Come, All Ye Hopeful

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.” That is how a famous prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi starts; the very saint that Pope Francis took his name from, a saint known for his philanthropy and love of nature. As though a reflection of Saint Francis, the Pope, in his inaugural address, said “let us be ‘protectors’ of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.”

For his first official act as pontiff, he asked the masses to pray for him, instead of blessing them as is traditionally done. He refuses to use the chauffeured limo and takes public transport, lives in a small private apartment instead of the papal apartments, flies coach and cooks his own meals. When elected, he refused to be elevated on a platform at the time of his appointment, insisting “I’ll stay down here” with the rest of the cardinals.

This humble attitude, and the fact that his first true love turned him down at age 12, are the reasons Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (as he was known before) is the first Latin American and first Jesuit to be elected Pope. “Here’s this Pope known for his care for AIDS patients and people who are very sick. Who is known for his concern with single mothers whose babies were refused to be baptized by priests in his diocese. He scolded those priests last year and said, ‘How can you turn these people away when they belong to us?’” said the Rev. Thomas Rosica, the Vatican’s deputy spokesman.

Pope Francis does not believe same-sex marriage should be sanctioned by the church, but acknowledges that homosexuality has always existed and that “[r]eligion has no right to interfere in one’s private life.” He disagrees with abortion because it is “to kill someone who cannot defend himself”. However, in his days as cardinal, Pope Francis clashed with the Argentine government over its opposition to gay marriage and free distribution of contraceptives. As recently as Holy Thursday, he raised a little concern by including women (one of whom was a Muslim) as well as men from a juvenile prison in Rome, breaking from tradition of washing the feet of those of the same gender.

A lot of hope is pinned on Pope Francis, hopes of a more “liberal” Church, one more people find easier to ascribe to. Pope Francis insists that believers not fear change. Change is what is required in an age where more people ascribe to no religious affiliation at all, only spurred on by the array of sex abuse scandals that have shrouded the Church. An attitude much like Pope John XXIII‘s is required (to whom Pope Francis is often compared), who publicly scolded bishops who despised modern times, calling them “prophets of gloom.”

In his address at Easter, Pope Francis says: “And so we ask the risen Jesus, who turns death into life, to change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace.” Quite reminiscent of the second line from Saint Francis’ prayer: “Where there is hatred, let me sow love.”  

When speaking to a group of my friends, born Christian and now agnostic, I found they didn’t hate religion, but the way it was professed — the way the church had thus far excluded some of them and their peers and cast a shadow of judgment on their private actions. In his unconventional start, Pope Francis provides a hope of a more welcoming approach to religion for such people, if only to allow more to find home in a place from where they are currently removed, but still feel an old affiliation with.