“The Church in Belgium was marked by the figure of Cardinal Joseph Cardijn, founder of the Young Christian Workers,” observed Bosco d’Otreppe, journalist at La Libre.
“Joseph Cardijn’s method was ‘see-judge-act,’” d’Otreppe continued.
“Now, this method was a key point for Francis,” noted Mgr Jean-Pierre Delville, Bishop of Liège.
Bishop Delville added:
Pope Francis was an inductive person. He started from concrete reality, from particular situations, to arrive at the great mysteries of the faith. He was therefore the opposite of a deductive person (which Benedict XVI was more so), who starts from the great principles to conclude on the actions to be promoted. This approach of Pope Francis is very visible in his encyclical Laudato Si, devoted to integral ecology. He describes reality, gives a judgment, and then proposes courses of action.
He continued:jean
The Jesuits start from experience, from life, to consider what must be done to progress. This is known as casuistry. And it is not relativism at all. Relativism postulates that there are no laws, no references, whereas casuistry pays great attention to the particular case, to help it reach a horizon and an ideal.
For the Pope, discernment is achieved through trial and error. We saw this in the very spontaneous interviews he gave to the press. He didn’t hesitate to launch into various explanations, putting forward ideas here and there, sometimes in a contradictory manner. There was a bit of a searching back and forth. He placed himself in a position of dialogue, and not in the posture of the Pope exercising an infallible ministry.
This may have been disturbing, it could have resulted in a certain vagueness, but the Pope was convinced that it is by letting ideas mature with each individual that the truth can be glimpsed.
Bishop Delville, along with former International YCW chaplain, Dom Reginaldo Andrietta, will participate in the YCW Centenary Celebration at Cardijn’s parish church, Notre Dame, at Laeken on 1 May 2025.
SOURCES
Bosco d’Otreppe, Has Pope Francis Really Revolutionized the Church? (La Libre)
YCW Centenary (Belgian JOC)
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