Letter to the Editor: When the pope speaks, listen

By: Nicole Schoenberger – Junior, Communication

“It is a well-known fact that current levels of production are sufficient, yet millions of people are still suffering and dying of starvation. This, dear friends is truly scandalous.

A way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table, but above all to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness and respect for every human being.” – Pope Francis.

Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, Rolling Stone’s cover star, and humble spiritual leader to more than 1.2 billion Catholics around the world – Pope Francis has become a progressive reformer in his project to rediscover the Ten Commandments.

Pope Francis, 76-year-old Jesuit Archbishop of Buenos Aires has become a worldwide symbol for love, equality and acceptance for all as he urges the doors of opportunity be open to everyone.

The son of Italian immigrants, Pope Francis has surprisingly been the first religious leader to openly include homosexuals and atheists as a part of his mission.

He has become the direct embodiment of Jesus, speaking of social justice in a way that includes all people, focusing the attention back to poverty (as Jesus always did) and often repeats the phrase, “my people are poor and I am one of them.”

Having grown up with Christianity on one side of the parental spectrum and Atheism on the other, I find my opinion often jaded by the continued coverage of repressive fundamentalist groups protesting the rights of humans. Therefore, my ability to accept organized religion had grown pessimistic and agnostic.

However, Pope Francis is not a power broker because of how humble he is and that has ironically given him rock star status, and he has a position of love as opposed to control.

He has captivated spiritual wanders and religious cynics like myself in his simple, yet influential message that acknowledges that the Church has become unduly focused on abortion and homosexuality and wishes to center his message back to the root of Catholicism embedded in human morality, kindness, service and concentrated values.
When the Pope speaks, the world listens.