Sinners

How can you not like this pope?

The streets are lined with streamers bearing his image, and the Holy See asks the government to take them down because the pontiff prefers to have the image of Christ venerated.

So starting the other day, streamers lining Roxas Boulevard no longer bore images. Instead only the Vatican flag flew beside the Philippines’ own – SOP for all visiting heads of state – and the slogan of the papal visit, with its “mercy and compassion” theme, adorned streamers. Not even Francis’ coat of arms – unique for every pope – was displayed.

Apparently the message did not reach several hotels and karaoke TV bars, which did not take down their massive streamers bearing the pope’s image.

A report from the group that joined the pope from Sri Lanka said he himself asked to use a jeepney upon learning that it was the mode of transportation for the Filipino masses. He also reportedly declined a wealthy Pinoy’s offer to give him a new chalice custom-made for his Philippine visit, preferring on old one used in 1995 by Pope John Paul II.

The wealthy Pinoy was not identified in the report. The offer seemed well meaning, but went against the emphasis on simple living that has been the hallmark of Pope Francis. The offer was also typical in these islands where for several centuries, Catholics paid for “indulgences” from the Church, alienating the poor Indios who thought Heaven was a place only for those who could afford it.

In this visit, you can tell that money and connections can still buy a seat close to Pope Francis – surely through no fault of his, and despite his staunch effort to focus his visit on comforting the poor, the exploited and victims of injustice.

Growing up in Argentina where he became Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, this pontiff has been steeped in the social justice ethos of the Catholic faith in Latin America. As pope, he has preached against “spiritual worldliness” – something he described in an interview as “self-centeredness cloaked in an outward religiosity bereft of God.”

In our country, the pope will find a lot of spiritual worldliness among clergy and laity alike, public officials and private citizens alike. Perhaps the pope will wonder why this predominantly Catholic country has the highest murder-homicide rate in this part of Asia.

Serial murderers in our country prostrate themselves before church altars after every killing and like to surround themselves with religious icons. Plunderers like to adorn their homes with massive, gem-encrusted, gilded statues of Christ and saints, and like having themselves photographed kneeling in church.

Throughout his visit, the pope will be welcomed by unabashed philanderers, labor exploiters and human traffickers, and the multitudes of ordinary sinners.

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None of them, of course, will be turned away by the “people’s pope,” who admits to being a sinner himself.

Pope Francis said this in a rare exclusive interview given in August last year to a fellow Jesuit, Antonio Spadaro, editor of the Italian Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica. The pope is not fond of giving interviews, but he agreed to this one, with Spadaro serving as a pooled interviewer for several major Jesuit publications around the world.

In the English translation by America magazine, Spadaro asked the first question: Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?

The pope’s answer: “I do not know what might be the most fitting description.... I am a sinner. This is the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.”

Pope Francis went on: “…The best summary, the one that comes more from the inside and I feel most true is this: I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon.”

This message of redemption instead of condemnation for sinners, of salvation for lost souls, is winning back the disenchanted. The pope wants the shepherds of the Church to spread this message of mercy and healing.

“Instead of being just a church that welcomes and receives by keeping the doors open, let us try also to be a church that finds new roads, that is able to step outside itself and go to those who do not attend mass, to those who have quit or are indifferent,” he said. “The ones who quit sometimes do it for reasons that, if properly understood and assessed, can lead to a return.”

In the same interview, the pope likened today’s Catholic Church to a field hospital after a battle, where the foremost mission is to “heal the wounds… heal the wounds.”

“God is greater than sin. The structural and organizational reforms are secondary – that is, they come afterward,” Pope Francis said.

Religious analysts have warned that this pope is no less hardline in his position on Church teachings involving issues of modern life than his predecessors.

Unlike his predecessors, however, Francis has an approach that does not further alienate a flock dismayed by the scandals that have rocked the Church in recent years, including sexual abuse of minors, financial mismanagement and corruption.

When the pope greets the Vatican Curia by denouncing the “power-hungry” and “hypocrites,” he further endears himself to the straying flock.

“The ministers of the Gospel must be people who can warm the hearts of the people, who walk through the dark night with them, who know how to dialogue and to descend themselves into their people’s night, into the darkness, but without getting lost,” he said in the interview. “The people of God want pastors, not clergy acting like bureaucrats or government officials. The bishops, particularly, must be able to support the movements of God among their people with patience, so that no one is left behind.”

Pope Francis’ message is that we are all – himself included – only human and susceptible to sin, but no one is disqualified from redemption.

It’s easy to adore and respect this pope. Will the adoration and respect rub off on the shepherds of the Church and win back lost souls?

It will depend on how much the shepherds can follow in the footsteps of Pope Francis. If they can become “ministers of mercy, above all,” then they can succeed in his admonition “to proclaim the Gospel on every street corner.”

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JOKE OF THE DAY: Knowing he has a healthy sense of humor, the pope may like yesterday’s text joke of the day: From Villamor (Air Base) to Taft, 38 minutes… that’s the first miracle of Pope Francis.