Americans are rolling out the red carpet for Pope Francis in ways never seen before.
The unprecedented pomp and ceremony began with both President Obama and Vice President Biden leading a delegation to greet him at the airport on Tuesday, when he set foot on U.S. soil for the first time in his life.
The irony, of course, is that Francis is probably the only world leader who would prefer less pomp and ceremony among high-ranking officials, and more meet and greet among ordinary folks.
Nothing betrays this irony, or telegraphs his preference, quite like watching the pope’s presidential-style motorcade moving around the streets of Washington, DC. For it speaks volumes to see the juxtaposition of the tiny, cheap Fiat in which Francis insists on being chauffeured with the big, expensive limousines escorting it.
This will be thrown into even sharper relief over the next few days, as his motorcade navigates the streets of New York City along with those of over 160 other world leaders, who are gathering for the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. After all, each of them will be looking to partake of all the pomp and ceremony Francis eschews, including being chauffeured around in big, expensive limousines.
Indeed, what distinguishes the pontiff from every other world leader is his abiding message of personal humility and public service.
Apropos of which, here, in part, is what I wrote – in “Habemas Papam: Hail,Francis!” March 13, 2013 – the day he was elected pope.
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The prevailing wisdom is that Bergoglio intends to return the Church back to its basic mission of afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted. Arguably, he telegraphed his intent by choosing Francis as his papal name, while paying homage to St. Francis of Assisi — who was a bone fide champion of the poor…
[Pope Francis] might instruct the cardinals (aka the ‘princes’ of the Church for Christ’s sake) to follow his example by giving up their fancy apartments, cooks, and chauffeured limousines. But I suspect cardinals will be even less willing to follow the pope’s instruction in this respect than lay Catholics have been to follow the cardinals’ instruction with respect to contraception.
That the pope is only doing what Jesus would do indicates how much leaders of the Catholic Church have perverted and corrupted their holy mission. Indeed, that Bergoglio is the first pope to honor St. Francis is testament to how little interest even his predecessors have had throughout the ages in living lives of humility, simplicity, and poverty … as Jesus did.
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As it happens, Francis vindicated my take today, as he became the first pope to address a joint session of Congress. For here is how he crystallized the message of his papacy:
Let us remember the Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’
(Matthew 7:12)
But, as any student of religious dogma and political philosophy will tell you, this Golden Rule is just the Christian version of the socialist credo: “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
Which of course is why, as much as the rich and powerful may love this pope, they are loath to accept his message. It is also why, as much as Americans will remember the pomp and ceremony that occasioned his visit, few will remember his message. Never mind that he addressed everything from climate change to caring for the poor, the immigration/migration crisis, and the sanctity of human life. Alas, the Golden Rule is, for all practical purposes, un-American!
To be fair, though, even cardinals are showing little signs of emulating the pontiff’s ways. Not least because this would require them to live like paupers, whereas they have become accustomed to living like princes, religiously. Indeed, no cardinal personifies this princely way of shepherding the poor quite like His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan – the Archbishop of New York who will be hosting Francis during his stay.
Meanwhile, I was a little dismayed by the way Francis undermined his own mission – of afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted, during a prayer service at St. Mathew’s Cathedral with U.S. bishops yesterday.
Specifically, he commended the bishops for the courageous and generous way they dealt with “the scourge” of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests; notwithstanding that these are the very bishops who abetted and covered up much of that abuse. Yet he offered nary a word of comfort or compassion to the victims of this clerical neglect and pastoral abuse. I pray he atones for this sin of omission before ending his historic visit.
I feel obliged to note that, for all the praise being heaped on him as a revolutionary, the pope is actually reinforcing his church’s traditional edicts on such issues as women priests, homosexuality, and abortion. He’s just sensible enough to appreciate that there would be many more people in the pews if priests humbled themselves by preaching social justice/liberation theology, which addresses the suffering of the poor, instead of playing God by passing moral judgment on the personal choices (good) people make.
I suppose this is why the pope had no compunction about banishing Germany’s Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst (aka ‘Bishop Bling’) to an ascetic monastery for spending $43 million to renovate his pastoral digs, but seems ambivalent about disciplining the gay cabal that has turned Vatican City into a latter-day Sodom….
(“Pope Francis Condemns the Cult and Idolatry of Money,” The iPINIONS Journal, November 27, 2013)
Still, there’s no denying that America is lavishing Francis with unprecedented reverence, adulation, and respect – complete with wall-to-wall TV coverage worthy of a natural disaster or a shooting rampage. But don’t get me started on the way politicians are jostling to bask in his holy glow; you know, the way kids are jostling to snap selfies with him.
But am I the only one who wonders why security officials are closing so many streets in DC and NYC for his papal visit, given that they did not take such extraordinary measures for visits by his predecessors. One would have thought, after all, that if ever there were a pope in need of relatively little security, it is Francis – who is affectionately known as “the people’s pope.”
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