As a non-catholic, I'd just like to say how impressed I am with Pope Francis

[BA11]

I found myself remarkably indifferent towards Benedict, but this guy is just such a humble christian who embodies everything a follower of Jesus should. He seems completely selfless and has such a warm and welcoming personality that I find myself really interested in a papacy for the first time in my life.

Fine choice. Hopefully he can help many non-catholics see through their hatred and come to accept catholics as brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

[robwar]

thank-you for your kind thoughts and impression. God Bless

 

[Mariem2]

I found myself remarkably indifferent towards Benedict, but this guy is just such a humble christian who embodies everything a follower of Jesus should. He seems completely selfless and has such a warm and welcoming personality that I find myself really interested in a papacy for the first time in my life.

Fine choice. Hopefully he can help many non-catholics see through their hatred and come to accept catholics as brothers and sisters in Christ.

With respect, the many non-Catholics needing to see through “hatred” are hardly brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

[BA11]

Perhaps I worder it poorly: Hopefully they come to cast off their hate in favor of the love for their bretheran that Jesus demands from us. I would agree that someone living in hate of others christians probably doesnt have God’s grace in them.

 

[Mariem2]

There’s no probably about it. Jesus told us to love one another. Hate is the direct opposite of love. Love comes from God. Hate comes from Satan.

 

[rcwitness]

Well, that is the hope of any person in a position of teaching within the Church In the case of the office of Pope, it is that much more significant because what he does, says, and how he lives is seen more than any other individual within the Church. So, I thank God that you see an inspiration in Francis!
A pope, or bishop, priest, deacon, catechist, alter boy, or usher is a blessing when he is genuine in the Lord. We can definitely be thankful when we have a good example in them. It goes a long way in the will of God.
We can always have hope in God providing our needs even with men in positions of authority that don’t inspire us. Gods will is done in spite of them.
I personally think they should have looked outside Europe a long time ago. But Benedict was a good Pope too. But probably not what the Church needs now. We don’t need encyclical after encyclical and book after book, but more simple humble outreach to poor and destitude. After all, Jesus taught us, when someone in a position to be able to receive much actually gives much, well that humbles all under his authority.

thanks bro, and dont stop looking for Jesus in His Church
Michael

 

[CMatt25]

I found myself remarkably indifferent towards Benedict, but this guy is just such a humble christian who embodies everything a follower of Jesus should. He seems completely selfless and has such a warm and welcoming personality that I find myself really interested in a papacy for the first time in my life.

Fine choice. Hopefully he can help many non-catholics see through their hatred and come to accept catholics as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Yes I agree so far at least he has been quite impressive. In the first wks I found myself tuned to EWTN more than ever to catch a homily of the Pope’s or to see what he was up to. I would just add Catholics *are *brothers and sisters of non Catholics in Christ. And after having recently had my Christianity attacked by a Catholic on another forum, I would hope and I pray that Catholics would see those Christians not faithful to the Catholic faith, despite differences, whether orthodox or mainline to even liberal, whether a United Church Christ or Episcopal Christian and so on, are their brothers and sisters as well. Christians united in the One most important of all. In Him Who breaks down walls. In Christ. Lord and savior. Amen.

 

[CMatt25]

Here, here!
So far, he seems like a wonderful person! I love how humble he is, how he doesn’t care for the pomp, and how he is going about his pope business his way, with his own signature style.

Daddygirl, do you know if I heard it correctly or not that he is the first pope ever to wash the feet of females and one was even a Muslim? I might have misunderstood that he is the first to do so. But in any case his own style and humility has been refreshing.

 

[Monergistic]

I’m very impressed with him thus far. He’s honoring St. Francis with more than just the name. He is doing things quite a bit differently than his predecessor (sort of a bold choice with the predecessor still alive and well), and he is breaking with some of the traditional norms. But he’s doing it in ways that show humility and servitude. I didn’t really put this thought together until I saw this thread, but here it is- any pope can base their actions and decisions on a predecessor or on their own preferences. But I like to imagine that Pope Francis, at least in part, is basing these decisions on what St. Francis would want a pope to be, and if that’s the goal, he’s doing an admirable job.

 

[Lisa1967]

I found myself remarkably indifferent towards Benedict, but this guy is just such a humble christian who embodies everything a follower of Jesus should. He seems completely selfless and has such a warm and welcoming personality that I find myself really interested in a papacy for the first time in my life.

Fine choice. Hopefully he can help many non-catholics see through their hatred and come to accept catholics as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Thanks for sharing. I am a former Catholic and I am impressed by him too.

 

[GaryTaylor]

I found myself remarkably indifferent towards Benedict, but this guy is just such a humble christian who embodies everything a follower of Jesus should. He seems completely selfless and has such a warm and welcoming personality that I find myself really interested in a papacy for the first time in my life.

Fine choice. Hopefully he can help many non-catholics see through their hatred and come to accept catholics as brothers and sisters in Christ.

People connect with what he came back to, which is…fundamental basics. Its a breath of fresh air.

 

[J_the_Centrist]

I found myself remarkably indifferent towards Benedict, but this guy is just such a humble christian who embodies everything a follower of Jesus should. He seems completely selfless and has such a warm and welcoming personality that I find myself really interested in a papacy for the first time in my life.

Fine choice. Hopefully he can help many non-catholics see through their hatred and come to accept catholics as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Non-Catholic Christians who hate us all have to realize that their faith’s all spring from ours. I have always believed in Christian unity and hopefully this Pope can help bridge some of those gaps. I think that relations with the Orthodox have already improved, being that for the first time in nearly a thousand years they attended a pope’s ceremonial Mass in making a pope official . He is obviously a humble holy man, which is exactly what Christians (not only Catholics) need on a global scale now.

 

[just_came_back]

Yes I agree so far at least he has been quite impressive. In the first wks I found myself tuned to EWTN more than ever to catch a homily of the Pope’s or to see what he was up to. I would just add Catholics *are *brothers and sisters of non Catholics in Christ. And after having recently had my Christianity attacked by a Catholic on another forum, I would hope and I pray that Catholics would see those Christians not faithful to the Catholic faith, despite differences, whether orthodox or mainline to even liberal, whether a United Church Christ or Episcopal Christian and so on, are their brothers and sisters as well. Christians united in the One most important of all. In Him Who breaks down walls. In Christ. Lord and savior. Amen.

I agree. It’s a 2 way street. I’ve had fellow Catholics, on this board as a matter of fact, telling me my parents were “lost” because they weren’t Catholic. My parents love and support me in my Catholic walk, they acknowledge Catholics as Christians most definitely, but for them, they found God in a protestant church and that is where they are happy communing with Him.

It’s all about LOVING ONE ANOTHER.

 

[Jaysuitical]

Hopefully he can help many non-catholics see through their hatred and come to accept catholics as brothers and sisters in Christ

Raised nominally Methodist, I was avidly evangelical in my teens, and many of the anti-Catholic myths were very much a part of the preaching & teaching. But seeing the face of John Paul II utterly transported with joy as he consecrated the Host during an outdoor mass undid almost all that in an instant. I entered RCIA at the end of the decade & was received into the Church 23 years ago.

The motive of evangelicals & protestants, to direct all their intention & adoration to God, is good; which is what moved Bl. John XXIII and the Fathers at the Council to recognize that many contemporary Protestants didn't have the malicious or slanderous intentions & practices that were quite common in the earlier era, and to work with generosity & charity rather than from suspicion & recrimination. Although this has often led to confusion, the judgment of the popes from John XXIII after has been that God will lead past falsehoods & confusion to reach concord & unity after centuries of division.

Sadly, some ultras assume that the warm reception given to a pope by Protestants is reason to suspect the pope of religious indifferentism, and they’re treating Francis with the skepticism with which the treated Paul VI & John Paul II – even Benedict!

The opposite mistake on the part of Protestants is that “well, the modern popes aren’t the old kind of Catholics, so he’s OK” – Pope Francis is as Catholic as they come, as his namesake, St. Francis di Bernadone of Assisi, was.

 

[JHow]

I found myself remarkably indifferent towards Benedict, but this guy is just such a humble christian who embodies everything a follower of Jesus should. He seems completely selfless and has such a warm and welcoming personality that I find myself really interested in a papacy for the first time in my life.

Fine choice. Hopefully he can help many non-catholics see through their hatred and come to accept catholics as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Admiring a Pope is sometimes how non-Catholics start to become Catholics. Did you really have yourself in mind instead of the anonymous “haters”?