The current movie, The Two Popes, imagines a conversation between Pope Benedict and Cardinal Bergoglio, who would succeed Pope Benedict in the papacy. The Pope is chastising the Cardinal for his pastoral practices in Buenos Aires, where he is bishop. He says something like, you are overturning traditions that have lasted for hundreds of years. Cardinal Bergoglio answers, but mercy has been with us for thousands of years. I think that St. John in his epistle would approve of that exchange. He observed: God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. The way to measure the depth of one’s commitment to Christ is not found in canon law but in the love and mercy we extend to others.
