Pope Francis : the World's Man for Every Year

The world learned yesterday that Time Magazine has selected Pope Francis as its Person of the Year, saying the Catholic Church's new leader has changed the perception of the 2,000-year-old institution in an extraordinary way in a short time. The Pope beat NSA leaker Edward Snowden in being honored by the news magazine award, which has been given each year since 1927. Besides Snowden, Time had narrowed its finalists down to gay rights activist Edith Windsor, US Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Time polled readers for their choice, and the winner was Egyptian General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the leader of the thrust to eliminate the Moslem Brotherhood in its drive to transform Egypt into a radical islamist country. El-Sissi didn't make the top 10 of Time's final list. ~~~~~ Jorge Bergoglio was elected on March 13 as the first Pope from Latin America and the first Jesuit. Since being elected Pope, Francis has told the Catholic Church not to be obsessed with "small-minded rules" and to emphasize compassion over condemnation in dealing with touchy topics like abortion, gays and contraception. Time wrote : "And behind his self-effacing facade, he is a very canny operator. He makes masterly use of 21st century tools to perform his 1st century office. He is photographed washing the feet of female convicts, posing for selfies with young visitors to the Vatican, embracing a man with a deformed face. He is quoted saying of women who consider abortion because of poverty or rape, “Who can remain unmoved before such painful situations?” Of gay people: “If a homosexual person is of good will and is in search of God, I am no one to judge.” To divorced and remarried Catholics who are, by rule, forbidden from taking Communion, he says that this crucial rite “is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak." ~~~~~ In all he does, it seems that Pope Francis brings hope and mercy back to people weary of the endless dissecting of sexual ethics and the infighting over church lines of authority when all people are seeking is to be healed, to find peace and confort within their hearts and as members of the human community. Time believes that Francis may have found a way out of the world's current culture-based wars, "which have left the church moribund in much of Western Europe and on the defensive from Dublin to Los Angeles." But, with deference to Time, it is not with media photo-ops and pre-scripted appearances that Francis touches people. It is because he is so real, so full of love for everyone, without becoming a Vatican version of Mary Poppins, that he has so quickly won over peopke everywhere. Pope Francis has made a good start on turning the church away from subtle doctrinal differences that are the joy of theologians and back to the touch-and-help message that the church's Founder preached to the masses who followed Him everywhere he went 2,000 years ago in Galilee. Francis has condemned the world's "idolatry of money" and decried the "global scandal" that nearly 1 billion people today go hungry. He has charmed everyone with his simple style and wry sense of humor. His appearances draw tens of thousands of people and his @Pontifex Twitter account recently topped 10 million followers. Francis has changed "the perception and the focus of one of the world's largest institutions in an extraordinary way," said Nancy Gibbs, the magazine's managing editor. ~~~~~ As for the official Vatican reaction to the news : The Vatican said the honor wasn't surprising given the resonance in the general public that Francis has had, but it nevertheless said the choice was a "positive" recognition of spiritual values in the international media. The Holy Father does not aim to become famous or to receive honors," said the Vatican spokesman, the Reverend Federico Lombardi. "But if the choice of Person of Year helps spread the message of the Gospel - a message of God's love for everyone - he will certainly be happy about that." A reaction from closer to the ground that Francis has already walked came from Padre Toto, one of the "slum priests" supported by Francis when he was Cardinal-Archbishop of Buenos Aires. Toto praised Time magazine's selection, "because Pope Francis embodies one of the values of a church that's more missionary, closer to the people, more austere, more in keeping with the gospel," Toto said. "He had the genius of knowing how to express this sense of the church and hopefully his way of being will catch on with other political leaders, business executives, sports figures. His leadership is inspiring." ~~~~~ And although it is always difficult to get news about what is going on behind the scene in the Vatican, here is a typical Pope Francis story told by Time that goes to te heart of his vision of the papacy : "He has turned the once obscure Vatican Almoner, an agency that has been around for about 800 years and is often reserved for an aging Catholic diplomat, over to the dynamic 50-year-old Polish Archbishop Konrad Krajewski and told him to make it the Holy See’s new front porch. “You can sell your desk,” Francis told Krajewski. “You don’t need it. You need to get out of the Vatican. Don’t wait for people to come ringing. You need to go out and look for the poor.” The Archbishop hands out small amounts to the needy, including a recent gift of 1,600 phone cards to immigrant survivors of a capsized boat so they could call family back in Eritrea. Francis often gives Krajewski stacks of letters with his instructions to help the people who have written to him and asked for aid. In what sounds like a necessary precaution, the Vatican recently issued a denial after Krajewsk hinted that Francis himself sometimes slips out of the Vatican dressed as an ordinary priest to hand out alms." ~~~~~ When Jesus was preaching and baptizing and healing in Galilee and around Jerusalrm, the religious leaders often went up to Him to try to embarrass or trick Him into speaking a heresy. Everyone wanted to know if He was the Messiah, most of all John the Baptist who had devoted his life to "preparing the way" for the Anointed One. But when John's disciples were went to ask Jesus if he was the Messiah, instead of responding with a show of power and pomp, Jesus told them, "Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard--the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. And blessed is he who takes no offense at me." And when John's messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings' courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes." ~~~~~ Dear readers, is this not Pope Francis? A man sent to the world - not just to the Church or the West but to all people - to remind us that we are all God's children. All. And we are, indeed, our brothers' and sisters' keepers. Reach out. Help. As John Paul II famously said, "Don't be afraid." And as Francis puts it so realistically, "The people of God want pastors, not clergy acting like bureaucrats or government officials."