When he wrote his monastic rule, St Benedict repeatedly warned against the corrosive effects of “murmuring”, a form of complaining, or grumbling, which can destroy community life. Some 1,500 years later Pope Francis has issued a similar warning, in a blistering critique of some elements of church culture which – through constant murmuring – threaten the unity of the Church and weaken its prophetic voice.

Given the difficulties that face Catholic communities across the world, there is a strong temptation to spend time lamenting rather than trying to forge the future. In that respect, Francis’ remarks are timely. Speaking during Mass for the Feast of St Peter and St Paul, the 83-year-old pontiff said it was “pointless, even tedious for Christians to waste their time complaining about the world, about society, about everything that is not right”. He reminded us that even in the midst of terrible persecution the early Christians “did not cast blame – they prayed”.

The Pope is serious about the Benedictine injunction against murmuring. On the door to his private room in his residence at the Casa Santa Marta is a sign in red lettering: Vietato Lamentarsi (“complaining not allowed”).
In his homily on Monday, Francis told the socially distanced congregation in St Peter’s Basilica: “We are used to insulting people, especially those with responsibility. They [the first Christians] did not complain about Peter, they prayed for him. They did not talk about Peter behind his back; they talked to God.”