What can we learn from the life and example of Pope Francis?
By George Makeen, SAT-7 Ministry Content Advisor
SAT-7’s George Makeen reflects on Pope Francis’ legacy of communicating Christian teaching to those beyond the Church, and how we all need to reject labelling and stereotypes in order to connect with those who are different from us.
the danger of labels
Labelling people in narrow and restrictive ways is usually condemned as immature or even harmful, but most of us are guilty of doing this more often than perhaps we realise.
In an age of information overload, the human brain needs a tool to help us process it all, to enable us to understand how to relate to someone we don’t know, and thus comes labelling: a way to quickly identify, categorise and approach a stranger, and act accordingly.
Unless our critical thinking is engaged, and we make the effort to listen to the person and embrace the truth with which they wish to be identified, it is extremely difficult to get rid of our assumptions, especially those being reinforced by social media algorithms designed to confirm what we already think.
‘encouraged by his life and example’
I am one of those who was encouraged by the life and example of Pope Francis. As a Christian living in the Middle East, I valued his calls for peace and ending of wars. I was uplifted by the way he prayed for Christians living in the region and reminded the world of their challenges. And I felt proud that the head of the Catholic Church was bringing a strong and balanced Christian voice into the existential matters facing humanity, such as environmental challenges and caring for God’s creation.
Pope francis legacy through SAT-7
For SAT-7, the late Pope’s character and words were a great inspiration, showing how the Gospel can be related to daily life challenges. Through our broadcasts of some of his words and coverage of his visits, especially to the Middle East, we were able to encourage our Christian viewers and show our Muslim neighbours an example of a man who lived his faith.
His example supported SAT-7’s ministry of being a voice for the Christians of the region and correcting some of the prejudices and labels unfairly directed against them.
The late Pope himself was also subjected to prejudice and labelling. While many saw him as a humble figure, standing for the poor and vulnerable, and a revolutionary urging the Church to show mercy towards those stigmatised as unworthy, others saw in these same words and actions a loose commitment to the truth, a form of daubing honey with poison. Opinions on the Pope were sometimes extreme on both sides, but I believe such polarised perspectives are labels produced by our fears or impatience to understand and appreciate where people are coming from.
As believers, we are called not to rush to judge (or label), so my prayer for the global Church is to ask the challenging questions of what we can learn from the life and example of Pope Francis. How is the message of the Gospel best communicated to non-believers and how is it relevant to today’s challenges and big questions?
And my prayer for the Catholic Church as it chooses its next leader is for God’s wisdom, so that the new Pope will be the right choice in a world that pursues power and pride when, as Jesus taught, a true leader is the one who serves their followers.
SAT-7 will be covering the conclave, which starts on Wednesday 7 May, in which 133 cardinals will choose a new pope. The funeral of Pope Francis was also broadcast on SAT-7, and several programs have been paying tribute to his life and legacy.
