{"id":24645,"date":"2013-07-14T07:44:38","date_gmt":"2013-07-14T11:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=24645"},"modified":"2016-09-30T16:03:18","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:03:18","slug":"is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/07\/is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Pope Francis the Catholic Princess Diana?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the provocative question at the heart of this piece over at CNN\u2019s Belief blog:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

There are obvious differences between a Catholic pontiff and a princess.<\/p>\n

But watching Francis\u2019 first few months in office, it\u2019s hard not to notice that he seems to have taken a page from the late Princess Diana\u2019s playbook.<\/p>\n

The Princess of Wales knew where she went, the media followed. Her activism brought global attention to homelessness, HIV\/AIDs, and, most prominently, land mines.<\/p>\n

Just as Diana ventured far from Buckingham Palace to wrap her arms around landmine victims in Africa and elsewhere, Pope Francis has taken the papacy out of the the Sistine Chapel and into the streets.<\/p>\n

Through acts such as embracing a child with cerebral palsy, washing the feet of juvenile delinquents and celebrating Mass on a migrant island, Francis is using the power of his celebrity to bring media attention to dark forgotten corners of the world.<\/p>\n

Spiritual life requires more than meditating and reading books, Francis says. Catholics and other people of faith don\u2019t need a \u201crefresher course\u201d to \u201ctouch the living God,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we have to do is go out onto the street.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taking it to the Streets<\/strong>
\n
\nOn the streets of Lampedusa the pope scaled back on the pomp<\/a>\u00a0to be with the migrants, many of whom were Muslim.<\/p>\n

The Rev. Thomas Rosica,<\/a>\u00a0a Canadian priest close to the Vatican, said the pope had wanted to go to Lampedusa with just a small group, flying commercial.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a simplicity to this that is not normally given to papal visits.\u201d<\/p>\n

But challenging messages come with the pope\u2019s simple style.<\/p>\n

While Francis was praying at the harbor, a tweet was sent from his\u00a0@Pontifex<\/a>account: \u201cWe pray for a heart which will embrace immigrants. God will judge us upon how we have treated the most needy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tweet was a 140-character shot across the bow at global leaders wrestling with immigration, most notably in Europe and the United States, said Rosica.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he was giving a very clear signal to many countries, including the United States, about its outreach to refugees and all the blocks that are put it,\u201d Rosica said. \u201cHe\u2019s not just speaking as Jorge Bergoglio; he\u2019s speaking as the leader of the Catholic Church addressing the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The world has taken notice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s the provocative question at the heart of this piece over at CNN\u2019s Belief blog:\u00a0 There are obvious differences between a Catholic pontiff and a princess. But watching Francis\u2019 first few months in office, it\u2019s hard not to notice that he seems to have taken a page from the late Princess Diana\u2019s playbook. The Princess […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pope"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Pope Francis the Catholic Princess Diana?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"That's the provocative question at the heart of this piece over at CNN's Belief blog:\u00a0 There are obvious differences between a Catholic pontiff and a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/07\/is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Pope Francis the Catholic Princess Diana?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"That's the provocative question at the heart of this piece over at CNN's Belief blog:\u00a0 There are obvious differences between a Catholic pontiff and a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/07\/is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-14T11:44:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-30T20:03:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2013\/07\/princess-diana-6-435.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/07\/is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/07\/is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana\/\",\"name\":\"Is Pope Francis the Catholic Princess Diana?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-14T11:44:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-30T20:03:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\"},\"description\":\"That's the provocative question at the heart of this piece over at CNN's Belief blog:\u00a0 There are obvious differences between a Catholic pontiff and a\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/07\/is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/07\/is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/07\/is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is Pope Francis the Catholic Princess Diana?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\",\"name\":\"The Deacon's Bench\",\"description\":\"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\",\"name\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is Pope Francis the Catholic Princess Diana?","description":"That's the provocative question at the heart of this piece over at CNN's Belief blog:\u00a0 There are obvious differences between a Catholic pontiff and a","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/07\/is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is Pope Francis the Catholic Princess Diana?","og_description":"That's the provocative question at the heart of this piece over at CNN's Belief blog:\u00a0 There are obvious differences between a Catholic pontiff and a","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/07\/is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana\/","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2013-07-14T11:44:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-30T20:03:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2013\/07\/princess-diana-6-435.jpg"}],"author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deacon Greg Kandra","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/07\/is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/07\/is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana\/","name":"Is Pope Francis the Catholic Princess Diana?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-07-14T11:44:38+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-30T20:03:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970"},"description":"That's the provocative question at the heart of this piece over at CNN's Belief blog:\u00a0 There are obvious differences between a Catholic pontiff and a","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/07\/is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/07\/is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/07\/is-pope-francis-the-catholic-princess-diana\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is Pope Francis the Catholic Princess Diana?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}