Confession: I have never been Catholic or a fan
of Popes. That is until this past year as I began to read the news of the great
things that Pope Francis has done since he has taken office. Though I may have
my philosophical differences with the structure of the Catholic Church I
believe that true belief is revealed by our actions. And Pope Francis so far
has done many things to reveal himself to be Christ like in character.
Many protestant and Orthodox Church members have
found themselves becoming supporters of a man in a position that is known historically
for its abuse of power. Primarily, I suspect because in Pope Francis we see
actualized Jesus's unique ability to invert of position of power into one of
service to his fellow man.
Perhaps we can understand this cultural phenomenon
best by considering the words GK Chesterton wrote about the original Saint
Francis of Assisi from whom the Pope has borrowed his name:
It may give a much milder shock if I say here,
what most of us have forgotten, that if St. Francis was like Christ, Christ was
to that extent like St. Francis. And my present point is that it is really very
enlightening to realize that Christ was like St. Francis. What I mean is this;
that if men find certain riddles and hard sayings in the story of Galilee, and
if they find the answers to those riddles in the story of Assisi, it really does show that a secret has been handed down in one
religious tradition and no other.
St. Francis is the mirror of Christ rather as
the moon is the mirror of the sun. The moon is much smaller than the sun, but
it is also much nearer to us; and being less vivid it is more visible. Exactly
in the same sense St. Francis is nearer to us, and being a mere man like
ourselves is in that sense more imaginable. Being necessarily less of a
mystery, he does not, for us, so much open his mouth in mysteries. Yet as a
matter of fact, many minor things that seem mysteries in the mouth of Christ
would seem merely characteristic paradoxes in the mouth of St. Francis.
Chesterton, G.K. (2011-08-01). St. Francis of
Assisi (Annotated) (Kindle Locations 1392-1396). . Kindle Edition.
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