing on formality. He broke that down, moved out of the papal apartments, right, the apostolic palace into a little two room suite in a guest house called Casa Santa Marta and presides at a mass in a little chapel that may not seem to have the regalness of other popes and speaks in impromptu press conferences in the back of the plan. So I can only guess to our Canadian friend like that. I welcome the question. I don't have a full answer. I have a feeling it's more about style than substance. Thank you for your talk. And you mentioned that Pope Francis said a good Catholic metals and politics. Where does the good Catholic draw the line with politics? Because Jesus, of course, said, give to Caesar what it says. Do we follow all times when it's unjust? Or where do you find the literature? I'll give you the 32nd version of my entire course called Religion and Public Life. That quote, render on to Caesar what is Caesar and to God what is God. So we have a duality of duties of consciousness. That's a theme from Jesus through, we'll go to St. Augustine who had the earthly city and the heavenly city, the city of God. So duality all the way through the Christian tradition. By the way, this also applies to the Eastern Orthodox churches. Lutheranism, Luther was big on the two duties we have, the state and the church. So it's there all the time. You are absolutely correct that we need to draw some lines. So the Christian is pulled into the public sphere to be socially responsible, but also has to remember that he or she is acting simultaneously as a citizen and a disciple. And when you participate in politics, it's not that you never put your faith, what's the word, off to the side and forget it, but you have to alter your speech to be appropriate. So don't stand up in the well of the Senate if you're elected Senator from Connecticut or wherever and make a speech where you law the virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As great as they are, it's not the right time. So render on to Caesar what is Caesar's. So he said that in Argentina, the good Christian medal is one who medals in politics. He recognized lines that need to be drawn. But don't be afraid to bring our values, Christian values grounded in the words of Jesus, the teachings of the church, bring that into the public sphere in an appropriate way. So we talk about love of neighbor. And when you go to Congress, maybe it's better to talk about protecting human rights, right, or caring for the common good, rather than more particular religious language. So there's a style about engagement in politics. There's that duality of consciousness. Yes, there are straight lines. I will never preach no preacher can preach from the pulpit and tell you which party or candidates to go for. There are some broad lines, bright lines. Pope Francis recognizes and respects those, but he doesn't want us to leave behind our Christian values. Excellent question. We have several more questions. We're not going to get to all of them, but I cannot resist asking this one. This is from Giulio Giulietti. Listening to you, he says in Saigon, Vietnam. Now we're really international. It's pretty late now, I think. So he says, do you sense then that Pope Francis' openness to dialogue and outreach to all others is finding its way into the bishop's conferences that have been critical to his worldview? Good. My friend, Giulio. Salute, hello. I go back to that book by Massimo Borghese, who did locate the United States and the Italian, largely the bishop's conferences as well as the larger culture, as being pockets of resistance to Francis. Is he overcoming it? I guess that's just the question. Well, there is something nice about having a pope who's been in office nine years now. Remember when he was first elected, he said, oh, I'm going to be here four or five years. So he's doubled that already. As the bishop's retire and as the pope replaces Cardinal, who will elect the next pope after him, he's now appointed something like 45% of all the Cardinals. And if there's another consistory next year, we'll create nine or 10 new Cardinals, and he'll be over half of the College of Cardinals. But just think of the change over time for the U.S. Bishops Conference. Every year, a certain number of our 200 bishops retire, they reach retirement age, and he replaces them with people of pastors with the smell of the sheep. So time is on our side. Am I quoting the Rolling Stones? I can't believe I'm doing that. But beyond that, that might seem almost like a silly argument. I really do believe that dialogue, we have not given up on dialogue, that even those who resist Pope Francis, when they meet at the bishops conference twice a year every November and usually in June as well. I do see signs of a rapprochement of a bridge. It's not hard left and hard right. That's too political a language. I just like to think of the bishops selectively standing for certain things. Sometimes their interpretation is different from the popes. So I'm hoping that there'll be a breakthrough. I can point to some evidence. It's not enough for my taste. Thank you, Giulio, wherever you are. So I'm going to take one more question from off this list. I apologize to those out there whose questions are not getting responded to. But here's the last question from here. And I'm going to read this very carefully. This is from Jerry Hemman Way, who is a well-known local Catholic pediatrician. In a spirit of spiritual freedom and authentic discernment as agents of constructive change and ethical determination, do you have an opinion as to what St. Francis will take on the full emancipation of women in their role in the church? Okay, so lots of concerns for role of women in the church expanding. There's mixed evidence here, right? We have a pope who on the negative side, he does display some of his age. So he's a man who came to age in society that was still very patriarchal. Most societies still are. And he shows occasional, I would say, even more than gaffes. He makes mistakes. He has slow walked some of the progress of women into, he's really slow walked the study of women, the potential of appointing women deacons. So there's some negative things there. And here's some positive things. As soon as he came into office within months, the investigation of the American women religious was dropped. That was no accident. That was something that he was distressed by, that these brave women congregation standing up for great values, especially in the United States, being investigated. And he with a suspicion. So that was an excellent thing. I would sometimes forget it was eight and a half years ago. Recently, the movements, I'm not going to get the wording right here, but installing women as ordinary as, as lectures and acolytes. So we've had alter service. We have female lecturers for a long time. He has made that just in the last few months, right? He has made that a regular regularize that. And that actually raises the profile. It makes a legitimate thing, not by way of exception. So those are two really good things. So I see a combination of a man with some limitations in his culture about embracing the full message of feminism of equal rights of women, feeling constrained by 2000 years of tradition. Okay. Maybe he doesn't feel like he could make changes as quickly as he would like. But on the other hand, there are tangible things. So when he finishes being Pope, whenever that is, I hope he's in for 20 more years, we can look back at this papacy and say, more progress was made in these years than in any other group of years. Okay. Now, is that small consolation? If the bar is so low, we're getting somewhere over a very low bar. Maybe it is. And for your taste, it may not be fast enough for the good doctor's taste. It sounds like he's eager for a pace of change. We will always have disagreements on pace of change. We will always have a church that is slow to respond. I always think of the church as an ocean liner that cannot turn on a dime. I learned that from the movie Titanic. It's the only thing I've learned from that movie. It takes a long time to change a large trajectory of an institution with a large, what do they call that, a footprint in the water and with a lot of momentum. So too fast for some, not fast enough for others. But I will stand by this. More change will have come from his papacy than any other single papacy. Thank you, Father Massaro. Thank you all out there between here and Vietnam. Thank you all here in this room. We look forward to seeing all again. All the details of our many events this semester are online. Please take a look and come back again soon. Please join me in thanking Father Massaro.