Pope Francis is just doing his job well
A handout picture taken on October 26, 2013 and released by Osservatore Romano on October 29, 2013 shows Pope Francis addressing the crowd at St Peter's square in the Vatican as a boy hugs him on the occasion of Family Day. AFP PHOTO / OSSERVATORE ROMANO
What you need to know:
- What makes this man so attractive? Quite simply, Francis is just doing his job, but doing it extraordinarily well.
- Preachers can be hired, but people need witnesses who demonstrate like Francis the attractiveness and incisiveness of the gospel.
Last Christmas, Jorge Bergoglio submitted a request to his bosses in Rome that he be allowed to step aside since he had reached the mandatory retirement age of 75.
Twelve months later, that little known Argentinean prelate has become Time Magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’ and was the most mentioned person on social media in 2013.
Whatever Pope Francis does or says seems to grab world attention as he resonates with much more people than his 1.2 billion Catholic faithful. On Holy Thursday, he washed the feet of women and Muslims, breaking barriers and traditions with one wipe of a towel.
This week, he visited an immigrant centre where he gave 2,000 young people small envelopes containing phone cards, postage stamps, a day’s Metro pass and a Christmas card signed by him.
For his 77th birthday, he invited four homeless people to celebrate with him.
What makes this man so attractive? Quite simply, Francis is just doing his job, but doing it extraordinarily well.
He is merely following Christ in a simple, non-judgmental and non dogmatic manner.
He has shown the world how attractive it is to follow Christ and produced an amazing document entitled ‘The Joy of the Gospel’ that challenges readers to renew their faith in service and joy.
This Pontiff is not preoccupied with the church’s rights or righteousness but wants a ‘church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been on the streets and not one that is unhealthy clinging to its own security’.
To the prelates, priests and sisters obsessed with rituals, status, traditions and entitlements, he says quite frankly that if you are shepherds, you must take on the smell of the sheep and then the sheep will listen to you.
Francis is calling everyone back to basics and he demonstrates that the church does not grow by proselytizing but by attraction.
He rejects the trickle-down notion of economic growth and demands that the ‘rich must help, respect and protect the poor’.
His opponents claim he is a Socialist, to which he replied that is no insult as he knows many good socialists.
He speaks of mercy in every other sentence and insists ‘if someone is gay, and lives a good life, then who am I to judge them?’
When his reform programme is up and running, we can expect more direct challenges to the church here in Kenya.
The Catholic Church provides a huge range of services in the most remote and neglected areas of Kenya. But Francis and Jesus would surely challenge the witness given by high cost private schools, hospitals and conference centres that the poor cannot access.
The scandal of excessive tithing of the faithful to pay debts, studies and medical bills of their leaders is also abhorrent.
Our silent and tired clerics need Francis’ voice and renewed energy to defend the poor, confront greed, corruption and ethnic coalitions.
They have retreated from the coalface and taken sanctuary in sacristies.
Preachers can be hired, but people need witnesses who demonstrate like Francis the attractiveness and incisiveness of the gospel.
Have a humble New Year.
