First Belong to God by Austen Ivereigh: The ideas of Pope Francis on the existential crisis facing religion and the planet

First Belong to God: On Retreat with Pope Francis

Author: Austen Ivereigh, with a foreword by Pope Francis

ISBN-13: 978-1788126694

Publisher: Messenger Publications

Guideline Price: £15

This book is the fruit of an eight-day online retreat that author and Pope Francis expert Austen Ivereigh was invited to lead by the British Province of the Jesuits in July 2020, at the height of the Covid lockdown. It employs the Spiritual Exercises developed by the founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius of Loyola, along with the retreat talks given by Bergoglio before he became pope, and his writings since he succeeded Pope Benedict XVI in March 2013. Ivereigh is a close friend of Pope Francis and an admirer of the Jesuits, which is obvious from many of his observations.

In his foreword, Francis mentions that, as Pope, he has highlighted that the destruction of the environment and the mass displacement of people are symptoms of what he calls the “crisis of non-belonging”. Ivereigh notes the ever-increasing gap between rich and poor (currently, the richest 1 per cent of the world’s population own more wealth than the other 99 per cent put together), which is fuelling a naked disregard for the damage that unrestrained consumerism is doing to the planet.

“How is it that we allow throwaway culture, in which millions of men and women are worth nothing compared to economic goods, how is it that we allow this culture to dominate our lives, our cities, our way of life?”, Francis asks. This interrogation echoes the views of the Polish-born sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman, who coined the phrase “liquid modernity”, a metaphor, according to Ivereigh, “in which precariousness in economic and social conditions lead men and women to perceive the world as a container full of disposable objects, objects for one-off use – including human beings”.

According to Bauman, in this new society, individuals become at one and the same time the promoters of commodities and the commodities they promote.

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The book is divided into an eight-day cycle covering various themes, three of which I consider particularly important: The Ecology of Mercy (caring for creation); Around a Common Table (Synodality) and The Triumph of Failure. At the end of each section, people are asked to meditate on certain texts and to subject them to the Jesuitical methodology of contemplate-discern-propose. The section on synodality emphasises that, in order to be successful, there is a need for “dialogue, discussion, research – but with the Spirit”. The Ignatian idea of “discernment” is at the heart of everything, the ability to hear the voice of God speaking to us individually, through meditation or dialogue with others, and the Spirit.

Even those who are most sceptical about what real changes Francis has brought to the church will often acknowledge a genuine commitment to the poor

This is a book that will definitely appeal to readers who want to become better acquainted with the ideas of Pope Francis on the existential crisis facing organised religion and the planet. Equally, those who were excited at the election of the first Jesuit to the seat of St Peter will find much to ponder in Ivereigh’s skilful exploration of the extent to which the Spiritual Exercises have influenced the current pope.

Even those who are most sceptical about what real changes Francis has brought to a Catholic Church that is fast becoming something of an irrelevance in the western world will often acknowledge a genuine commitment to the poor and a desire to reach out to those who have suffered at the hands of a sometimes authoritarian institution with a view to bringing healing. He appears to have a unique ability to strike a chord with a public that may be disillusioned with Catholicism, but are not necessarily ready to break completely with its cultural and spiritual legacy.

The 11 years since his assuming the role of St Peter have seen Francis’s attempts to steer the church in a new direction meet resistance from the more conservative elements within the Roman Curia, the main power bloc in the Vatican. Very little has changed in terms of doctrine, even if the background music is softer and less dogmatic.

While reading this book, my thoughts kept returning to Fr Tony Flannery, a well-known Redemptorist preacher and retreat leader who was removed from priestly ministry in 2012 for his support of female priests, same-sex marriage and the harsh treatment of homosexuals by the church. I wonder if Francis might not use discernment to bring about this Irish priest’s long-overdue rehabilitation? After all, a sense of “belonging” is unfeasible if justice is not the cornerstone of the way the church treats both its loyal and dissident members.

Eamon Maher is co-editor (with John Littleton) of The Francis Factor: A New Departure (Columba Press, 2014), a collection that analysed the first year of the new pontificate