1 week Ago By DAN LEE
I had started working on a piece on the importance of humility when the death of Pope Francis on the morning of Easter Monday was reported on the news. What was intended to be a somewhat generic piece on the importance of humility became a piece on Pope Francis, who exemplified the virtue of humility. I happened to be in Rome with a group of students a couple of months after his election as pope.
There was a story making the rounds about the morning after his being elected pope. When he left his room in Domus Sanctae Marthae (Saint Martha’s House), there was a member of the Swiss Guard standing by the door. (The Swiss Guards are the official Vatican City police force, a role they have filled for several hundred years.
) The newly minted Pope Francis invited the Swiss Guard to join him for breakfast. The Swiss Guard replied that the rules didn’t allow that. A short time later, Pope Francis returned with two cups of coffee and two rolls and invited the Swiss Guard to join him for breakfast.
The Swiss Guard again said that the rules didn’t allow that. As the story was told, Pope Francis responded by saying, “I am now the head of the entire Roman Catholic Church. I order you to have breakfast with me.
” The Swiss Guard knew what a direct order was and sat down and had breakfast with Pope Francis. I don’t know if the incident with the Swiss Guard actually happened or if the story is apocryphal. But when all is said and done, that doesn’t matter, for it accurately portrays the humility and down-to-earth humanity of the new pope.
I had the privilege of attending four general audiences with Pope Francis (as well as several with Pope Benedict XVI.) When making the rounds in the popemobile in the pathways blocked off for the vehicle, Pope Francis was very warm and outgoing, always with a smile on his face. He spent a good deal of time kissing babies who were handed to him (always returning them to their mothers – he never seemed to forget which mother’s baby it was.
) For years, Pope Francis’ predecessors had lived in the Apostolic Palace in luxuriously furnished rooms overlooking St. Peter’s Square. Pope Francis preferred a simpler place to live and stayed in a two-room suite in Domus Sanctae Marthae, which is where he breathed his last breath.
This is reminiscent of what he did when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires prior to his election as pope. He sold the archbishop’s limousine and instead of living in the archbishop’s mansion, lived in a two-room apartment, where he prepared his own meals. When he traveled in the city, he took public transportation, riding with common folks.
He identified with less fortunate members of society. Both as Archbishop of Buenos Aires and as pope, he was a voice on their behalf. Pope Francis was a person of love and compassion who was deeply concerned about the way that President Trump was treating undocumented migrants — concerns that were expressed on his behalf when Vice President Vance recently visited the Vatican.
In humility, there is strength. In compassion and understanding, there is hope. In simplicity, there is awareness of what is most important in life — and what is not.
None of this is understood by the current occupant of the Oval Office, who doesn’t know what humility is. A person who, as Pope Francis was living his last hours with us before entering eternity, released a vitriolic Easter message, in which he stated, “Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country.” He then went on to say, “Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten.
” His ire was then focused on former President Joe Biden, who, he said, was “by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President.” In these difficult times, we would do well to remember the kindness, compassion, and humility of Pope Francis. And we can find comfort in the words of Bishop Desmond Tutu, who during the dark days of apartheid in South Africa, reminded us, “Love is stronger than hate.
Light is stronger than darkness.” Dan Lee Dan Lee, a regular columnist, is the Marian Taft Cannon Professor in the Humanities at Augustana College; [email protected] .
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