April 25, 2025
On the importance of Popes
My reflection this week is about the importance—not the necessity—of Popes. In particular, how important Popes have been—and will continue to be—in our interconnected world.
I was raised in a Catholic-adverse family and church, though I and my family had many friends who were Catholic. What repelled us from Catholicism (I was told) was Mary, not the Pope. But as I grew up my understanding of Christianity and its many expressions grew as well. This was especially true when I became involved in a broadly ecumenical campus ministry at the University of Pittsburgh. There I made friends with Baptists, Five Point-Calvinists, Christians from holiness traditions, as well as Roman and Orthodox Catholic Christians. This experience changed my life. It was here I discerned my call to ministry.
But I digress. Even at Pitt I didn’t talk much about popes except for the transition from John Paul I to John Paul II in my first term of college. Certainly, I thought the Pope was important, after all the Roman Catholic Church was and is the largest organization in the world. Being “in charge” of that is an important role to be sure.
However, it wasn’t until I worked with children of immigrants from around the globe in Chicago that I realized just how important the Pope was, and not just to the Catholic Church, but to all Christians. It was my conversations with non-Christian parents from around the world about my call to ministry that this became evident. You see, their image of my faith—the Christian faith—was the Pope. What he said and did was what they thought Christianity was.
No one person can represent the entire global Catholic Church, let alone the multifaceted global Christian Church. But that doesn’t mean that a well-known Christian’s words and actions are not important in representing the faith to those outside Christianity. And no Christian alive is more well-known than the Pope.
Pope Francis died on Easter Monday. He inherited a divided church and a church whose integrity was suspect. He is remembered for his very genuine, approachable personality, a resource he used to gain a hearing from the suspicious and disenfranchised, especially the victims of the Church’s abuse and neglect. But to me his most valuable asset was his humility and desire to leave no one outside of God’s grace. Popes have traditionally washed and kissed the feet of 12 men (representing the 12 apostles) on Maundy Thursday. Often these were notable people within the Church. But two weeks after being elected as Pope, Pope Francis went to a prison and washed and kissed the feet of 12 inmates. This continued throughout his papacy concluding with the washing and kissing the feet of 12 inmates in 2024, in an all-female prison. This year his health only enabled him to visit a prison and speak with the prisoners. Even that, especially given his condition, speaks volumes.
I pray the next Pope represents we Christians and our Lord as well as the late Pope Francis. Might we be inspired to follow suit.
May peace be upon his memory.
With resurrection hope,
~ Pastor Todd
P.S. My eye procedure has been scheduled for Wednesday, April 30. I will be off Thursday through Saturday, but hope to be back among you on Sunday. Thank you for all your prayers and support.