The People's Pope

I woke up Easter Monday to the news that Pope Francis had died. While I am now a minister and leader in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), I started my spiritual life as a Roman Catholic. My mother’s side of the family is Irish Catholic, and I grew up with a deep affinity for the Catholic church. Through my ecumenical work, I have come to love the spirituality and space of many Catholic churches, and if I was not Presbyterian, I would probably be Roman Catholic again. Even if none of that was true, my wife is Catholic (and related to Pope John XXIII) and if we were not at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Tulsa, I have a suspicion where we would be. 

In 2013, shortly after the election of Pope Francis, Kati and I traveled to Italy. We were on a cruise and stopped for the day to visit Rome via the port at Civitavecchia. It was about an hour from the port to the city center and along the way our driver was very chatty. He asked where we were from and how we were enjoying the trip and cruise. We asked him “Where are you from?” He told us from the south of Italy but had come to Rome for work. Eventually, we asked about the new Pope and his reception by the Italian Catholics. He was from Buenos Aires after all. The driver responded that, “the Italian people love him. He is one of us. He cares about people like me. Too bad they are going to kill him.” To say I was shocked by this suggestion was an understatement. The driver went on to explain a bit about Italian politics and the Italian resistance to change, but the statement still shocked me. In his mind, this driver had concluded that this pastoral Pope with an eye towards the poor and a reformation of the church would not last long.

With the seriousness of the driver’s concern, I walked away from that trip thinking that Pope Francis would not make it through the year. Luckily, he did and lived many more years. While working to reform the Roman Catholic Church, he also washed the feet of the poor and the prisoner. He met with world leaders and the lowly. He visited places previous popes had not. He was beloved and continued to speak out on a whole host of issues (the environment, immigration, migration, poverty, power, and more) that made him a target or a shining example for the faithful.  

One of the lessons of Holy Week is that caring for the wrong people and speaking out against the powers and principalities that oppress the weak and vulnerable can get you killed. Perhaps one of the lessons for us in Pope Francis’s life is that we should live such a holy and helpful life that people worry that they will. 

Blessings,

Rev. Tim Blodgett

General Presbyter