Pope breaks protocol, bows to Queen of Jordan

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Holly3278 said:
Jimmy Akin made a blog post about this:

ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/what-should-we-make-of-pope-francis-bowing-when-greeting-people/
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Thanks Holly - good find!

I read Jimmy’s article up to this line…

“Up until the 19th century visitors would kiss the pope’s shoes, and the tradition is still that all visitors, women included, bow to him, but Francis behaves as he did before he became pope and is not interested in protocol,” a senior Vatican official told The Daily Telegraph.

Great. Now we have an unnamed Vatican official involved. Off-the-cuff remarks from them are always helpful in sorting out a news story. (Sigh.)

After that I stopped reading. In my experience *everything *which quotes on unnamed Vatican officials or an alleged remark by a Pope (eg. “The smoke of Satan has entered the Church”) is a story without legs.

Co-incidentally, I read from proverbs this morning…

*For lack of wood the fire goes out; and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases. * [Prov 26:20, RSV]
 
illinidiva said:
King Abdullah seemed to appreciate the fact that the Pope was so chivalrous with his wife as well. In another breach of protocol (a much more important one in my opinion), both Jordanian monarchs stayed for the audience, which is frankly a good image for the Middle East.

This is a ridiculous nitpick. The more important story is the Pope meets with important Mideast ally to discuss Syrian war and help out persecuted Christian minority.
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Exactly!!! 👍

We should not underestimate our Holy Father - he is proving to be a man of talent and courage. His meeting with Jordan’s monarch at such a time as this is significant.

I also agree with you on the other two things: King Abdullah’s facial expression was very warm as he watched the Holy Father greet his wife and she staying for the talks was positive all around.

Also, he has met with an enormous number of world leaders since he became Pope, including the Lebanese president back in May. I’ve been watching the expressions on the faces of visiting dignitaries since Pope Francis started to give audiences, and almost without exception, the visitors come away awed and charmed by him, sometimes wide-eyed and open-mouthed with surprise.

Ladies and gentlemen, in our Holy Father, I think we have a consummate diplomat and peace maker.
 
The more the pope does, the more I like him. Should he have bowed? Should God Almighty have humbled Himself to take on the form of Man and die?
 
🤷 Meh. Jesus washed feet. Dined with sinners and tax collectors.

Those who valued protocol had big problems with Him on those things. :yawn:
 
Holly3278 said:
I really don’t know what the big deal about this is. There was a person on Facebook earlier who was all upset about it.

If you ask me, it was nothing more than a sign of respect, and, as the upset person finally figured out, it was not a sign of submission to a higher authority because the King of Jordan is an authority, not his wife. He did not bow to the King of Jordan.
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👍
Very good point - he was honouring womanhood! Because you are right he did NOT bow to the King!
 
sunnygt said:
Honestly, why the HECK is this such a big deal. In most modern cultures, bowing is a sign of respect, not of submission. I just can’t understand why people are so bent out of shape about this.
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There were pictures flying all over the internet a few years ago of Obama bowing to someone. People made a very big deal out of it. The radio hosts ramped up the rhetoric. I think it was ramped up so much that many think it is a sign of submission rather than respect. The Pope is one class act.
 
99th_Monkey said:
There were pictures flying all over the internet a few years ago of Obama bowing to someone. People made a very big deal out of it. The radio hosts ramped up the rhetoric. I think it was ramped up so much that many think it is a sign of submission rather than respect. The Pope is one class act.
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Exactly, but there unfortunately will always be an individual or group who want to make political hay out of a simple act of respect. We have no way of knowing how positive this may be to the people of Jordan and the Middle East.
 
As long as the Pope is clear on the treatment of Christians(and all people) in the middle east, I see no harm at fist blush of respecting a culture, their laws, and their traditions. It is called having a sense of maturity and manners. Let’s hope guests in Moscow show the same respect for local laws and traditions. Given the kiss between the two Russian athletes on the stand last week, I somehow doubt Russian laws and customs will be shown the same respect, unfortunately.
 
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