New hope: A Pope of the poor
Asimple and humble lifestyle or ‘alpechchathavaya’, which is a hallowed aspect of our ancient civilisation, appears to be the most effective way to bring about social justice, equality, an equitable distribution of wealth and resources in a polluted world which is financially and morally bankrupt.
The Catholic Church’s newly-elected Pope Francis – the 76-year-old Argentinean Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio – has given and hopefully will continue to give an inspiring example to the world’s political and religious leaders and show them the validity of the scriptural promise that those who humble themselves will be exalted, and those who sit on high pedestals or golden thrones shall come crashing down.
Pope Francis as Cardinal and Archbishop of Buenos Aires was a champion of social justice and worked tirelessly to restore the human dignity of the poor or dispossessed people. Like his master the Lord Jesus Christ, Pope Francis as a Cardinal practised what he preached and preached only what he practised. He let go of the Archbishop’s Palace in Buenos Aires and lived in an apartment where he cooked his own meals and went to work in a bus or in the metro. When he was elected as the 266th Pope, the first from outside Europe since St. Peter in the first century – Pope Francis showed that he intended to continue this simple and humble lifestyle as did the revolutionary 12th century Saint Francis of Assisi who gave up his wealth and lived with basic needs in his jungle monasteries. Traditionally a newly-elected pope comes out from the Sistine Chapel balcony and blesses the congregation. But Pope Francis in an act of great humility bowed his head and asked the congregation to pray for him. Then he gave his blessing to the congregation and to the world.
Like the Blessed Mother, one of Pope Francies’ first acts after his election was to go to the papal resort outside the Vatican to be blessed by his predecessor the Pontiff Emeritus Benedict XVI. We hope that in the coming days, weeks and months, Pope Francis will continue to give the world practical living lessons on how to act justly, love with mercy and walk humbly.
He gave a clear sign of this in his first sermon to the Cardinals when he said the Church needed to go beyond a pious idea or a compassionate NGO and live the Gospel.
Unfortunately what we see in most countries including Sri Lanka is hypocrisy and self-righteous humbugging with leaders dominating, exploiting or abusing the people instead of serving them, seeking personal gain or glory, power, prestige and popularity and plundering the wealth of the people. We hope the example of Pope Francis will inspire other leaders to come to their senses, turnaround and get out of their wretched pigsty of selfishness and greed.