Pope Francis was elected March 13 and will be installed today during a papal inauguration ceremony at St. Peter”s Square. (Photo ©Catholic Church (England and Wales) / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA)
By Mark A. Taylor
Today Pope Francis, the first Pope from the Americas, will be formally installed in a mass that will headline news reports everywhere. Many nondenominational Christians will ignore the ceremony, while some will take the occasion to express their disdain for the abuses or errors of the church that claims 1.2 billion adherents worldwide.
But we need not agree with Roman Catholic tradition or dogma to learn something from the unpretentious man who now heads that church.
News of his unassuming humility is everywhere.
Christopher M. Belitto, writing for CNN, described Francis”s first appearance to the masses in St. Peter”s Square, Wednesday evening:
“Suddenly, his eyes seemed to open wide, as if he was really seeing the position for which he had been chosen less than an hour before. And then he spoke, not with the power of physical force or energy but with something stronger: humility.”
The cardinals toasted him at dinner later that evening, and he stood to offer a toast in return: “May God forgive you for what you”ve done.” He was joking, but clearly he had not campaigned for the job. In fact, one cardinal reported his subdued demeanor between votes when he was gaining a sense for how the final vote might go.
He had arrived at that dinner in a bus with a bunch of the cardinals, instead of in the chauffeured limousine reserved for him alone. The next morning he carried his own luggage and paid his own hotel bill.
Huffington Post concluded that Francis has seemed “to bring a new tone of humility and frugality to the Vatican” and as proof of this point, reported he had “urged Argentinians not to come to his formal installation Tuesday. “˜It”s very expensive; save your money and give it to the poor.””
Peggy Noonan, writing in The Wall Street Journal, concluded, “This is a kind of public leadership we are no longer used to””unassuming, self-effacing. Leaders of the world now are garish and brazen. You can think of half a dozen of their names in less than a minute. They”re good at showbiz, they find the light and flash the smile.”
And, unfortunately, we can find more than one spotlight-seeker among our own ranks as well. But as I”ve read the ooo-ing and aw-ing about the humility of Pope Francis, I”ve thought, I know so many Christian leaders just like that. In Peggy Noonan”s minute, we can think of more than a half a dozen of them“”men and women who sincerely seek God”s will above their own, leaders who aren”t afraid to make decisions and initiate change, but always do so with deference to a bigger purpose than their own reputation.
Whatever else we might say about Pope Francis, we can acknowledge that in a way he is experiencing the truth of what Jesus taught his disciples: “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35).
And we see how Christ turns the world”s values upside down. A man who demonstrates humility amazes news reporters, but we find this spirit all around us among those who lead by serving in Jesus” name.
0 Comments