In the two months in which Francis has occupied the Chair of Peter
(but not the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace), he has shown a
wonderful command of language. He does not use the often incomprehensible
translated-from-the-Latin-and-then-from-the-Italian ‘Vaticanese’, so far
removed from the ups and downs of our own lives. His are the simple, direct,
human words of a priest who talks to his people as well as preaches to them, a
priest who has shared the hardships of his parishioners and has fought for
justice alongside their misery. Pope Francis imitates the advice of St Francis
of Assisi, who said, “Preach the Gospel at all times and, if necessary, use
words.” He speaks from the heart, with urgency, spontaneity and complete belief
in the message he proclaims.
The Pope succeeds, almost daily, in saying something which writers and
journalists across the world would wish they had thought of and didn’t. If an
expression does not exist, he makes it up – and so we have people who, in their
vanity, believe themselves to be “a winner of the ‘Nobel Prize for Holiness’”. We
hear of “the tragedy of the isolated conscience”, of “part-time Christians” and
of “a healthy spiritual craziness”. He also tells us that unless we find joy in
our faith, our faces become “like pickled peppers”!
“If we keep this
joy to ourselves it will make us sick in the end, our hearts will grow old and
wrinkled and our faces will no longer transmit that great joy, but only
nostalgia and melancholy, which is not healthy. Sometimes these melancholy
Christians faces have more in common with pickled peppers than the joy of
having a beautiful life. Joy cannot be held at heel: it must be let go. Joy is
a pilgrim virtue. It is a gift that walks, walks on the path of life that walks
with Jesus: preaching, proclaiming Jesus, proclaiming joy, lengthens and widens
that path.”
Pope Francis offers daily Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he
has chosen to live in order to have direct access to people who have not passed
through the filter of Vatican officials. Some of his congregation might be
dignitaries, but he has also invited the Vatican gardeners, domestic workers
and police, the Swiss Guard and Vatican Radio employees. Photographs show him
sitting in the back of the chapel, quietly and privately praying before and
after Mass in the midst of ordinary people. His homily, broadcast on YouTube,
lasts for one or two minutes and is in profoundly simple, language which
anybody can understand. Suddenly it is a very meaningful exercise to include
the Pope’s daily homily in one’s daily routine because, regardless of
busy-ness, his words are so ‘short, sweet and simple’ that they easily inspire
and give life to the most pressurised day. In preaching on the Gospel of the
day, sharing the same passage that the Church proclaims throughout the world, he
makes it alive and relevant. In order to address the world, Pope Francis is not
limited to Wednesday’s General Audience or to Sunday’s Angelus or Regina Coeli
message: instead, he uses the ordinary daily Mass – and his words are heard.
Religious and secular media alike comment on Pope Francis’ simplicity
and approachability. Instead of staying at a distance, he is a shepherd in the
midst of the flock, or, as he himself picturesquely described a good shepherd,
“smelling like the sheep”. Within his first few minutes as Pope, he asked the
world to pray for him so that he could pray for them. He broke away from
established protocol, walking amongst the crowds, delighting them and probably
scaring the Vatican’s security personnel. He reaches out to babies, the sick
and the disabled, autographed a child’s plaster cast, made a plate of jam
sandwiches for the tired Swiss Guard on duty outside his rooms and released a
cage-full of doves presented as he travelled around St Peter’s Square in the
Popemobile.
Continuity is, of course, a vital aspect of Pope Francis’ ministry. He
is not operating in a vacuum: 2000 years of responsibility, experience and
wisdom guiding him as he cares for 2 billion Catholics across the world. Jesus
told St Peter to care for and feed his lambs and sheep, meaning that Peter and
his successors were not to lead a comfortable life, concerned only about tidy
issues and non-problematic people. Instead Peter was search out the ‘least, the
last and the lost’, bringing home the strays even to the extent of carrying
them on his shoulders. The Apostles’ successors were to be ready and willing
‘to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty’ in their ministry.
Generous service is more important than impeccable rubrics.
As Pope, Francis is already a courageously outspoken advocate for the
poor, following his practice in his native Argentina. When the clothing factory
collapsed in Bangladesh, he declared, "Living on €38 (£32) a month - that
was the pay of these people who died... is called slave labour." He added,
"I think of how many, and not just young people, are unemployed, many
times due to a purely economic conception of society, which seeks selfish
profit, beyond the parameters of social justice." Even Al Jazeera, the
news agency which focuses on the Arabic and Islamic world, quoted him saying,
"Not paying a just wage, not giving work, only because one is looking at
the bottom line, at the budget of the company, seeking only profit - that is
against God".
Tenderness and service are emerging as hallmarks of Francis’ papacy. We
saw wash and kiss the feet of twelve young offenders on Maundy Thursday. Oddly
enough, some sources have criticised him for this, saying that it should have
been the responsibility of “someone else”. Yet if leadership is not from the
top, where is the role model? An Indian proverb says that “a fish rots from the
head down”. In other words, when there is good example and good management at
the top, those lower down in the pecking order are filled with hope,
enthusiasm, loyalty and commitment.
Of course Pope Francis challenges those who prefer a less simple
lifestyle. A cartoon which emerged shortly after his election shows two
cardinals demanding, "What's the story? You pay your own hotel bill. You
travel on the bus and you chose to wear a cross not made of gold?"
Confused, the Pope raises his hands. "Maybe I misunderstood... I was told
that I am the successor of a poor fisherman from Galilee and not of the Roman
emperor..."
That, perhaps, says it all, doesn’t it?
