The Francis Effect

Dr. Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org. In a recent article in First Things David Bentley Hart, who is Orthodox, says he finds the response of many Catholics to this pope “inexplicable.” Dr. Mirus explains why hypersensitivity and hysteria have no place in a truly Catholic response to the pope. He writes:

At the same time, there is a right way and a wrong way for a Catholic to respond to his fears. Any type of hypercriticism, hysteria or panic—especially when accompanied by accusations which go beyond a strict and necessary construction of the evidence—is, as I have already noted, not of God. This sort of anxiety, and the quick (and even petty) trigger finger that goes with it, always comes from the Devil. What comes from the Holy Spirit is interior peace, joy, generosity, and trust in God.

Mirus sees legitimate and illegitimate reasons for a sensitive or suspicious response to Pope Francis but provides some helpful insight into the larger questions that this response poses: http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/articles.cfm?id=660.