This Pope was a bridge-builder and a demolisher of walls between religions and nations in order to establish dialogue and friendship.
Gerry Lobo OFM
Physical death is an inevitable reality for every living being on earth. The
Redeemer of the human race, Jesus of Nazareth died, though it was inflicted on
him by those who were threatened by his very person besides his prophetic
stance towards evil done and spoken by religious heads. Emperors who ruled
mightily also died. Trees die and ants die too. There is nothing strange that a
Pope, a religious leader dies. Pope Francis, having served humanity for 12 years
also died when his time on this earth had come. However, in his death, the world
has not lost but gained a personality who truly penetrated the very mystery of
life and quite specifically manifested through his service that life is for service
and to live is to be a servant!
In our description of Pope Francis and what he stood for is not to weigh the
ministry of service rendered by Popes in the Church prior to him. Indeed, every
Pope, being very human, looked at the world and its people, situations and
predicaments, wars and peace in their perspective and acted upon it. They
deserve honour and appreciation for their very persons who had the courage to
lead millions in the path of right and justice, faith and human well-being.
Avoiding any kind of comparison between Popes, Pope Francis is to be
highlighted for his very humanity which shone brightly on all without an iota of
exaggerated glorification.
Pope Francis, the name he chose for himself when he was elected as the Servant
of Servants, already indicated that what the world and the Church urgently
needed was the humanity that was being tarnished by all kinds of human
endeavors projected towards the three passions, namely, the passion for
possessions, the passion for power, and the passion for honour which Jesus of
Nazareth had vehemently crushed and brushed aside and that which a man of
the 13th century, Francesco of Bernardone, had literally followed by way of
making the Gospel of Christ a reality.
With the name, after the poor man of God, Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis set out
not to demolish and rebuild humanity with a new face, but to restore the broken
hearts, bones, and minds of people who, in their egotistic pursuits, had bruised
and broken relationships of genuine concern for one another.
Hence, he was
interested not in innovation but renovation of creation and the human faces
whose image could never be erased from that which the Creator had fashioned
them with. Therefore, the Encyclical "Laudato Sii" spoke aloud the cry of mother
earth, a mother languishing in the pangs of breathing and bearing. The Pope
could personally hear aloud the cry of mother earth; he could not have ignored it.
His response to that cry of a mother for love was clearly enunciated in a powerful
affective language in that outstanding document.
Humans because of their greed
continue to undermine and kill the legitimate life of all created beings. More and
more this has diminished the vitality of the Earth, and humans themselves have
suffered the negative consequences upon their day-to-day existence. The Pope
lived with all creation and firmly believed that human beings would certainly
vanish for the mere lack of breath which creatures freely provide and the water
they supply for the thirsty.
The document expressed not the sentimental
spirituality of ecology which many brag about but a heart full of love with
prophetic stance towards the harmony and well-being that creation needed to
recover from her original face which the Creator had shared with her as we read
in the Book of Genesis. The Pope demanded responsibility from those who make
our laws and the scientific minds to maintain the goodness inherent in the
Creatures.
He was not concerned to pronounce dogmatic statements about
creation and created realities that were the subject matter of his long Encyclical.
He always spoke the language which people could be enabled to grasp what he
proclaimed either in documents or in his preachings. Laudato Sii was for every
living person and to every living creature, a Canticle sung in popular tongue.
The plight of human beings was at the heart of Pope Francis. While often the
papal statements were drowned in abstract concepts and unapproachable
theological mysticism, Pope Francis touched down the common man and woman
whose daily concerns were untouched. Returning to the wayfarer teachings of
Jesus and his affinity to real human issues, the Pope addressed his deep concern
towards fraternal bonds that have been broken, causing alienation and exclusion
of a large section of human beings.
His Encyclical "Fratelli Tutti," You are all
brothers, without mincing words was directed to the rulers of the world who
were to be the guardians and protectors of human rights that were
systematically violated in many ways. The Pope asked the whole world of human
persons not to ask who is my neighbor but to ask oneself how one could be a
neighbour to another on the road of Jerusalem to Jericho of our everyday life and
dealings with other human faces.
A new kind of politics was required to bring
fraternity with one another where one looks not for ones own success but one
commits oneself to raise the fallen, bind up the broken and bring back the erring.
Human fraternity is the strength of our universe. We need each other no matter
what we carry with us in our background history.
The Pope could not
compromise with human dignity and he could not allow wars to perpetuate
Gaza-like homicides on our earth. Hence he made consistent effort in addressing
nations and their heads in asking that they be cautious in their warmongering
minds. He spoke loud and strong in opposing practices and laws that delete
moral, ethical values and thus blind the consciences of people only to gain fringe
benefits in their favour.
Historically Popes ruled the Church as monarchs and distanced themselves from
people, thus creating awe and fear around them so that the latter knew that the
Popes are Vicars of God whose authority is directly from above. Pope Francis,
with his Jesuit training and his experience with the downtrodden people of
Argentina was deeply convinced that if there is a God, He can only be one who is
seen, touched, and relished by people.
With this thought Pope Francis saw that
he was never above people or separated from them. He desired to walk on the
same level ground with those whose plight at times was a devastating experience
for him. The thousands of children killed in Gaza were at the heart of this pope.
Migrants and refugees were not alien to him.
He walked with them offering space
for their existence. Jesus never stood apart from people as a Holy of Holies and
could never speak ill of them or look down on them. The Pope shared in the
political holiness of Jesus and taught the politics of Jesus which leaders in the
Church dared not do, considering it as a-theistic.
Thats why the words of Pope
Francis were the speech of the illiterate but with empathetic compassion and
authentic bearing.
Pope Francis was real. There was no artificial appearance around him. Perhaps
he understood better than anyone that leadership is for service and that can only
be exercised together WITH rather than in alienation from others.
He
understood that service is quite an ordinary practice which does not require to
be wrapped up with dogmatic or scriptural statements. Preferring to remain an
ordinary person in every aspect of life, Pope Francis showed to humanity the
face of God today which was very much devoid of canonical rightness and
traditional perpetuation. He lived conscientiously with his conscience and never
feared his detractors, who were real.
He showed the human face of God to a
world which was not accustomed to such an ordinary Reality, and particularly to
church-men and women for whom God could only be the Unseen mystery shown
around much pomp and power, colour and decor. Perhaps, if there was one
human person in our times who knew what he was meant to be, it could be no
other than Pope Francis, the human face of God!
The world had established an affectionate rapport with Pope Francis because he
spoke directly to the hearts of people who needed an abundance of
understanding and compassion. This is not to say that he was all sweet and
butter. He also disturbed the consciences of even the lowly and the marginalised
offering them a right direction.
He did it all because he was madly interested in
people, their joys and sorrows, hopes and anxieties. He could be a child with a
child and student with a student in his approach and in the manner of relating to
others. If the world at large loves him, it is because his heart was open to their
cry.
In terms of certain matters of moral nature which bothered the conscience of
people, the Pope did not remain with conventional solutions or pathways.
Instead, he took the perspectives of Jesus and guided them bringing hope in their
guilt-burdened lives. "Who am I to judge?" was his response when minds of
critics were almost ready with indignation. All in all, Pope Francis departed from
the position Popes before him had taken and from the manner in which they
conducted themselves in that position.
He was not concerned about their
rightness or wrongness but about the human heart gone lost on account of ones
own inner disposition. Perhaps many in the Church which he shepherded
disapproved of his conduct, while many others would certainly see in him a
prophet who stood up for the unknown or the unheard of things. These latter
ones would have certainly come to understand that religion was not rules and
mere external practices but the decision to live newly and effect an influence on
others towards a new outlook on life
. Pope Francis thought and practiced what is
of the here and now, of this flesh, this pain, this joy, and this sorrow where God
was Real and the One who is truly on the side of the weak and falling flesh.
The Church leaders, in particular, at the death of Pope Francis pour forth
emotional accolades about him and raise him to the skies.
That as it may be
deserving the man, what anyone needs to take home is to see in him a person
who lived for others through his place as a leader of millions of followers. It is
also pertinent that the example and the spirit he breathed must in some way be
manifested in the lifestyle of his followers and of the Church leaders to begin
with. That is where the Church of today can bear witness to the world of
someone who two thousand years ago came to create a new earth and hoped for
a new heaven.
The institutional Church while continuing her ministry of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ must consciously guard itself of the trappings of power
and know that the real use of power should be service or nothing at all.
This Pope was a bridge-builder and a demolisher of walls between religions and
nations in order to establish dialogue and friendship. He never shied away from
a Church on the street, a dirty street. His was not a religion of incense and
offerings but a religion of human sensitivity and the offerings of the heart full of
love.
He understood himself as the Church and as the mission in the world
different from the understanding of the Church as a magnificent structure of
believers worshipping Jesus Christ and the mission as doing for someone outside
of oneself who has not known God by way of teaching him or her truths of faith.
Pope Francis faithfully exercised all religious practices which any Christian
performs. However, that was not his true religion. His religion was that which
bound him to human beings as brothers and sisters manifested in his down-to-
earth acts and words which brought hope to many. He brought an alienated
community of human people to recognise in the eyes of each other their
neighbour. That was the meaning of the Church he would provide, a new
perspective, a new wisdom, and a new understanding of faith.
gerrylobo65@gmail.com
Picture caption
Ignoring the deformities covering the mans face and neck, Pope Francis descended from his vehicle,
walked to the sick man, and kissed him on the forehead.
