Not only this one.
Not only this one.
Rome — I was here eleven years ago today, I remember. A pope from Latin America was elected. Everyone was surprised.
The most important part might have been the fact that Pope Francis was being inaugurated on Saint Joseph’s Day. I can’t promise any miracles, but Pope Francis has heralded Pope John Paul II as the “pope of the family,” and there is clearly something to that. He has emphasized the heroism that is family life and that we should forever be heralding. Families need miracles. They do the most important work there is.
I’ve been staying at the North American Pontifical College here. The seminarians have a love for the pope and want to teach the treasures of the Church to all who are open. Pulitzer Prize winner Peggy Noonan spoke here just before Holy Week. She downloaded wisdom she had gathered from having worked as a presidential speechwriter and journalist. But there was so much more. She loves God. And works in the public square trying to serve Him. Most of the seminarians and priests she talked to are going to have their challenges reaching people, and her talk helped them think about pastoral realities from the pew — and the experience of someone who has done a fair bit of listening, which is one of the tremendous gifts that Peggy Noonan has.
As we approach Easter, are we thinking about our encounters with others?
In recent weeks, there have been controversies about the new Cabrini movie and The Chosen series. I am a fan of both because they both bring people to Jesus. That’s something we need in our secular culture, and anything that helps should be emphasized.
Pope Paul VI said that Saint Joseph expressed his fatherhood “by making his life a sacrificial service to the mystery of the incarnation and its redemptive purpose.” “He employed his legal authority over the Holy Family to devote himself completely to them in his life and work. He turned his human vocation to domestic love into a superhuman oblation of himself, his heart and all his abilities, a love placed at the service of the Messiah who was growing to maturity in his home.”
Fathers are amazing. We don’t always say that, but we should.
As I talked with some of the seminarians in Rome — who are willing to give up natural fatherhood in service to the Church — they were grateful to hear from a woman and a mother and someone who has heard a few homilies. What do people need to hear? What is in people’s hearts? They were grateful to hear that people need to hear the basics. In life and politics, we tend to complicate things. Just talk about God. Just talk about love. Just talk about the Gospel. That’s complicated enough.
A few years ago, I talked with a secular Ivy League sociologist who was impressed with Pope Francis. He wondered why more Christians didn’t spend time talking about the beatitudes, which the pope seemed to be showing to the world. That’s an important challenge. These things can’t simply be pious thoughts but must be real works. One of the powerful things Pope Francis writes about is how Saint Joseph’s fatherhood is no less than that of a biological father. Love is what matters and makes the difference.
I left the country as Vice President Kamala Harris was visiting an abortion clinic. This was a first for a president or vice president. There was something especially jarring about a woman doing so. And yet we, at the same time, can think of Saint Joseph and his protection of Mary and the Holy Family. I think of the young men I have met here who come from families whose parents love one another. They want to care for people. They want to serve. They love God and see Him in His people.
There are no perks in being a priest in the Catholic Church today. So many of the young men I’ve talked with in recent days just want to care for people, knowing how difficult life can be. That’s not about ideology or controversy. The vast majority of the seminarians from the North American Pontifical College simply care for souls and want to remove obstacles to ministering to them. They don’t think they are anything special. But they know God can work miracles in lives and they want to be vessels, if He wills, for whatever He wills. As I look down on the Vatican from the roof of the college, I think about the fact that we spend a lot of time covering and arguing about politics in the U.S. and even in the Church. But we’re called to something more.
I may be crazy, but I cried once I went down the hill and prayed at the bones of Saint Peter, at Saint Peter’s Basilica. I prayed for the first time at the tomb of Pope Benedict — someone I had the blessing of meeting, and in whose gaze I saw God the Father’s love.
I prayed for you, everyone who ever reads my column. And I ask you: These young men Noonan spoke to, who want to be humble and serve, would you please pray for them? Could we possibly pray for one another? This isn’t always the stuff of op-eds, but isn’t it what’s most important?
This column is based on one available through Andrews McMeel Universal’s Newspaper Enterprise Association.