"Your Pope"

I don’t know about you, but the day that Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Buenos Aires, Argentina was elected Supreme Pontiff, March 13, 2013, he suddenly became “Your Pope”. My non-Catholic friends and family were truly excited by his election and his first public appearance so they coined this phrase to refer to Pope Francis. At first it felt a bit odd hearing "I think YOUR POPE is awesome!" but when I saw the video of him stepping out on the balcony for the first time as Pope Francis and asking us all to pray for him, my heart swelled and he was absolutely “my Pope”.

As his two year anniversary approaches, I feel even stronger about Pope Francis – he has upheld the dignity AND the humility that should always accompany this sacred position. The mainstream media is pretty clueless about the words that Pope Francis has spoken over these two short years – claiming he is “changing” the Roman Catholic Church and bringing it into the 21^st century. That’s okay. We know that what he is encouraging us to do as part of the Body of Christ is to life our faith, support our faith in all things we do, put aside the false idols of wealth, greed, and selfishness, evangelize, and focus on family. He also has spoken and demonstrated how to live the life of love, compassion for all, and service. He does not flaunt his Papacy – he often makes me forget that he is Pope because he does not seek the limelight, in fact, he often shies away from it; he does not do things to attract attention for himself but for the word of God by showing his love for the poor, challenged, incarcerated, dying, and everyone who might be ignored by others.

Pope Francis does not lecture us on our faults – but admonishes us to admit our faults and ask God’s forgiveness for our sins. Pope Francis is human – just like we are. He was an absolute amazing choice for Pope – hats off to the College of Cardinals for their inspired selection. I think that the reason for his astonishing popularity among Catholic and non-Catholic alike is his humble demeanor, obvious love for ALL people of the Earth, and his outspokenness regarding the atrocities that are occurring all around the world to Christians of every denomination. He is the World’s Pope!

I see this amazing Pope as a great catalyst for evangelization – to non-practicing Catholics and to the secular world. If someone says “Your Pope is changing the face of the Catholic Church”, take it as an opportunity to exclaim “He is changing the World!” and further discuss his beautiful words and actions as well as the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Don’t be overzealous but be animated, genuinely excited, and loving with your discussion. It is a good time to be a Catholic! Don’t keep it to yourself. Share it with the world.