The Thing That’s Shocked Me Most About Pope Francis

The Thing That’s Shocked Me Most About Pope Francis November 11, 2013

This will probably come as no surprise, but I’m a fan of Pope Francis. A big fan. I’m under no illusions that he isn’t without his flaws, but when it comes to the Christian faith and in particular being Christ-like he just seems to get it, probably more than any other major Christian leader I know. 

From rejecting the luxurious papal apartment to washing the feet of a Muslim female inmate to his theology that seems more concerned with loving the poor and defending the oppressed than drawing lines of exclusion to that time last week when he put a kid on the papal seat during a talk at St. Peter’s or just the other day when he embraced and kissed a man stricken with a disfiguring skin disease Pope Francis never ceases to wow me and, more often than not, bring a few tears to my eyes. 

I’m not Roman Catholic, but he’s the sort of leader I would gladly follow, the kind of Christ-like example I want to follow. But incarnated grace aside, the thing that’s really shocked me the most about Pope Francis is the response he’s received from those outside the faith. And I don’t just mean non-Catholics. I mean those of entirely different religious traditions, but especially those with no religious affiliation at all and those who oppose religion altogether. 

If you spend enough time on the internet, you can just about predict the sorts of comments that will appear under religious news stories, particularly stories about the Roman Catholic church. To say the comments are typically not kind would be an understatement. Even calling them irrationally hateful doesn’t quite capture the vitriol spewed in those comment sections. Which is why I’ve been so blown away by the comments left on stories about Pope Francis. 

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