Wanted from Pope Francis: More Company Manners<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Max Lindenman While covering Pope Francis\u2019 visit to Turkey for the Aleteia news outlet, it never occurred to me that anything about his\" \/>\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\/thefont\/2014\/12\/wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wanted from Pope Francis: More Company Manners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Max Lindenman While covering Pope Francis\u2019 visit to Turkey for the Aleteia news outlet, it never occurred to me that anything about his\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/2014\/12\/wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Font\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-02T18:32:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-23T17:52:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/files\/2014\/12\/max-in-turkey-e1417544640937.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/2014\/12\/wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/2014\/12\/wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners\/\",\"name\":\"Wanted from Pope Francis: More Company Manners\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-02T18:32:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-23T17:52:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"by Max Lindenman While covering Pope Francis\u2019 visit to Turkey for the Aleteia news outlet, it never occurred to me that anything about his\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/2014\/12\/wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/2014\/12\/wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/2014\/12\/wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Wanted from Pope Francis: More Company Manners\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/\",\"name\":\"The Font\",\"description\":\"Into which many Catholics dip\u2026\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wanted from Pope Francis: More Company Manners","description":"by Max Lindenman While covering Pope Francis\u2019 visit to Turkey for the Aleteia news outlet, it never occurred to me that anything about his","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\/thefont\/2014\/12\/wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wanted from Pope Francis: More Company Manners","og_description":"by Max Lindenman While covering Pope Francis\u2019 visit to Turkey for the Aleteia news outlet, it never occurred to me that anything about his","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/2014\/12\/wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners\/","og_site_name":"The Font","article_published_time":"2014-12-02T18:32:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-23T17:52:36+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/files\/2014\/12\/max-in-turkey-e1417544640937.jpg"}],"author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/2014\/12\/wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/2014\/12\/wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners\/","name":"Wanted from Pope Francis: More Company Manners","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-12-02T18:32:40+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-23T17:52:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"by Max Lindenman While covering Pope Francis\u2019 visit to Turkey for the Aleteia news outlet, it never occurred to me that anything about his","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/2014\/12\/wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/2014\/12\/wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/2014\/12\/wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Wanted from Pope Francis: More Company Manners"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/","name":"The Font","description":"Into which many Catholics dip\u2026","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":241,"date":"2014-12-02T13:32:40","date_gmt":"2014-12-02T18:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/?p=241"},"modified":"2014-12-23T12:52:36","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T17:52:36","slug":"wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefont\/2014\/12\/wanted-from-pope-francis-more-company-manners\/","title":{"rendered":"Wanted from Pope Francis: More Company Manners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

by Max Lindenman
\n<\/strong>
\nWhile covering Pope Francis\u2019 visit to Turkey for the Aleteia news outlet<\/a>, it never occurred to me that anything about his self-presentation might be out of kilter. But, toward the very end, straining my eyes to make out the text of the speech he gave after Sunday\u2019s Divine Liturgy, I realized: Hey, this is really hard work!<\/em><\/p>\n

This is not, normally, the case with this particular pope. Normally, the zinger of the week has been tweeted from the Plata to the Tiber and back several times over by the time a pundit has gotten down his morning cigarette and coffee. <\/p>\n

The hard part, usually, is contextualizing it, explaining it away, reassuring readers that Francis didn\u2019t mean what he seemed to mean. No, dear. When the Supreme Pontiff ripped on neo-Pelagians and pickled prunes, he didn\u2019t mean you. <\/em><\/p>\n

Francis is a firm believer in the transformative power of \u201cencounter\u201d, by which he means meeting Jesus through other people. He\u2019s also a firm believer in surrender to the Holy Spirit, especially when the Spirit is battering away at established habits. This accounts for his prejudice for the raw, the spontaneous, and the unconventional. When it comes to evangelizing, the Jesus who converts Peter and Andrew with a jaunty line like \u201cCome ye after me, and I will make you to be fishers of men\u201d is the Jesus Francis strives to imitate. <\/p>\n

But during his Turkey trot, Francis proved that he knows how to fish for men (and catch headlines) without making, as he once put it, \u201ca mess.\u201d In the Hagia Sophia, he did not extemporize a heartfelt prayer fit for World Youth Day. Instead, he inscribed his prayers in the guest book, which Islamists and Kemalists apparently agree is the right place for them. Likewise, in the Blue Mosque, he clasped his hands and bowed his head in a moment of adoration that stopped well enough short of actual prayer to prevent any heart attacks.<\/p>\n

The sections of the declaration he issued jointly with Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, dealing with the Crimean crisis, are a verbal walk over eggshells. There\u2019s nothing about Russian or Ukrainian claims being \u201csolemn nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Ankara, we saw no sign of the Pope Francis who compared Europe to \u201ca grandmother, no longer fertile and vibrant.\u201d Instead, the first American pope spoke with Italiante subtlety. His address to the assembled Turkish dignitaries began with flattering references to Turkey\u2019s \u201chistory\u201d and \u201cregional influence\u201d guaranteed to massage any neo-Ottoman into a receptive frame of mind. <\/p>\n

Seeing Francis at his most considerate, it\u2019s hard not to feel a little piqued on behalf \u201cold maid\u201d nuns who aren\u2019t cheery enough or \u201cevil pastors\u201d who aren\u2019t pastoral enough. As a Westerner who knows firsthand the transformative power of a few nice tchotchkes, I have to live with myself knowing that, in the pontifical view, I\u2019m just a \u201cpastry-shop Christian.\u201d <\/p>\n

For a Catholic, being exhorted to, or scolded, is par for the course. But being globally slapped with labels both catchy and reductive is quite new and, somehow, worse. Imagine the father in the Prodigal Son story planting a rubber asp on his elder son\u2019s cushion, videotaping the moment of discovery, and broadcasting it on YouTube. At times, this is how life with Holy Father can feel. <\/p>\n

The Francis touch \u2013 that occasional uncalculated gesture, fired from the hip or heart and capable of stealing any show \u2013 is nothing I\u2019d forego completely. And it\u2019s not like carrying out delicate missions turned the Holy Father into a hopeless stiff. After Francis and Bartholomew finished their Doxology Service, the pontiff bowed low for a patriarchal blessing and got a kiss right on the zucchetto. It was a lovely moment, deserving to survive in the public memory for as long as \u201cWho am I to judge?\u201d <\/p>\n

It could be argued that the moment belongs to the patriarch. After all, his were the lips that bestowed the kiss. But Francis deserves credit for setting up the shot. Maybe the Holy Spirit prompted him. If so, I kind of like the Holy Spirit I saw at work in Turkey, the one who knows that less is sometimes more. <\/p>\n

Max Lindenman is writing from Turkey. His Patheos blog archives can be accessed here.<\/a> <\/em> $\"max$ <\/a> <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"