Leadership
On Life
On Life in the Twenty-first Century
On Listening
On Love
On Lying
On Marriage
On Maturity
On the Media
On Mediocrity
On Memory
On Mercy
On His Mission as Pope
On the Mistreatment of Children
On Money
On Morals
On His Mother’s Reaction When He Joined the Priesthood
On Neoliberalism
On Parenting
On Parties and Partying
On the Past
On Paedophile Priests
On Pessimism
On Politics
On Politicians
On Pope Benedict XVI
On Possibilities
On Poverty
On Power
On Prayer
On the Priesthood
On Priests Who Stray
On Prison Visits
On Public Transportation
On Our Relationship with God
On the Relationship between Church and State
On Relativism
On Religious Diversity
On Religious Experiences
On Religious Life
On Religious Vocations
On Responsibility
On the Role of Pope
On the Roman Curia
On Rome
On Salvation
On Scandals in the Church
On Schools
On Sectarianism
On Service
On Shunning a Limo After Becoming Pope
On Silence
On Sin
On Social Justice
On Social Media
On Spiritual Worldliness
On Statistics
On Suffering
On Suicide
On Tango
On Teachers
On Technology
On Television
On Time
On Truth
On Uncertainty
On Unity
On Vanity
On the Vatican and Money
On the Virgin Mary
On Virtual Reality
On Vulnerability
On Waiting
On Washing the Feet of AIDS Patients
On Wealth Inequity
On What He Says When Saying Goodbye
On What He’ll Do as Pope
On What the Catholic Church Owes Its Parishioners
On Why It Took Him Four Years to Start Seminary After Deciding to Join the Priesthood
On Women
On the Word of God
On Work
Timeline
Citations
About the Publisher
INTRODUCTION
‘I’ll just go with the guys on the bus.’
What the newly-elected Pope told his limo driver and security driver after his initial introduction to crowds in Rome
With the election of Argentina’s Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new Pope of the Catholic Church in March 2013, attention has turned worldwide not only towards what he will do as Pope but how he has lived – and preached – in the past. So far, it’s very clear that compared to other Popes, he has led a humble and unconventional life. For instance, as a cardinal, instead of asking to be addressed as ‘Your Eminence’, he preferred to simply be called ‘Father Jorge’.
Some of the first photos to be published after he was introduced to happy throngs of worshippers in St Peter’s Square reveal that humility and the desire to serve the poor is deep in his blood. One in particular showed him kneeling to wash the feet of a woman, while other news reports had him performing the same service for AIDS patients. It’s hard to imagine his predecessor at the Vatican doing likewise.
It’s clear that his humility and desire to meet with the people on their level – whether they’re Catholics or not – has already won him huge numbers of fans. He cracks jokes, doesn’t hesitate to challenge his country’s leaders on their inequities, and pushes away chauffeurs and luxury transport in order to press the flesh with commoners. And numerous news stories have shown that he offers great compassion towards those who have long been ostracized by churches of all stripes.
At
