October 21: The greatest danger

In his remarks at the papal conclave which led to his election, Pope Francis quoted a famous theologian from memory. “The Church, when it is self-referential, without realizing it thinks that it has its own light; it stops being the ‘mysterium lunae’ and gives rise to that evil which is so grave, that of spiritual worldliness (according to De Lubac, the worst evil into which the Church can fall).”

It is a recurring theme of the man who would be pope. In 2007, in an interview, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires gave a direct answer to a direct question. What is the worst thing that can happen in the Church? “It is what [the Jesuit theologian Henri] De Lubac calls ‘spiritual worldliness.’ It is the greatest danger for the Church, for us, who are in the Church. ‘It is worse,’ says De Lubac, ‘more disastrous than the infamous leprosy that disfigured the dearly beloved Bride at the time of the libertine popes.’ Spiritual worldliness is putting oneself at the center. It is what Jesus saw going on among the Pharisees: ‘You who glorify yourselves. Who give glory to yourselves, the ones to the others.’

In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis’ thoughts on the greatest danger that faces the Church have reached their point of greatest clarity. “Spiritual worldliness, which hides behind the appearance of piety and even love for the Church, consists in seeking not the Lord’s glory but human glory and personal well-being.”

Again, he quotes De Lubac:  “Since it is based on carefully cultivated appearances, it is not always linked to outward sin; from without, everything appears as it should be. But if it were to seep into the Church, ‘it would be infinitely more disastrous than any other worldliness which is simply moral.’”