Spirit

What was in the Pope’s bag?

And so what was really inside the Pope’s bag? Pope Francis didn’t pull out rabbits. But he spoke similarly of greedy pigs, of excesses and dark places. Of beggars and weeping, the misshapen, the orphaned, the homeless and how we are compelled to see them instead of shuttling them to luxury resorts and keeping them out of sight. The Pope did not keep holy relics we could touch and make us whole. And he didn’t quite fancy the limelight. Or that we take our relics home and so be doubly blessed. Quite the opposite, he begged: bring the sacred out of our altars and resting places; carry the light to the fringes, the periphery, and those hidden from view; and on our own, touch others and make them whole.