Worldliness in the Mind of Pope Francis

And in the prayer that He says at table with the disciples during the Last Supper, He asks the Father not to take His disciples out of the world, but to defend them from the spirit of the world (see 17:15).” The Pope asks? What then is the spirit of the world? What is this worldliness that is capable of hating, of destroying Jesus and His disciples, and more, of corrupting them and of corrupting the Church? It is good for us to think about it.

1. Worldliness as a Culture- Pope Francis says that it is a style of life. “It is a style of life, worldliness. But someone might think that worldliness is about partying, living life as a party…No, no.” Worldliness is a culture. It is a culture of the transitory, a culture of appearances, of maquillage, a culture of “today yes, tomorrow no; tomorrow yes and today no”. It has superficial values. A culture that does not know fidelity, because it always changes according to circumstances, everything is negotiable. This is the worldly culture, the culture of worldliness. In his homily on January 1, 2019, Pope Francis said: “Worldliness, is an attitude of Catholics who can recite the Creed, but live on vanity, pride and attachment to money, believing themselves to be self-sufficient.” He mentioned three kinds of lifestyles that are anti-Christian lifestyle. He said: We can learn about the Christian style by first knowing our attitudes that don’t belong to theChristian style. The “accusatory style,” the “worldly style” and the “selfish style.” Accusatory lifestyle “belongs to those who always try and live by accusing others, disqualifying others, acting as absent promoters of justice. But they don't realize that it's the style of the devil: in the Bible, the devil is called the "great accuser", who is always accusing others. Pope Francis describes worldly lifestyle in this way: “The Lord has offered you the new wine but you did not change the wineskin, you did not change yourself. This worldliness is what ruins so many who are good but they enter into this spirit of vanity, of pride, of being seen...” Selfish lifestyle is linked with indifference. He said: “The selfish spirit is the spirit of indifference that is common in our communities. One believes oneself to be a good Catholic but doesn’t worry about the problems of others – wars, illnesses and the suffering of our neighbours. This is the hypocrisy that Jesus reproached the doctors of the law for.”

2. Worldliness as “Throw away Culture:” Worldliness is an attitude and a framework of mind. It is a description of a mindset that people have today which is temporariness and the lack of stability. It is a mindset that changes its course so quickly. It finds its comfort in transitory situations as if nothing is permanent. The Church is challenged by the changing of cultures in the world which eventually eradicates the sense of memory. John Paul II had already spoken about these challenges in the past when he spoke to the Pontifical Council of Culture in 1983. He said: “The challenge of the 21st century is to humanize society and its institutions through the Gospel; to restore to the family, to cities and to villages a soul worthy of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God. The Church can count on men and women of culture to help peoples rediscover their memory, to revive their consciences and to prepare their future.” In similar words, Pope Francis understands the world as eradicating Christian values. It is a movement that is part of humanity today. He further commented: “And Jesus insists on defending us from this and He prays that the Father might defend us from this culture of worldliness. It is a “use it and throw it away” culture according to whatever suits you. It is a culture without faithfulness, it has no roots. But it is a way of life, even a way of life for many who say that they are Christians. They are Christians, but they are worldly.”

3. Worldliness as an Enemy- Pope Francis views worldliness as a lifestyle and therefore it is the “spirit” or a “trend” of the age. He understands it as the enemy of the age. In his homily on August 11, 2013, he said: “The Lord speaks to us again about the spirit of the world, about worldliness: how this worldliness works and how perilous it is. In his prayer after the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, Jesus besought the Father not to allow his disciples to fall into worldliness. Worldliness is the enemy, and the devil derives great pleasure” in seeing us live according to its ways.” Worldliness is a spirit of the world that is difficult to battle if we do it all alone. We need the assistance of prayer, silence, recollection, and the Word of God. On another homily on January 7, 2016, he said about the difficulty of fighting worldliness: “Because worldliness is the spirit which distances us from the Spirit of God that enablesus to abide in the Lord.”

4. Worldliness is a Subtle Encroachment- Pope Francis understands worldliness as an insidious mentality that carries in itself harmful effects and motives. It has its own interpretation of the world and its affairs. It has a lifestyle that suffocates the Word. Pope Francis related his experiences when he said: “And Paul to the Galatians says: “You were slaves of the world, of worldliness” (see Gal 4:3). It always, always hits me when I read the last pages of Henri de Lubac’s book Splendor of the Church, the last three pages, where he speaks specifically about a worldly spirituality. And he says it is the worst of evils that can befall the Church; and he is not exaggerating, because then he talks about some terrible evils. And this is the worst: worldly spirituality, because it is a way of interpreting life, it is a way of life, even a way of living Christianity. And to survive in the face of the preaching of the Gospel, the person hates, kills.”

5. Worldliness Obscures Reality- A person who falls into the trap of worldliness could not see God in his daily affairs. All of his outward undertaking is self-referential. Jesus has to pray to the Father that his disciples would be enticed by the worldly life. Pope Francis commented: “But what did Jesus pray for at the Last Supper? “Please, Father, protect these disciples” so that “they do not fall in the world, do not fall into worldliness.” And worldliness is a subtle sin, it’s more than a sin: it’s a sinful state of soul.” On March 5, 2015, Pope Francis emphasized in his homily: “worldliness transforms souls, makes them lose consciousness of reality: they live in an artificial world, which they create. Worldliness deadens the soul, and this is why that worldly man wasn’t able to see reality.”

6. Worldliness is the Way of the World- In his homily on Palm Sunday in 2015, Pope Francis describes humility as the way of the God but worldliness is the way of the world. He said: “It is worldliness, the way of the world. The world proposes the way of vanity, pride, success… the other way. The Evil One proposed this way to Jesus too, during his forty days in the desert. But Jesus immediately rejected it. With him, and only by his grace, with his help, we too can overcome this temptation to vanity, toworldliness, not only at significant moments, but in daily life as well.” Vanity of the world seeks the opposite of humility, silence and sacrifice. The way of the world is pride and prestige but the way of God is found in Jesus. The Pope further said about humility: “This is God’s way, the way of humility. It is the way of Jesus; there is no other. And there can be no humility without humiliation.”

7. Worldliness is the “Anti-Christ”- Pope Francis views worldliness as the way of life opposite to the values and identity of Christ. He similarly described it as a worldly wisdom or astuteness. It is exactly the opposite what the Holy Spirit reveals. According to Pope Francis: “We are called to respond to this worldly astuteness with Christian astuteness, which is a gift of the Holy Spirit. This is a matter of departing from the worldly spirit and values, which the devil really favours, in order to live according to the Gospel. How is worldliness manifested? Worldliness is manifested by attitudes of corruption, deception, subjugation, and it constitutes the most ill-chosen road, the road of sin, because one leads you to the other! It’s like a chain, even if — it’s true — it is generally the easiest road to travel. Instead, the spirit of the Gospel requires a serious lifestyle — serious but joyful, full of joy! —serious and challenging, marked by honesty, fairness, respect for others and their dignity, and a sense of duty. And this is Christian astuteness!”