On Sunday night, September 22, 2013, after winning an Emmy Award, Tina Fey used her acceptance speech backstage to thank the Pope. She started the speech by thanking her husband and the children of her “30 Rock” staff. Then, she thanked Pope Francis for “being cool about some stuff”.
Fey joined a chorus of praises and accolades that started immediately after the Holy Father’s election. I have been part of that chorus. I enjoy reading all of Pope Francis’ comments and homilies. I specially appreciated his latest interview. As a Jesuit, I can certainly related to what he writes. I like his honesty and thoughtfulness. I am fond of his observations about the importance of discernment, ministering and tending to the whole person, and the value of a personal relationship with Jesus. I know the world is hungry for deeper spirituality. He is feeding by pointing us to the “words of eternal life.”
It would be an understatement to say that I like Pope Francis. Yet, I am growing a bit jaded with the way everyone is fawning over every one of his comments. He is charming, youthful and unafraid to say things the way he sees them. I know people like these and other qualities. I understand why people are so taken with him. After all the commentary and analysis of his interviews and homilies, we know nothing is changing in terms of matter of the message. Pope Francis continues to preach Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen, the One who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
The renewed interest in the words of a pope, at least from the angle of the secular world and media, indicates that something has changed. Very likely, it is the form that changed. It changed not only because there is a new Vicar of Christ. The form changed because the new medium has a unique way of proclaiming the Gospel. I have said before that there is a complementarity between Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. They both want to quench people’s thirst for Christ, but they differ in the way they do it. Benedict is like a deep well. Francis is more like a Super Soaker Water Gun.
Benedict is a theologian, a professor, a writer. He crafts deep and powerful sentences that convey the beauty of our faith. He invites us to reflect, to pray and to accept the life Jesus offers us. The issue is that for a great majority of us his elegant and profound teaching goes way over our heads.
Francis is more pastoral. He proclaims the Gospel with his simplicity and smile. As James Martin, SJ, commented after the Pope’s trip to Rio for World Youth Day, “the Pope is a rarity: he is a truly free person.” This freedom is the stage on which Pope Francis engages in conversation and invites us to reflect. People are attracted to the simplicity of his language. He speaks in a way that is accessible to everyone. When we engage the world and proclaim the Gospel, we should use language that is accessible to middle schoolers. Pope Francis succeeds at this. He makes the Gospel relevant and evident.
At the end of the day, that is what truly matters. As a Vicar of Christ, Pope Francis is called to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world. He understands that he can only do this if he uses language and actions that are accessible to all peoples. Throughout the last six months, Pope Francis has been teaching us how to be disciples. He is also teaching us how to be evangelists. We need to pain attention. Only, we should not get fixated with the messenger, as cool as he is. Instead, we ought to concentrate on and contemplate the message.