When I heard Pope Francis was going to visit the United States I told my wife “if he comes to California we are going right?” I said it with the enthusiasm I usually reserve for Led Zeppelin reunion rumors and Roger Clyne concerts. She responded with “of course I love this Pope too!” Sadly my favorite pontiff will only be visiting the Northeast this time around, but I’m still excited about his visit.
Pope Francis is not perfect, he’s very far from it. I think he’s still majorly behind on women’s rights, gay rights, reproductive rights, and a whole host of other things. But the Catholic Church embraces change at a glacially slow pace. Some of his small gestures, by Catholic standards, are like giant leaps into the 19th Century. It’s easy for an outsider to look at Francis and say “he’s not doing enough” or “he still advocates this,” and there’s some truth to that, but I also think we all have to carry reasonable expectations when it comes to a Pope.
Perhaps the best thing this Pope has done is taken the Catholic Church back to the words of Jesus. It’s most likely that the man who became Christ to billions of believers began his life in humble circumstances and preached a message of love and acceptance. I think that’s something Francis has done, and it’s one of many reasons I love this Pope. Here are some reasons I ❤️ Pope Francis.
Francis Has Made the Office of Pope Humble Again Sometimes it’s the little gestures that mean a lot, and Francis has made a lot of those little gestures. One of the first was choosing not to live in the papal apartments generally used by the Pope. Instead Francis chose a much more humble abode. A Pope is not a king or an emperor or someone who should have a 20-room house (look into this Evangelical assholes who don’t understand the Jesus of the New Testament).
I’ve read in some places that Francis has stopped the use of the popemobile, which is not quite accurate. Francis has ditched the Mercedes-Benz-bulletproof-popemobile in favor of an open-air version from Hyundai. It’s not quite riding on a donkey, but it’s a good 21st century equivalent.
Pope Francis Believes in Climate Change Francis’s recent encyclical on the environment was an amazing statement by a Pope who believes in both God and science. I think it speaks for its self:
“The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish.”
“Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last 200 years.”
“We are not God. The Earth was here before us and was given to us.”
“The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all.”
“We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family.”
I love that Pope Francis sounds very much like my environmentally aware friends!
The Pope, Like Me, Has a Caffeine Problem I like my religious leaders to have weaknesses and traits that remind me of myself, and the Pope is no exception. Francis is a daily drinker of yerba mate, a caffeinated drink with slightly more kick than a cup of tea (but less than a cup of coffee). The Pope generally sips the drink from a straw and often does so in all sorts of social situations. Because of the straw it often looks like Francis is walking around with a strange looking pipe.
This Pope isn’t adverse to other slightly stimulating substances. On a recent tour of South America he was treated to a glass of trimate, a tea made from anise, chamomile, and coca leaves. Coca leaves are a mild stimulant and are used to make cocaine, and were outlawed in 1961 by the United Nations (though they still remain popular in countries like Bolivia). In addition to a little extra energy, drinking trimate is said to help with altitude sickness.
Francis is Making Progress on Gay Rights I think that some of Francis’s statements over the last few years have been misinterpreted. I remember being excited by this comment from the Pope back in 2013: “If someone is gay, who searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?” That statement was not a complete game-changer but I believe it opened the door in the Catholic Church. Now there are rumors that Francis will push for a blessing for gay couples to be conducted by priests in the Church. It’s not a complete endorsement of gay marriage, but it’s a start.
The Pope is No Fan of Capitalism The Bible spends a lot of time talking about the poor and Francis gets it. It’s been fun watching the heads of right-wing talking heads explode every time Francis tees off on capitalism, wealth redistribution, and the failures of trickle-down-economics:
“Working for a just distribution of the fruits of the earth and human labor is not mere philanthropy. It is a moral obligation. For Christians, the responsibility is even greater: it is a commandment.”
“[S]ome people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.”
“The worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings; man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption.”
The Pope Was on the Cover of The Rolling Stone Sure this is a stupid one, but I still think it’s amazingly cool that the Pope has now shared a space with such luminaries as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, Carole King, NWA, Pearl Jam, The Doors, and Pink Floyd. He’s not quite the rock and roll Pope, but he’s damn closer than any of the previous ones.
Reaching Out to Non-Believers I did not ask Jesus to die for me nor do I think Jesus dying on a cross has anything to do with the future of my soul. However, it’s refreshing to see a Pope attempt to bring people together instead of drive them apart. “Sin, even for those who have no faith, exists when people disobey their conscience,” the Good Father wrote nearly two years ago now, and those comments were taken to mean that a good atheist might be eligible for the Christian Kingdom of Heaven. I think it speaks to the idea that good deeds and good work can be accomplished by anyone regardless of faith or lack thereof.
So much of what Francis says seems more linked to how we act than to how or what we believe. There’s a place in Francis’s world for those who aren’t Christian, and that world can be just as godly as that of a believer. Francis has been doing more than not casting the first stone, I think he’s been gathering them up and hiding them in those now unused papal apartments.
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