I did not click with him until I met him. Then you couldn’t help click with him. He looked at you as if you were the only person in the room. You could tell that you were in the presence of great holiness. After meeting him once at an audience that he had for Franciscan superiors and then attending two masses with him, one Christmas Eve at St. Peter’s and another on the Solemnity of St. Francis in his private chapel, I saw him pray close up. I was convinced that this was a man to whom I had to pay more attention, because he had a great deal to teach me about holiness. I feel the same about Pope Francis.
This morning I watched him celebrate the mass at Santa Anna, the little parish inside Vatican City. At the end of mass he processed down the main aisle. Instead of heading for the sacristy, he walked right out the door and stood outside greeting the parishioners like any parish priest. It was beautiful to see him speak to children, kiss a few and ask another little boy to pray for him. He hugged the parishioners, smiled and made some laugh. Suddenly, he turned toward the gate that leads from Vatican City into the City of Rome and into the street to talk with the people there. Don’t ask me why people were out there. No one said.
I felt a pang of apprehension for his safety, but I also felt a great sense of devotion to him. He is truly a Jesuit. I find this endearing. He has that Jesuit simplicity and joy. At the same time, he’s very much a protoge of St. Francis, the universal brother. Again, I feel that he is a man to be watched, not only because he can disappear on you in a moment’s notice, LOL, but we can learn a great deal about simplicity and fraternity from this man.
I think that God’s plan is unfolding before our very eyes, if we pay close attention. Without going back through every pope back to Peter, let’s just look at the two. Pope Benedict was very much the catechist. He was a pope to whom everyone should have listened. He had a lot to say that needed to be said. Pope Benedict said it. Pope Francis will show us how to apply what Benedict said. The one seems to flow out of the other.
There are no coincidences in God’s plan.