John Navone, SJ’s Theology of Failure and Its Importance for Pope Francis’s Spirituality in Light of the Church’s Pastoral Mission to Victim/Survivors of Abuse

Abstract

Pope Francis has acknowledged that some of the ideas he presents in his spirituality of suffering and healing are inspired by the “theology of failure” that John Navone, SJ, put forth in his 1984 work Triumph through Failure: A Theology of the Cross. Numerous passages in Francis’s writings and speeches take inspiration from Navone’s book, including his reflections upon Jesus’s “failure,” the salvific role of memory, and the reality of the Resurrection. This essay examines how the insights Francis has developed from Triumph through Failure can aid the Catholic Church’s pastoral mission to those who live with the spiritual wounds of sexual abuse.