Will Pope Francis Bring His Winds of Change to Asia?
UENO Kagefumi / Professor (non-tenured), Kyorin University
March 5, 2014
Pope Francis, who became the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to assume the papacy in March last year, immediately won the hearts of many and continues to exert a powerful presence. Yet, I believe the true significance of the rise of this new Pope lies beyond the enormous popularity he enjoys. While reforming the scandal-ridden Vatican is certainly an important pressing issue, I am drawn to the fact that Pope Francis appears to be embarking on a much grander quest of launching a civilizational challenge aimed at changing the nature and culture of the Vatican that has lost touch with the global diversity and the minds of contemporary people, to modernize and diversify the entire Catholic world.
In doing so, the Pope has laid emphasis on revolutionizing awareness from three angles –-- redefinition of the Church's mission, transformation from a centralized structure to a decentralized structure and transformation from a "culture of exclusion" to a "culture of inclusion." Among these, the second angle, i.e. "decentralization," is of particular importance to the Churches in Japan and Asia. Over many centuries the Catholic Church has governed the entire world through a European paradigm without giving sufficient consideration to the indigenous cultures of each region, and the resultant gap between Catholic teachings and local cultures has at times brought difficulty to Churches in Latin America and Asia. The Pope seems to be considering the idea of tolerating the distinctive character of the Churches in each region, such as Latin America and Asia, even at the expense of diminishing the authority of the papacy and the Vatican. This signifies a move away from Europe and Rome in the Catholic world, and the Pope has already embarked on two challenges towards this direction.
One is the incorporation of Jesuit perspectives to the Vatican way of thinking. By preaching clergy to change their extravagant habits and to stand by the poor, the new Pope is bringing into the Vatican the "frontier culture (i.e. Jesuit culture)" of frugality and selflessness. The other challenge lies in the incorporation of Latin American perspectives. The view that "it is more important to stand by the poor than to be overly obsessed with family ethics" advocated by the new Pope is the one that has never been heard from successive predecessors, who were European and thus were unaware of the devastating reality of "authentic poverty." As a Latin American with a thorough understanding of extreme poverty, Pope Francis has brought a Latin American perspective into the Vatican and has already begun to close the psychological gap between Rome and Latin America.
Will the new Pope strive as hard to bridge the psychological gap between Asia and Rome? While we must judge from his future words and deeds, there are positive elements. "Inculturation" is the word used to describe the way the Catholic Church promulgates its faith by passing it first through the sieve of indigenous culture to make it more familiar for local people in various regions around the world. It was an idea advocated four centuries ago by Father Valignano, a Jesuit missionary sent to Japan, where he sought to put the idea into practice. Although his efforts failed against the Anti-Christian Edicts of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the idea gradually tapered out since his death, the new Pope with his Jesuit DNA may be more open to the Asianization of the Church in Asia through inculturation.
What would that "Asian" mean? For reference, let us turn to the discussion that took place during the Asian Synod held in Rome in 1998. At the conference, many Asian participants complained that Catholicism has remained incompatible with Asian cultures, signifying a lack of inculturation. For example, the Archbishop of Osaka pointed out that Christianity nurtured in the West is characterized by an excessively paternal, black-white dualistic tendency, whereas Asians seek an all-embracing maternal deity. This comment from a Jesuit Archbishop resonates with the thoughts of a seminary student and protagonist in "Deep River," a novel by Catholic author Endo Shusaku. In the story, the student points out that (European) Catholicism is characterized by excessive clarity, logic and disregard of nature that are unfamiliar to the Japanese. However, such opinions raised by Asia in 1998 have been deliberately ignored by the Vatican to date. Pope Francis has expressed his intentions of giving priority to visiting Asia this year and the next. How he will respond to the unaddressed voices of Asian discontent is an issue that evokes infinite interest from a civilizational perspective.
The tug-of-war between "Center" and "Periphery" and between "Universality" and "Locality" is an eternal theme that haunts any civilization. The arrival of Pope Francis, who personifies the "Periphery" as a Jesuit from Latin America, presents Churches in Asia and Africa with a golden opportunity for getting Rome to accept their distinctive character. The new Pope stands against a Rome-centric paradigm that has persisted for over 1,700 years. Whether his challenge holds up will depend on the depth of his conviction for diversifying and modernizing the Catholic world.
Kagefumi Ueno is a civilizational essayist and former Ambassador to the Holy See.
In doing so, the Pope has laid emphasis on revolutionizing awareness from three angles –-- redefinition of the Church's mission, transformation from a centralized structure to a decentralized structure and transformation from a "culture of exclusion" to a "culture of inclusion." Among these, the second angle, i.e. "decentralization," is of particular importance to the Churches in Japan and Asia. Over many centuries the Catholic Church has governed the entire world through a European paradigm without giving sufficient consideration to the indigenous cultures of each region, and the resultant gap between Catholic teachings and local cultures has at times brought difficulty to Churches in Latin America and Asia. The Pope seems to be considering the idea of tolerating the distinctive character of the Churches in each region, such as Latin America and Asia, even at the expense of diminishing the authority of the papacy and the Vatican. This signifies a move away from Europe and Rome in the Catholic world, and the Pope has already embarked on two challenges towards this direction.
One is the incorporation of Jesuit perspectives to the Vatican way of thinking. By preaching clergy to change their extravagant habits and to stand by the poor, the new Pope is bringing into the Vatican the "frontier culture (i.e. Jesuit culture)" of frugality and selflessness. The other challenge lies in the incorporation of Latin American perspectives. The view that "it is more important to stand by the poor than to be overly obsessed with family ethics" advocated by the new Pope is the one that has never been heard from successive predecessors, who were European and thus were unaware of the devastating reality of "authentic poverty." As a Latin American with a thorough understanding of extreme poverty, Pope Francis has brought a Latin American perspective into the Vatican and has already begun to close the psychological gap between Rome and Latin America.
Will the new Pope strive as hard to bridge the psychological gap between Asia and Rome? While we must judge from his future words and deeds, there are positive elements. "Inculturation" is the word used to describe the way the Catholic Church promulgates its faith by passing it first through the sieve of indigenous culture to make it more familiar for local people in various regions around the world. It was an idea advocated four centuries ago by Father Valignano, a Jesuit missionary sent to Japan, where he sought to put the idea into practice. Although his efforts failed against the Anti-Christian Edicts of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the idea gradually tapered out since his death, the new Pope with his Jesuit DNA may be more open to the Asianization of the Church in Asia through inculturation.
What would that "Asian" mean? For reference, let us turn to the discussion that took place during the Asian Synod held in Rome in 1998. At the conference, many Asian participants complained that Catholicism has remained incompatible with Asian cultures, signifying a lack of inculturation. For example, the Archbishop of Osaka pointed out that Christianity nurtured in the West is characterized by an excessively paternal, black-white dualistic tendency, whereas Asians seek an all-embracing maternal deity. This comment from a Jesuit Archbishop resonates with the thoughts of a seminary student and protagonist in "Deep River," a novel by Catholic author Endo Shusaku. In the story, the student points out that (European) Catholicism is characterized by excessive clarity, logic and disregard of nature that are unfamiliar to the Japanese. However, such opinions raised by Asia in 1998 have been deliberately ignored by the Vatican to date. Pope Francis has expressed his intentions of giving priority to visiting Asia this year and the next. How he will respond to the unaddressed voices of Asian discontent is an issue that evokes infinite interest from a civilizational perspective.
The tug-of-war between "Center" and "Periphery" and between "Universality" and "Locality" is an eternal theme that haunts any civilization. The arrival of Pope Francis, who personifies the "Periphery" as a Jesuit from Latin America, presents Churches in Asia and Africa with a golden opportunity for getting Rome to accept their distinctive character. The new Pope stands against a Rome-centric paradigm that has persisted for over 1,700 years. Whether his challenge holds up will depend on the depth of his conviction for diversifying and modernizing the Catholic world.
Kagefumi Ueno is a civilizational essayist and former Ambassador to the Holy See.
The English-Speaking Union of Japan
新法王 アジアにも旋風？
上野 景文 / 杏林大学客員教授
2014年 3月 5日
昨年３月に就任したローマ法王フランシスコは、初の中南米出身者、初のイエズス会出身者として、就任直後から多数の心を捉え、高い存在感を示している。が、新法王登場の真の意義は、高い人気を超えるもっと深いところにある、と私は見る。スキャンダル続きのバチカンを立て直すと言う喫緊の課題も重要ではあるが、私は、法王がより遠大なテーマに挑もうとしている点に注目したい。すなわち、新法王は、世界の多様な実情や現代人の意識を十分汲み取れていないバチカンの体質、文化を変容させ、カトリック世界全体の現代化、多角化をはかるという文明的挑戦を仕掛けつつある、と見る。
その際新法王が重視しているのは３つの意識革命ーー教会の使命の再定義、集権構造から分権型構造への転換、「排除の文化」から「包摂の文化」への転換ーーだ。中でも、日本、アジアの教会から見て特に重要と思われるのは、2つ目の「分権化」であろう。なぜなら、カトリック教会は長年にわたり、欧州的座標軸に拠って全世界を律して来ており、各地の固有文化を十分斟酌していないため、中南米、アジアなどの教会は、カトリックの教えと現地文化とのギャップに苦慮させられる場合があるからだ。法王の念頭には、法王やバチカンの権限を縮小してでも、中南米、アジアなど各地域の教会の独自性を容認するとの考えがあるようだ。カトリッ世界の脱欧州化、脱ローマ化をはかることでもあるが、法王はその方向で既に2つの挑戦を開始している。
１つはイエズス会的視点の（バチカンへの）持ち込み。贅沢な習慣を改め、貧困者に寄り添えと説くことを通じて、（新法王は）バチカンに清貧、無私を旨とする「前線文化＝イエズス会風文化」を持ち込みつつある。もう１つは中南米的視点の持ち込み。「家族倫理などへのこだわりより、貧困者に寄り添うことの方が大事」と説く新法王の視点は、歴代の先任法王からは聞かれなかったものだ。歴代の法王が欧州出身で、「本場の貧困」の凄味を知らなかったためだ。中南米出身で極貧を熟知した新法王は、貧困問題重視を説くことにより、バチカンに中南米的視点を持ち込み、もって、ローマと中南米の心理的距離を縮めつつある。
新法王は、アジアとローマの心理的距離短縮にも心を砕くであろうか？法王の今後の言動から占うほかないが、ポジティブな要素はある。カトリック教会が（世界各地の）固有文化と言う篩を通して地元に馴染む形で布教を進めることをインカルチュレーションと言う。４世紀前、同会が日本に派遣したバリニアーノ師が唱えた思想で、彼は日本でその実践を試みた（幕府の禁教策で失墜）。この思想、彼の死後尻つぼみとなって今日に至るが、イエズス会のDNAを受け継いでいる新法王だけに、インカルチュレーションを通じてアジアの教会がよりアジア的になることを受け入れるのではないか？
では、「アジア的」とは？１９９８年にローマで開かれたアジア司教会議での議論が参考になろう。同会議ではアジアの多くの参加者から、カトリックがアジアの文化に馴染む形になっていない（インカルチュレーションの欠如）との不満が聞かれた。たとえば、池長大阪大司教はこう指摘したーー欧州色が強いこれまでの基督教は、父性的な黒白二分法の発想が強すぎる；アジア人は全てを包み込む母性的な神を求めているーーと。このイエズス会出身の大司教の発言は、カトリック作家遠藤周作が、「深い河」の中で主人公の神学生に述懐させた点ーー（欧州色の強い）カトリックの過度の明晰性、論理性や、自然軽視の体質には、日本人として馴染めぬものがあるーーに通じるものがある。然しながら、1998年に噴出したアジアの声は、今日までバチカンから黙殺されている。今年～来年にアジア訪問を優先的に実施するとしている新法王であるが、この無視されたアジアの不満の声にどう応えるか、文明論の観点から興味が尽きない。
「中心」対「周辺」、「普遍」対「個別」の綱引きの問題は、凡そ文明と目されるものに付きまとう永遠のテーマだ。「周辺」（イエズス会、中南米）を体現した法王フランシスコの登場は、中南米だけでなく、アジアやアフリカの教会にとっても、ローマに独自色を認めさせる好機だ。新法王が、１７００年余続いて来たローマ中心のパラダイムにどう挑戦するかは、カトリック世界の多角化、現代化を進めようとの法王の思いがどれだけ深いかにかかっている。
（筆者は文明論考家、前駐バチカン大使。）
その際新法王が重視しているのは３つの意識革命ーー教会の使命の再定義、集権構造から分権型構造への転換、「排除の文化」から「包摂の文化」への転換ーーだ。中でも、日本、アジアの教会から見て特に重要と思われるのは、2つ目の「分権化」であろう。なぜなら、カトリック教会は長年にわたり、欧州的座標軸に拠って全世界を律して来ており、各地の固有文化を十分斟酌していないため、中南米、アジアなどの教会は、カトリックの教えと現地文化とのギャップに苦慮させられる場合があるからだ。法王の念頭には、法王やバチカンの権限を縮小してでも、中南米、アジアなど各地域の教会の独自性を容認するとの考えがあるようだ。カトリッ世界の脱欧州化、脱ローマ化をはかることでもあるが、法王はその方向で既に2つの挑戦を開始している。
１つはイエズス会的視点の（バチカンへの）持ち込み。贅沢な習慣を改め、貧困者に寄り添えと説くことを通じて、（新法王は）バチカンに清貧、無私を旨とする「前線文化＝イエズス会風文化」を持ち込みつつある。もう１つは中南米的視点の持ち込み。「家族倫理などへのこだわりより、貧困者に寄り添うことの方が大事」と説く新法王の視点は、歴代の先任法王からは聞かれなかったものだ。歴代の法王が欧州出身で、「本場の貧困」の凄味を知らなかったためだ。中南米出身で極貧を熟知した新法王は、貧困問題重視を説くことにより、バチカンに中南米的視点を持ち込み、もって、ローマと中南米の心理的距離を縮めつつある。
新法王は、アジアとローマの心理的距離短縮にも心を砕くであろうか？法王の今後の言動から占うほかないが、ポジティブな要素はある。カトリック教会が（世界各地の）固有文化と言う篩を通して地元に馴染む形で布教を進めることをインカルチュレーションと言う。４世紀前、同会が日本に派遣したバリニアーノ師が唱えた思想で、彼は日本でその実践を試みた（幕府の禁教策で失墜）。この思想、彼の死後尻つぼみとなって今日に至るが、イエズス会のDNAを受け継いでいる新法王だけに、インカルチュレーションを通じてアジアの教会がよりアジア的になることを受け入れるのではないか？
では、「アジア的」とは？１９９８年にローマで開かれたアジア司教会議での議論が参考になろう。同会議ではアジアの多くの参加者から、カトリックがアジアの文化に馴染む形になっていない（インカルチュレーションの欠如）との不満が聞かれた。たとえば、池長大阪大司教はこう指摘したーー欧州色が強いこれまでの基督教は、父性的な黒白二分法の発想が強すぎる；アジア人は全てを包み込む母性的な神を求めているーーと。このイエズス会出身の大司教の発言は、カトリック作家遠藤周作が、「深い河」の中で主人公の神学生に述懐させた点ーー（欧州色の強い）カトリックの過度の明晰性、論理性や、自然軽視の体質には、日本人として馴染めぬものがあるーーに通じるものがある。然しながら、1998年に噴出したアジアの声は、今日までバチカンから黙殺されている。今年～来年にアジア訪問を優先的に実施するとしている新法王であるが、この無視されたアジアの不満の声にどう応えるか、文明論の観点から興味が尽きない。
「中心」対「周辺」、「普遍」対「個別」の綱引きの問題は、凡そ文明と目されるものに付きまとう永遠のテーマだ。「周辺」（イエズス会、中南米）を体現した法王フランシスコの登場は、中南米だけでなく、アジアやアフリカの教会にとっても、ローマに独自色を認めさせる好機だ。新法王が、１７００年余続いて来たローマ中心のパラダイムにどう挑戦するかは、カトリック世界の多角化、現代化を進めようとの法王の思いがどれだけ深いかにかかっている。
（筆者は文明論考家、前駐バチカン大使。）
一般社団法人 日本英語交流連盟