Fr. Albert Danso writes: Pope Francis, a pastor and a man of mercy

A story is told about a monk who after listening to the Confession of so many people, is said to have gone to kneel before the Crucifix in prayer saying, Lord, pls forgive me for forgiving so much!

Another story is also told about a great man who is said to have a chauffeur and whiles his chauffeur drove him around, told the chauffeur if he could allow him to drive briefly since he has not ridden for some time but the chauffeur said, Sir!, I am very sorry I cannot allow you do so, for I would lose my job. After hesitating, the chauffeur agreed to let him drive for some few minutes when a Police stopped the car only to realise it was this big man!

How can he question such a person? So the Policeman called the Inspector General of Police saying, Sir, today, can you believe the person I have stopped on the road? The IGP said, a minister? No Sir said the Police!.The President? No Sir but somebody higher than that! So who is that? The Pope as driver and they all burst into laughter. That was Pope Francis for you!

HIS BACKGROUND AS A FOUNDATION TO HIS PONTIFICATE:

After the inauguration of the Pontificate of Jorge Bergolio, His Petrine ministry is so much influenced by his background as a religious belonging to the Society of Jesuit and being a Bishop at Buenos Aires in Argentina, among the poor, the suffering and the marginalized, that nurtures in Him and becomes a solid foundation of his Petrine ministry to show God’s true love and selflessness to everyone, irrespective of race, colour, nationality or gender.

And sparks him to have a Church that everyone counts and so calls each and everyone to journey together to care for the environment as its caretakers, nurture it and a Church so much opened up and more merciful to public sinners since they are all God’s children.

Francis had so much love and respect for prisoners,refugees, immigrants, women, the outcast and people from the periphery.

No wonder, he is the first Pope to wash the feet of women, muslims, prisoners during the washing of feet on Holy Thursday.

One cannot talk about Francis, without talking about his selflessness since his time as a Bishop in Buenos Aires in Argentina. This is a Pope who for the sake of simplicity and selflessness refused to live in the Apostolic Palace and live in Santa Martha: a small guest house for the Vatican and never went for Summer holidays in order to enjoy rest in his Summer Apostolic Palace at Castle Gangolfo.

Francis is said not to have returned to Argentina after his election as Pope, using the simple clothings he brought to Rome as a Cardinal for the conclave. In fact, even as a Pope, He remained a religious by opting for a simple silver ring he used as a Bishop, putting aside the golden fisherman’s ring of the Pope which shows his spiritual bond with the Church as its head and Supreme Pontiff.

Onetime, Francis is said to have sneaked out and walked into his favourite Shop to change his lens and that showed how simple, humble and selfless he was.

Some few months before He was taken ill, apart from the numerous social interventions and public speeches in support of immigrants, He personally donated about Euros 200 million for constructing accommodational facilities for immigrants which is highly laudable.

A GREAT PASTOR OF DEEP SENSE OF HUMILITY, SIMPLICITY, SELFLESSNESS AND PRAYER:

Considering His era, He was a great teacher of the faith and a true Pastor who executed His weekly Catechesis and other pastoral and administrative function with so much dedication and passion even on his sick bed! He sacrificed His whole self for the Church to the point of death.For Francis, “A Shepherd must smell like a sheep”: as a Pastor of the flock, he must identify well with the sheep and their pastoral needs and concern must be his preoccupation since for him, “The Church is a hospital of sinners and not a museum of saints”.

FRANCIS: A PASTOR DURING COVID-19:

During the pandemic and perilous Covid 19, Francis, a Pope of Mercy prayed before the image of Mary, Health of the People/Sick and the relic of the Holy Cross of Christ to interceed for the world for an end to this disease. That was the first time seeing a Pope alone at St Peter’s praying for the whole Church and world due to the lockdown.

It may surprise a lot to know, whiles on admission at the terminal stage of his illness, he would give surprise calls to families and Pastors in places affected by war, earthquakes, etc…like Gaza, Palestine etc…personally to find out how they are recovering the post-war trauma and the natural disasters. Sometimes the Pope would break protocol and give surprise calls to Priest, families and before his admission at the Gemelli Hospital would pay religious Congregation unannounced casual visits.

For me, I was so much struck when he once invited some African political leaders from Sudan to Vatican and by way of appealing to them to end the war and dialogue, Francis bent down to kiss their feet one after the other.
A lot of people were so much moved by this act, not forgetting the numerous international mediations to end wars in Kenya, Congo and other parts of Africa.

MY PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH FRANCIS:

In 2014, as a seminarian studying in Rome, we were selected to go and serve the Pontifical High Mass of the Pope. And having entered the Sacristy of St Peter’s, all and sundry was expecting how the Pope was going to arrive in the Sacristy, whether He was going to be transported by a very magnificent lift or not!.

To our utter dismay, few minutes before time, we saw the old man walk in holding his brown leather bag wearing his silver pectoral Cross and fisherman’s ring and exchanged pleasantries with us all, one after the other, talking with us as if we were His co-equals.

It left me with so much surprise that the Vicar of Christ could be extremely simple, humble and extremely nice and down to earth.

Drawing closer, one realises an atmosphere of spotless holiness all over Him and as soon as He entered the Sacristy, the whole atmosphere changed drastically.
I still remember his nice perfume. It was just a nice and saintly fragrance.

His great devotion to Mother Mary became evident when He would pass by the St Mary Major Basilica in Rome before and after every Apostolic trip.That was the source of his strength.

No wonder in His spiritual testament, He requested that He be buried in that Marian Basilica, showing His deepest devotion and total abandonment in the arms of Our Lady and Mother of the Church.St Pope John Paul II was saved miraculously by Mother Mary on the day of his assassination when the picture of his assassination depicted Mother Mary embracing Him, St John Paul II in her arms. That shows the great devotion to Mary.

A MAN OF RADICAL REFORMS AND SYNODALITY AND AN OPEN CHURCH:

A Canon Law Professor and Consultant to one of the then Congregations is said to have finished a publication on a Canon on sanctions only to wake up the next day to know Pope Francis has revised a chunk number of the Penal Book.

Although, timely and pastorally necessary, the revision was a very radical one which has never happened in the history of the Church like that!.

With the help of the smaller group of Cardinals who advised him,which he brought as novelty, the Vatican Offices which used to be called Congregation was changed into Dicastery, where some Congregations were put
together as one Dicastery, and the Roman Economic Affairs strengthened and stringent measures put in place to avoid all kinds of irregularities.

Francis, in his bid to open up governance and give a listening ear, He appointed for the first time some women religious into top Vatican positions which didn’t necessarily need a Clergy to head.

One is Communication Office of the Vatican, appointing some Religious Sisters as one of the topmost Officials of the Secretary Of State and other lay faithful as Consultants and members of the Synod with votes for the first time,sub secretaries etc…

This has given Rome female representation in the Church governance for the first time as far as the selection of a Bishop is concerned.I mean a pastoral sense of inclusivity in Church governance.For Francis, everyone counts and matters.

I personally think, the man of hope wanted the voice of every faithful of every category to be heard and participation and presence felt when He initiated a Synodal Church: a Church that discerns together, listens to each other, journey in communion and exercise a collaborative ministry as a Church family.

So, by this, Francis tries to bridge the gab between the Clergy and Lay faithful as people belonging to one big Church family and bearing witness to the Gospel with our various charisms and ministries, where the ministries are seen as Service and not something that neither creates division nor hierarchy.

WHO TAKES OVER FROM FRANCIS ?:

After the burial of the Supreme Pontiff, a lot of Catholic commentators have held several opinions the kind of Pope and the continent that is possible to take the Crown! For some, the Church in a time like this, needs a conservative Pope who would come and “reorganize” the latter part of Francis teachings whiles some are of the view of a continuity: a Pope who is a disciple of Francis and by way of loyalty would take up and continue the doctrinal legacies of Francis. And the new Pope is likely to come from either Italy or Asia or Africa, making mention of several names here and there.

Let’s pray and hopefully wait upon the Lord to see the direction for which the Holy Spirit would blow his flame and choose a new successor for His Church that seems to an orphan.
As we wait upon prayerfully, let’s not forget that, God gives to His Church the kind of Pope the Church needs at every particular time!.

Some come as reformers, some as great teachers of the faith and some as Pastors.Sometime too, a blend of all the gifts for the good of the Church.

WHAT DOES FRANCIS PONTIFICATE TEACH US?:

It is an undeniable fact that, Pope Francis is living legend and his Pontificate has touched countless lives, even non-christians.

1.He has taught to live together as brothers and sisters since we profess the same faith, one spiritual and physical leader, one final destination and must put love and mercy at the centre of our christian life as Catholics, getting rid of the divisions and unhealthy competition and power struggle in the Church.

2.For Francis, a christian who is not joyful but looks gloomy and sad always is a contradiction. For to him, a true christian must reflect evidently the joy of the Gospel even in his or her struggles and low moments.

3.Francis has made us understand that, as Catholics, we must not be too closed but open up the promptings of the Holy Spirit and be ready for a change to grow!.
Sometimes the change may cause some kind of discomfort and uneasiness, let’s not be content with our current situation but move with courage with the Holy Spirit and he would help us.

4.Pope Francis has sparked the Church on her missionary drive: a Church that is all out and accessible to every child of God and building the Church, everyone counts and those we taught did not matter at all are the core agents of the mission. What a true mission of inclusivity!.

CONCLUSION:
As the Church bid farewell to Pope Francis, in spite of how “liberal” he was sometimes, talking about his last document which raised so much controversies, it is obvious the Church, especially women, prisoners and immigrants would remember Him greatly for opening up the Church to all and encouraging and appreciating females presence and role almost in all aspect of the Catholic Church.Sometimes was criticized by some Cardinals but the question is, who is more Catholic than the Pope?! MERCY is a sum-up of Francis twelve years of Pontificate as the 266th Pope of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

A Francis who cares for nature, the ecology(Laudato Sì)and invites all of us to care for the environment since we are custodians of it.

Not forgetting cementing the christian fraternity among christians that we are all brothers(used in a philosophical sense including Sisters) so far as we all have one Spiritual Head as our Heavenly Father, Christ.

At the closure of every public delivery,he would fondly conclude by saying: “Brethren!, Please, do not forget to pray for me!”.
“Buon Pranzo”(Have a good lunch!)

By: Rev.Fr Albert Kyei Danso
Chaplain,
(Ghanaian Catholic Community Church, Italy)