Pope Francis's signature moment

Catholic Herald, 02 April 2020

Pope Francis was holding up the entire Church in prayer, blessing the city and the world.

The pandemic Urbi et Orbi was a signal moment – perhaps the signature moment – in the pontificate of Pope Francis. Before last Friday evening, in the judgment of every news editor, every summary of the pontificate and every obituary would have begun with the “Who am I to judge?” airborne press conference.

After that dark and rainy prayer in an empty St Peter’s Square, that judgement will be revisited. The old Pope – at 83 walking with difficulty, breathing heavily, struggling to carry the monstrance erect – was holding up the entire Church in prayer, blessing the city and the world. It was actually the first time that Pope Francis seemed old. And his efforts were thus all the more inspiring. No one who saw it could remain unmoved.

The extraordinary Urbi et Orbi also revealed the identity of Francis more than any other public appearance. The Holy Father is many things, but not in the first place a pastor, a theologian or even a teacher. At heart, he is a demanding spiritual director in the tradition of St Ignatius. And in this time of crisis, he opened his heart as a spiritual father and offered sharp words of challenge.

This was not 1978, when St Paul VI, the lonely prophet, appeared after the murder of his friend, former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, delivering a lament of biblical power: “And who can listen to our lament, if not you, O God of life and death? You did not hearken to our supplication for the safety of Aldo Moro.” Never before had such a thing been seen: the pope, full of faith, nevertheless saying that God did not listen to his prayer.

This was not later in that same year, when St John Paul II, the courageous pastor of an oppressed flock, the first pope from a “far country” in more than 400 years, bent history to divine purposes. To the enslaved nations of the evil empire he announced a cry of liberation: Be not afraid!

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