These images say more than a thousand encyclicals. It’s worth recalling that Saint Francis, after a brutal time spent as a prisoner of war, emerged a broken man and on his way back home came across a group of lepers. Previously a wealthy young scion of Assisi, fastidious and fancy, he entered the leper colony and began washing their bodies and living among them. It was the beginning of his ministry. And so it begins again …
A reader adds:
This is the first time I’ve ever been compelled to write you about a non-political issue, but your link to the article about Pope Francis embracing a horribly disfigured man really hit me.
I’m a complete and thorough atheist. I was raised religious, but went away from it very consciously and actively as I rejected the entire logical foundation of religion. I am still as confident in my atheism as I’ve ever been. I preface my thoughts this way merely to put into context the unalloyed awe and admiration I have at the actions this Pope has taken. Acts of profound and sincere compassion are all too rare in this world, and whether those acts come from an atheist or a pope, they are to be treasured and cherish.
The reality of horrible disfigurement has always been something which has struck me very hard.
On one level, its simply the pity one feels looking upon the decrepit, and imagining the difficulty of their lives. On another level, I can’t help but feel of overbearing sense of guilt at my own visceral disgust upon looking at disfigured people; it’s a disgust rooted in evolution and natural instincts, not a moral revulsion, but its an undeserved disgust all the same. I’m not going to pretend that seeing the actions of Pope Francis today is going to be able to change that; human instinct is what it is. But it gave me a little more appreciation for the profound acts of kindness that people are capable of when they truly embrace compassion as an ethos. For that, this man is worthy of intense admiration.
In 6 months, Pope Francis has lifted the image of his faith far above anything I’d thought possible in my 28 years of life. May he continue to do so.
Or as Saint Francis once put it: “Preach the Gospel everywhere. If necessary, with words.”
(Painting: Giovanni Battista Crespi, called Cerano, ‘Saint Francis healing the leper’, 1630.)
The Dish 