The Friars and the Pope

“Friar Francis promises obedience and reverence to the lord pope Honorius and to his canonically elected successors and to the Roman Church.”  These words from the beginning of the Rule reflect Saint Francis’s love for the vicar of Christ, the visible head of the Catholic Church.  In this spirit, the Constitutions of the Conventual Franciscan Order state that “the friars are bound to obey the Supreme Pontiff as their highest superior, both by reason of their vow as well as by the example and command of Saint Francis.”  Likewise, “for the common good of the Lord’s flock the entire Order and each friar is immediately subject to the Supreme Pontiff.”

 Just as Saint Francis submitted the Rule to the Holy See for confirmation, so successive sovereign pontiffs have also rightfully declared the authentic sense of the Rule and Constitutions.  By receiving gratefully and living in accordance with such declarations, the friars have maintained the genuine spirit of seraphic poverty.  As ways of living change, so do the forms of religious observance.  Throughout the ages, the Rock on which the Church was built has supported the Order and helped it to remain true to its charism.

 So great was his admiration for the Holy See, that the Little Poor Man commanded, in the third chapter of the Rule, that the friars should carry out divine service “according to the order of the holy Roman Church.”  As a result, the Franciscan friars were in a large measure responsible for the spread of Roman liturgical usage throughout the western Church.  Wherever the friars travelled in service of the Gospel, they brought with them a certain romanitas.

Ever since Henry VIII’s break with Rome in the sixteenth century, devotion to the papacy has taken on a new significance for the Catholics of the United Kingdom.  Past generations have turned abusive epithets such as “papist” into badges of pride, gladly bearing the privations and punishments inflicted on them for preserving communion with the Apostolic See.  The Conventual Franciscans, who returned to England in the first years of the twentieth century, after nearly 400 years of exile, stand in solidarity with them and with their ancient confreres who established the Order in England almost eight centuries ago.  In the words of Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman, “God bless our pope, the great, the good”!