Reexamining Pope Francis' "Who am I to judge?"

This is a big week for the Catholic Church in the United States with Pope Francis' visit! Even though he'll be hundreds of miles from my home in Texas, the excitement is hard to contain, especially as I see friends of mine in Washington DC, New York City, and Philadelphia share their excitement and plans for which papal events they plan to attend.

But unfortunately, along with the excitement of the Pope's visit comes a rush of secular media coverage, which many Catholics agree has been incomplete at best and deceptive and even completely false at worst. Right leaning commentators will attempt to downplay or ignore anything the Pope says about caring for the environment and the poor, while those leaning to the left will ignore comments on abortion and marriage while quoting over and over again Pope Francis' "Who am I to judge?" line, spinning it to demonstrate an acceptance of sins that the Church clearly condemns.

We've all heard that quote thrown around and if you're like me you're probably getting sick of the quote being used to downplay the gravity of sin, particularly sexual sins. But I wonder if there's more to that famous quote than many of us have noticed.

We tend to focus on the word judge. It often gets associated with Jesus' "Do not judge, or you too will be judged." (Matt 7:1) But what if the word that Pope Francis had on his mind when he uttered those now famous words wasn't judge, but I?

Who am I, the sinner that I am, to judge? When asked "Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?" in one of his earliest interviews with America Magazine, Pope Francis replied:

"I do not know what might be the most fitting description.... I am a sinner. This is the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.”

Pope Francis has been called the "Pope of Mercy" because he understands just how much he needs mercy himself. He frequently focuses on the forgiveness of God because he is so grateful to have received it himself. He warns of the effects of sin because he has seen them in his own life and in the lives of those he has pastored during his lengthy priesthood.

That recognition of imperfection is a lesson we need to hear and take to heart while the Pope visits our country. I'm willing to bet now that most of the commentaries on the Pope's messages will include the line "I really liked what he said about x, but he has no idea what he's talking about when it comes to y." We don't like being told that our existing ideas about something could be wrong. That we may be mistaken. That there is something about us that could be off from God's plan and hope for your lives.

I pray that as Pope Francis visits our country this week we may follow Pope Francis' lead in recognizing our own shortcomings and be open to hearing about how we may need to change, rather than focusing on judging those around us who may also need to change just as much as we do.

Jesus said it best when he taught: "How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." (Luke 6:42)

I'm hoping that during his trip to the United States people will look closely at what he is calling them to work on rather than only focusing on what he is calling their opponents to work on. I think he'll have a lot of things to say that will make people on the left and right, who identify as religious and secular and everywhere in between, uncomfortable. It's up to each of us to be open to responding to those challenges and changing ourselves, which becomes harder and harder to do the more time and energy we waste looking at what's wrong with everyone else and what the Pope is saying to those we disagree with.