Having been a Baptist for most of my life, I haven’t paid a lot of attention to the Popes. About the closest I ever got to a real interest was a prolonged discussion of Papal Infallibility I had with a professor at Spring Hill College when we lived in Mobile. It was a civil discussion, lubricated by several bottles of beer, that really didn’t change anybody’s opinion. He subscribed. I didn’t. After that, I still didn’t pay much attention to what the Pope said or did.

That is, until Pope Francis came along. He seems to transcend denominationalism and let us stare into what Christianity is really about. In a news clip I saw last week the Pope left the pope mobile and walked over to what appeared to be a severely disabled child. He held the child’s face and gently kissed his forehead.

If you do it to the least of these…

There are people popping up on the op-ed pages who don’t seem to be as impressed with Pope Francis as I am. One Conservative columnist called him the Pope of the left. George Will, who used to impress me, criticized the Pope’s comments on climate change. The only really thoughtful piece on the Pope that I’ve read from the Right was from a Catholic lawyer who pointed out that Pope Francis has not changed the Church’s core beliefs. The Church is still opposed to abortion, to divorce, and to any number of other things that society seems to accept.

However, I believe that Pope Francis has taken giant steps in reordering the Church’s priorities—or at least its public focus.

Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself…

I find it sad that we live in a time when basic Christian values are politicized. His statements about feeding the hungry, about income inequality, and about what we are doing to our planet have drawn fire. It seems that he doesn’t embrace capitalism sufficiently for some. They would prefer that he be regal, distant, and uninvolved.

Go, sell everything that you have and give it to the poor…

I wonder if it’s possible that Pope Francis, in whatever time he has in the spotlight of the Papacy, can create a lasting change in how we Christians see Christianity. We’ve had social theology, which was essentially a rebellion of the powerless, and we’ve had Conservative rigidity, which seems more intent on defining who cannot be Christian than dealing with the pain of those who might be. We’ve had the feel-good theology that tells us that God loves us, but doesn’t really require a lot from us. And we’ve had those who call themselves Christians, but probably couldn’t prove it.

I don’t know that any of the above are the majority of any group of Christians—right, left, Protestant, Catholic, liturgical or evangelical—but I do know that these are the images that the world sees. And these are the images that cause others to question our witness.

Until we see someone like Pope Francis. No red shoes. No papal palace. An old, obviously tired man, summoning another smile, another touch for those who need a smile and a touch. A man who chooses to eat with the homeless rather than the mighty. A man who stands with presidents and beggars and seems not to be overly impressed with one or to disdain the other.

The clip that stuck with me most vividly was when the Pope greeted a group of children. They were wearing school uniforms, probably from one of the Catholic schools. He smiled and chatted for a moment. Then he said something to the children and walked away. 

The reporter asked one of the children what the Pope had said as he was leaving. 

“He said, pray for me.”

It made me, Baptist that am, want to have the spirit of Pope Francis.