R.I.P. Pope Francis

Sic transit gloria mundi*

Pope Francis has died at age 88. Credit: Daniel Ibañez Catholic News Agency

“Pope Francis is dead at 88” is the front-page banner headline this morning. R.I.P. His death wasn’t unexpected. Francis had “empathy for the disenfranchised” and “defended the marginalized.”

Sadly, the first thing the headlines brought to mind was a joke that I heard (not about Francis) over the weekend.

A guy comes into the coffee shop every morning, picks up a morning paper off the rack, scans the front page, and sets it back down. As friend notices the daily behavior and finally asks what he’s looking for. An obituary, the man says. Obituaries aren’t on the front page, the friend advises. The guy replies, “This one will be.”

Francis, Bishop of Rome, was the leader of the largest Christian denomination, and its first Latin American pontiff. The New York Times account says Francis was a pope who “clashed bitterly with traditionalists in his push for a more inclusive Roman Catholic Church, and who spoke out tirelessly for migrants, the marginalized and the health of the planet.” Quite a contrast with the butt of the joke.

Avoid “the logic of fear”

Archbishop Diego Ravelli, master of apostolic ceremonies, read Francis’s Easter speech yesterday morning:

“How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized and migrants,” Ravelli read, without mentioning a country or person. In a later passage, he said, “I appeal to all those in positions of political responsibility in our world not to yield to the logic of fear which only leads to isolation from others, but rather to use the resources available to help the needy, to fight hunger and to encourage initiatives that promote development. These are the ‘weapons’ of peace: weapons that build the future, instead of sowing seeds of death.”

The butt of the joke eats a big bowl of contempt for breakfast each morning. He offered a very different Easter message.