I don't often bring my religious views into my blog posts, for reasons that I won't get into here, but I feel the need to share my thoughts on the newest Holy Father of the Catholic Church.
I should start off by saying that I am a practicing Catholic. Mostly practicing. I say that because there was a time in my life where I was more devout than I am now. Bi-monthly Reconciliation; weekly, sometimes daily, Mass; I was active in Bible study, small groups, volunteer projects, and YA ministry. I even toyed with the idea of entering religious life on a full-time basis, as a nun.
And while I no longer hold aspirations of one day adorning my head with a habit, and even as I struggle with my Faith more now than ever before, the Holy See and the Pope still play important roles in my life.
I know a lot of people, non-Catholic and Catholic alike, question the relationship between laypeople and the Pope. Yes, the sitting Pope is the leader of the Catholic church, we look to him for guidance, inspiration, and example. But what else? What more? I can't speak for everyone, because I think relationships, no matter what kind, remain fundamentally personal. And for sure the way I see and feel about popes is different from the way I view other positions of power, and the people who hold those positions. Say, POTUS. While I may feel a tentative allegiance to the president, it's not a relationship that is more than superficial. It is not at all personal.
It may come as a surprise to some that I can say clearly that I loved Pope John Paul II. I felt his passing away keenly, grieving and crying for days on end. I was 20 years old when he died, and I had never known another pope, had grown up with him my whole life, and I saw and felt him to be so much a tangible part of my life. Even now, I get emotional over his memory because, even though I had never met him, I knew him and had cultivated a personal relationship with him over the years. His death was real to me.
I have to say that I never really warmed to Pope Benedict XVI. I tried to get to know him, I did. I acknowledged him, certainly, but our relationship was distant. And while I wasn't pleased by the arrangement, as the years passed I was resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't have the same relationship with Benedict that I have with John Paul II.
But now a new pope sits on the chair at St. Peter's Basilica. Pope Francis has entered into his papacy by flipping it on its head. He's been very bold. And as I've watched and read and seen him in these, his still early days, I feel so much hope and joy. Already, I feel a profound affinity with Pope Francis, and something in me, my soul perhaps, feels lighter and more at peace. It's as if I had been on my spiritual own for so long, and now, again, finally, there's someone to help me and support me. I can't adequately put in words what it means to have a spiritual confidant, a friend, at the Vatican. And this is what the popes mean to me. I already love Pope Francis--its not so much because of his earth-shattering statements or how radical he seems, although there is that. I admire and respect his humility, and am inspired by his capacity to love.
Some will criticize the papacy, as they have the right to do so, but for me, and for others, Pope Francis brings much needed relief, and I am looking forward to what he has in store for the Church.
AMEN.
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