Idolizing Pope Francis

Popes have always felt welcome whenever they visit the bastion of the Roman Catholic faith in Asia. Pope Paul VI was the first pontiff to visit us in 1970 was most probably welcomed like a king. Pope John Paul II, who visited us twice: first in 1981 where he made it all the way to Bacolod,  and then during the 1995 World Youth Day where the sheer number of the 5 million Filipinos who gathered in Luneta made it to the record books.

This time we welcome Pope Francis, a relatively new pope who has quickly become a certified rock star of the Roman Catholic Church for his words and actions, that have shown his flock that it is possible to have  a pope to rejuvenate the focus of a church that until recently has seemed to have focused too much on tradition and pompous rituals.

This is a pope who  has turned his back on the glitz and glamour of his revered position by keeping a wardrobe and accessories that pales in comparison to his gold gilded and bejeweled predecessors. He drives a used car, refuses to live in the fancy papal apartments and has abandoned the security of the bulletproof popemobile so he could mingle with the crowds.

He has gone out of his way to kiss a disfigured man, embrace a child with cerebral palsy, and even wash and kiss the feet of disabled people, including a Muslim man and several women. He shows up for surprise visits at the cafeteria and has been known to take the bus instead of the Papal limousine. Pope Francis has been photographed taking a group selfie and was even caught wearing a bright red clown nose for a group photo with a newlywed couple inside the Vatican.

He has removed Germany’s infamous “Bishop of Bling”, has spoken out against the mafia, and is trying to clean up the troubled Vatican Bank.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio used to be a bouncer in a nightclub in Buenos Aires, took public transportation, still drives a used car and owned a Harley Davidson that he recently auctioned off for $328,000. He had a girlfriend before becoming a priest and he apparently loves to Tango.

This is a pope many Catholics can relate to and the pope a lot of us have been waiting for but didn’t expect to come so soon and that is the reason why Pope Francis has shot to rock star status less than two years after surprising the world at being elected Pope. This is also the reason why Philippine officials are confident that this visit will easily break the record crowd of 5 million set by Pope John Paul II in 1995.

If you come to think of it, Pope Francis is someone the leaders and politicians of this country should emulate. He didn’t make any campaign promises. Once he was in a position to do something, he simply consulted with his boss (God), was in touch enough to have felt the pulse of his people (the 1.2 billion members of the Catholic church), followed his conscience, marshaled his troops (the church hierarchy that had no choice but to follow him), started doing his job by setting the example.

Nobody would have believed his calls for frugality and simplicity if he didn’t refuse to have a traditional solid gold Fisherman’s ring made for him but instead insisted on a gold-plated one. His decision to remove the “Bishop of Bling” would have been seen as hypocritical if had chosen to live in the lavishly appointed Papal apartments instead of the guest house. These actions have put the traditionalists of the church in a bind, but it has also given a lot of wavering Catholics reason to stick around and give their chosen faith (or the faith their parents chose for them) another chance.

Aside from setting examples and proving that he could walk the talk, Pope Francis has also been making difficult decisions that must surely make a lot of his leaders uncomfortable. He called out the mafia and has demanded more transparency from the secretive Vatican Bank. He went soft on homosexuality by saying “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?” He even invited criticism by saying atheists who do good are redeemed. In short, he is not afraid to rock the boat.

Many of the mere mortals who have disappointed us by packaging themselves as agents of change but then allowing a defective or corrupted system to swallow them up without too much resistance can learn a lot from the leadership that Pope Francis has displayed in his short but effective and popular stint as leader of the Catholic faithful.

Can you imagine a Philippines where high officials of the land will tell the leaders of the places they are visiting not to display their faces in the welcome tarps but use the Philippine flag instead the way Pope Francis asked all those epal tarps with his face to be taken down?

I don’t know what the pope is going to say or do during his visit here that has the theme of “Mercy and Compassion” but I can imagine it should be something we should all keenly observe and listen to because I’m hoping that when he leaves the country on Monday we would have accepted his blessings, sifted through the extravaganza and the spectacle and were able to take something from it that we can apply to improve our relationship with God, our neighbor and our country.*

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