When I turned on the television Monday, I was surprised to hear that the Pope died. I am sad. Sad because he was a good and genuine man. He was a decent man. Those kinds of men, or people, are not so easy to come by these days. I think he’s the only Pope I’ve ever really liked.
I was raised Catholic. I say “raised” because I do not identify as Catholic now. There were too many things I could not accept. Too many things that felt wrong. For example, my marriage being a sin because I married a woman. I get no credit for the almost 14 years of marriage, 17 years together. No acknowledgment for a loving, faithful commitment to one person for the rest of my life. Anyone who is married knows that is no small thing…in fact, anyone who is a human being in any relationship ever knows that love, commitment, faithfulness, kindness are huge things. Huge important life altering things. Dismissing my marriage because I checked the female box instead of male is shortsighted and cruel.
The Pope is infallible. That is a key tenet of Catholicism. I do not believe that any human is infallible, not even the Pope. A quick glance around our world right now, or just our country, explains my position clearly. People are motivated by all kinds of things, greed, power, wealth, acclaim, fame…you get the idea. All those varied motives do not lead to infallibility.
Past Popes have not been so kind and accepting. Many Popes have done things to lead me to the conclusion that they are just men, not at all infallible, and in some cases not even good people. Here’s a few highlights, or lowlights: Pope Alexander VI created a scandal by bribing fellow electors. He essentially bought the papacy. He appointed relatives to power, killed off rival cardinals and kept their valuable property for himself. Pope Stephen VI had his predecessor exhumed and his corpse placed on the throne to stand trial. Boniface VIII issued a proclamation that all of Europe’s kings and their armies were under his supreme control. Urban VI had cardinals who opposed him brutally murdered and complained, as they died, that their screams were not loud enough. Leo X drove the church’s finances deep into debt, so he sold indulgences to buy forgiveness for sins or get a dead relative out of purgatory. John XII was 18 when he became Pope. His leadership in the papal palace was described as a combination of frat party and seedy brothel. He also was not celibate and is rumored to have died in bed with a married woman. Benedict IX held the papacy three times. He fled from Rome the first time due to his violent behavior. The second time he sold the papacy to his godfather who became Pope Gregory VI. The final time the German armies drove him out of Rome. Pope Benedict XVI, the predecessor to Pope Francis, was criticized for mishandling sexual abuse cases (that’s putting it mildly) and for discouraging the use of condoms even during the AIDS epidemic. He wanted to keep the church as conservative as possible and supported masses returning to Latin. Let me tell ya, nothing warms the heart like sitting through a mass where you have no idea what anyone is saying. I sat through many of those as a child…even the sermon was in Latin. That’s a snoozer.
My closest friends when I was 18 were Catholic and occasionally, we’d go to a mass together. When the priest was blessing the eucharist, he made the sign of the cross, and said, “In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti” meaning “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Well, my friends, joking, would imitate him and say, “My father plays dominos better than yours does.” You have to say it in the same tone and sing it like a priest does. Anyway, we thought it was funny. I guess it was a bit rude. Ahhh, teenagers. You can see why an 18-year-old should not be Pope…they can’t be trusted to behave appropriately.
Pope Francis remarkably said he was a sinner. Infallible people are not sinners. By definition they can’t be. The Oxford dictionary defines infallible as, “Incapable of making mistakes or being wrong, unerring, perfect, unfailing.” Wow. That’s quite a proclamation. It’d be hard to remain humble with infallibility attached to your name. I’m sure it was easy to be led astray with so much power. If I were Pope (impossible for many reasons) then my wife could not accuse me of always wanting to be right…because I would in fact always be right. Hmmm…. That would definitely go to my head. I’m not infallible, I’m just a Morrison…my relatives get that.
Pope Francis was a man who knew what love demanded. Just look at how he lived and how he Poped…Poped?…that can’t be right…oh well. He said that we must get our hearts to feel again. Love is not indifferent. Love demands feeling. All the feelings all the time, even though it can be exhausting. Indifference is easy. It’s lazy. It takes no effort to be indifferent. No effort to not give a crap about others. No effort to never give others a thought. Love is not full of our egos. Love is egoless. Love demands feeling, even when it’s hard. Even when we don’t want to. Love does not allow us to close our eyes to injustices around us. Love is not passive. Love is active. Love takes a stand. Our President surrounds himself with billionaires. They are his focus. The Pope, the most powerful religious leader in the world, surrounded himself with ordinary people. People with real needs, real pain, real heartache. He met them with real love. And he welcomed the children. Always children. Children know how to love with abandon…I think Pope Francis may have too.
The people’s Pope. That’s what he was called. And he liked the title. He liked it because he loved the people. Cory Booker said recently that “You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people.” The Pope loved the people…all the people. Not just people with money or power. All the regular people. And he lived a simpler life than other popes. Simple living accommodations. Simplified clothing. Less pomp and circumstance. And his burial will be the same. He won’t be buried at the Vatican, rather at a smaller church outside of the Vatican. Maybe he needed less attention. Less affirmation from the outside because he knew he was on the inside.
Francis said he was not here to judge. We are not to judge. I did not agree with Pope Francis on gay marriage…you probably knew that since I have a wife. But I did agree with his acceptance of people and in not judging them. I have been judged and condemned by the Catholic Church because of my marriage. A little not judging could go a long way in this country…in this world. Especially now.
I’ve heard the experts say that the next Pope will be more conservative. An attempt to quiet the critics who felt that this Pope went to far. Was he too loving? Too accepting? Too forgiving? Pope Francis will surely be missed. He wasn’t perfect, but he was authentic. A man who knew what love demanded of him. Who knew that in the end all that matters is how we love people. Judge that.
Kai Raines 