Pope Francis was, at most, a peripheral figure in the story of the South. Though the leader of the world’s largest Christian denomination, his influence has largely remained on the Catholic fringes of our cultural sphere – Texas, Cajun country, Florida, Maryland, Savannah, and in pockets of many of our larger cities. I primarily heard about Pope Francis and his teachings through news headlines which were almost always written by journalists with anti-Christian agendas. As such, for many years, I thought of Pope Francis as a divisive and political figure, hearing sound bites with which I disagreed or took a different stance. The first time I took a second look at what the Pope was actually saying was when I saw a quote from his 2020 Apostolic Letter titled Scripturae Sacrae Affectus (“Devotion to Sacred Scripture”).
This letter commemorates St. Jerome, the Fourth Century Catholic monk who translated the Bible into the Latin Vulgate so that the scriptures could be disseminated throughout Western Europe. The Pope reflects on St. Jerome’s life and devotion, highlighting his profound impact on Christian culture and doctrine. He also discusses St. Jerome’s passion for learning, reading, study, and above all his devotion to the scriptures. The Pope emphasizes that by translating the Bible into Latin, Jerome enculturated scripture into the West. This is something many of us still see today in parallel in the South, where the vocabulary, idioms, and cadences of the King James Bible permeate the Southern parlance in a unique way.
The Pope then shifts his focus to the modern decline in quality literature, particularly in bookstores and online. He laments that in the current era, many of us are illiterate in our own culture and traditions. He says:
One of the problems we face today, not only in religion, is illiteracy: the hermeneutic skills that make us credible interpreters and translators of our own cultural tradition are in short supply.
I see this problem of not being able to understand one’s own culture in my own life. Growing up in the South in the 2000s, my grandparents embodied my culture, but school presented a history disconnected from our local roots. In North Carolina schools, we studied Boston’s Pilgrims but skipped Jamestown and overlooked the Carolinas’ founding entirely. In my American literature classes, I read The Scarlet Letter, Walden, The House of the Seven Gables, and The Crucible, the New England classics, not Flannery O’Connor, the Agrarians, and other Southern authors. Because of this, I have had to rediscover my own culture by reading the books my parents studied, connecting with my grandparents, and exploring alternative sources like The Abbeville Institute. I am obviously not alone in this experience and endeavor, and this is obviously not ideal. I think the Pope’s comments underscore that point, that we have lost the ability to understand our own traditions.
In the same passage, the Pope makes another point that resonated with me. In the summer of 2020, as most will remember, history and heritage came under sharp attack from activists and political leaders. Statues were removed, roads and schools renamed, and local history reinterpreted or erased. For that reason, what stood out most to me in the Pope’s letter was the following:
I would like to pose a challenge to young people in particular: begin exploring your heritage. Christianity makes you heirs of an unsurpassed cultural patrimony of which you must take ownership. Be passionate about this history which is yours. Dare to fix your gaze on the young Jerome who, like the merchant in Jesus’ parable, sold all that he had in order to buy the “pearl of great price.”
The Pope’s challenge to explore one’s heritage, embrace one’s history, and claim one’s cultural legacy has stayed with me. It continues to inspire me.
The time between a Pope’s passing and the election of his successor is known as sede vacante, or “the seat is empty.” In these passages from Scripturae Sacrae Affectus, I see a warning not to let one’s culture fall into a state of sede vacantism, whether through books unread, heroes forgotten, poets unknown, or traditions lost. At my hometown courthouse, a monument once stood; now there is only its absence. At the bookstore, a shelf labeled ‘Southern literature’ holds books, but none that truly belong.
The Pope writes about how St Jerome was himself a library, and I think his words encourage us to become libraries of our own culture. If we neglect our cultural inheritance, we risk leaving behind an empty seat – one that should be filled with understanding, memory, and devotion to the past. The Pope’s words challenge us to step into that space, not as passive observers but as caretakers of the traditions that shape our identity.
Nice article. Thanks
J, Shaw Gillis – This article resonates with me. Growing up in a military family, one Yankee, one Reb (unknown to me and a concoction of words I would not understand for decades, I grew up across this nation (US of A) and as the time went by the “Embrace Diversity” thingy came out, which I had already pretty much done in the American side, then I got exposed to foreign cultures – mainly in the Asian or pacific Rim as it is called. I “visit” a blog out of the Great (American) North that the “host” does much to point out the beauty of the area but goes all in when she covers diverse groups resettling in her area from the far corners of the globe. Very rarely does she discuss her own culture. You might ask “Her own?” I say yes, her state has distinct cultural features much like the area I am now from. Matter of fact, I pointed out to her, that there are groups right in front of her very own eyes that have distinct cultural features which she overlooks in her “embrace diversity” rush. What I see her doing is exactly the “Vacant Seat” that he has so well identified. I see her vacating her seat to embrace those of others rather than just to understand and she see this as understanding, and accepting that of others. Now, I am working overtime to reclaim my seat, as it were. My southern side. I have read a South Carolina History text book used in the schools post Civil War that explains much, It helps elevate that which I learn about my southern (paternal) roots. Sorry, Southern Fried chicken may be a great meal. But my Yankee mom ruined that and none of us North/South boys eat chicken in any form today! Great article!
I’ll pass on the Pope. He and Catholicism have misled countless people into confusion and ignorance about the Bible and what’s going on in it. He, and all the popes before him, is not the vicar of Christ, nor is he, or any of them, descendants of apostolic authority from Peter. That’s easy enough to see in the scriptures. A third grader can see it. Peter was an apostle of Israel. When he’s resurrected, he will be with the other eleven apostles judging the 12 Jewish tribes in Jerusalem, not Rome.
And I’ll pass on Jerome, also. If there’s one Catholic monk to read up on, it’s Erasmus; he’s the one. Jerome comes from the nutty school of manuscript evidence of Origen. Their manuscripts devolved into the corrupt Vaticanus and Siniatucus manuscripts that Wescott and Hort used in the latter part of the 19th century to give the world very poor translations such as the NASV, the NIV, and ESV, and many more. The KJB mentioned in this article, that’s the one to read and study. Just look at one important verse in those three Bibles, II Tim 2:15. Then contrast what words are in those verses with what the words are in the KJB. The key to understanding the Bible has been removed from those popular versions. Shame on them.
Yes, read and study the history of this country. It is fascinating.
Do you also pass on the Council of Hippo? In for a penny, in for a pound
Yes. The corrupt manuscripts originated in North Africa. The correct manuscripts were north of there in Antioch, Syria and vicinity.
I will not comment on Matt C. except to say he knows nothing of the One Holy Roman and Apostolic Church, the Mystical Body of Christ on Earth. As to Bergoglio, stage name “Pope Francis “, he was a heretic and apostate. Holy Church has been sede vacante since the death of Pope Pius XII. It was to St. Jerome to whom we owe the translation of the canonical books,the Bible, into the Vulgate. It was the One Holy Roman Church which decided the books which were canonical. Of course Luther, over a thousand years later threw out the part of the Bible he did not agree with but that is an another story!
I was raised Catholic. Went to St. Raymond’s K-12. Was infant baptized, and all that happened there was my forehead got wet. Received the “sacrament of communion;” it is not literal physical body of Christ. Even the teenage Lady Jane Grey knew that (“The Nine Days Queen,” by Mary Luke). Received the “sacrament of confession,” and was “confirmed” in 7th grade.
Confession? Confess what? The person who has believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid the price for all my sins, has ALL their sins forgiven, according to God’s word, not the “holy Roman church ” Colossians 1:14; Colossians 2:13-14.
Yes, Jerome helped produce the Latin Vulgate, but he rejected the “old Latin,” and that’s the Latin he should have used. Erasmus knew better and he rejected the Latin Vulgate. The Latin Valgate devolved into the Douy Rheims versions. These versions were produced antagonistically against the KJB. The Alexandria line which came from Origen and Jerome, among others, diminish the deity of Christ, cast doubt on the virgin birth, and minimize the importance of the blood of Christ in the manner the words in the verses are rendered. ALL of the new “bibles” come from Origen, Jerome, and Wescott and Horts work without exception. It is the corrupt line. The KJB comes from the Received Text. They are the manuscripts Erasmus, William Tyndale, Martin Luther, Beza, Coverdale and other’s used.
I’ll go with the manuscript line the body of Christ used, not the “holy Roman church.” When the Lord Jesus Christ returns, Rome/Vatican is not going to win, place, or show. His throne and capitol will be in Jerusalem.
It is an understatement to say that Francis was not my favorite pope. That said, I appreciate the author’s attempt to acknowledge that there really are a few positive threads to be found in Francis’s legacy. That generosity reflects the right spirit.