The Pope who pulled the Church out of the palace
The most important development in the Church last year was
the election of Pope Francis as the new Pope of the Catholic Church on 13 March
2013. Although a relatively unknown figure in the Vatican hierarchy, Pope
Francis very quickly moved to put his stamp on the Church with his
extraordinary concern for the poor and marginalised who were of late forgotten
by the church. His election comes at a time when our Catholic Church was going
through some very difficult times, leading to a real crisis of confidence among
the world community. His simplicity, humility and down to earth attitude
touched the hearts of millions around the world both in and outside the church.
Soon on being elected, Pope Francis refused a luxurious life
in the Pope’s ‘residential palace’, the bulletproof Pope mobile and preferring
instead to drive around himself in a second hand car. He dines with the poor
man from streets, hugs and kisses the sick and disabled, forgives sinners
saying “who am I to judge them?”, tells his priests and bishops to go down to
the people especially the ‘rebels’ and sinners, personally calls those who
write to him for help and visits the slums and illegal immigrant camps. When
his countrymen from Argentina rushed to buy flight tickets to go to Rome for
his installation as Pope, he discouraged them saying, “Do not fly to Rome to celebrate with me but rather donate to the poor
the money you have raised for the airline ticket”.
His desire for peace in the world was displayed in his
numerous passionate pleas for peace in the world, organising prayers and vigils
for peace and promoting inter-faith dialogue and goodwill. On his first public
appearance in 2014 he appealed for an end to violence in the world saying, “We are all children of one heavenly Father, we belong
to the same human family and we share a common destiny.” Will his pleas
make any difference to peace in the world remains to be seen?
These Christ-like revolutionary actions earned him the
TIME’s Person of the Year Award for 2013.TIME described him as the pope who
pulled the Church out of the palace and onto the streets.
As Christians we must not just write off these actions of
the Holy Father as a one-off phenomenon that is personal to him. God has sent
him for a purpose which we must all reflect upon. What message is God trying to
convey to us through Pope Francis? His simplicity, his humility and his love
for those in pain and suffering are all Christ-like deeds that should inspire
us to adopt those virtues in our own lives.
At a time when the people are losing confidence in the
Church for failing to uphold the principles of Jesus in a highly materialistic
modern world that questions the very existence of God, Pope Francis is taking
us and the Church into a new era, an era to restore its lost credibility. Will
he succeed in such a hostile and sinful environment?
The year 2014 promises some exciting times ahead with Pope
Francis leading the way carrying his new banner bearing the words – The Church must be poor. As we move
into 2014, let us follow the leadership of our Holy Father in becoming more
Christ-like in all we do and say. It is not enough to just to read and preach
His Word but to live by the Word. As the Pope says the Church must be poor we
too must be prepared to become a little poorer in wealth but richer in love.
Let us imitate the Pope’s simplicity,
humility and love for the less fortunate in our own task of building God’s
Kingdom in our midst. Let us reach out to those in need around us, believers
and non-believers alike. Let us offer our hands of friendship to fellow
Malaysians of different faiths in a spirit of goodwill, tolerance and peace.
In our parishes let us unite to build a Church that takes
care of the needs of all the members, poor and rich alike, regardless of whether they are active, inactive or
even lapsed as they are all children of God who need to be kept intact in His
flock. Let us implore God to grant good heath to our
Holy Father to continue to lead us in the right path of Christ and that God
grant us the courage to follow him.
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