Pope Francis: A man who cared deeply about our environment
Remembering the day I was assigned to cover Pope Francis in Philadelphia
I remember a few years ago while I was walking downtown, a car pulled up alongside me and several people inside shouted out, "We love your Pope."
They were talking about Pope Francis.
They pulled over and we had a short chat. They didn't share my Catholic faith, but they did share a fondness for Pope Francis, whose humility and common touch earned him respect and praise from people all over the world, those of different faiths and those who had no religious beliefs at all.
Several years into his pontificate, in May of 2015, he published an encyclical titled "Laudato SÃ" subtitled "On care for Our Common Home."
At that moment, I suppose, he became known as the "Environmental Pope," as he quoted the Saint whose name he chose as his own, Francis of Assisi.
Wrote Pope Francis, "I do not want to write this Encyclical without turning to that attractive and compelling figure, whose name I took as my guide and inspiration when I was elected Bishop of Rome. I believe that Saint Francis is the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically. He is the patron saint of all who study and work in the area of ecology, and he is also much loved by non-Christians.
"He was particularly concerned for God’s creation and for the poor and outcast. He loved, and was deeply loved for his joy, his generous self-giving, his open-heartedness. He was a mystic and a pilgrim who lived with simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself. He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society and interior peace."
St. Francis, it should be noted, died on October 3, 1226, nearly 900 years ago. He appears to have been a bit ahead of his time.
Adds Pope Francis in Laudato SÃ, "Francis helps us to see that an integral ecology calls for openness to categories which transcend the language of mathematics and biology, and take us to the heart of what it is to be human. Just as happens when we fall in love with someone, whenever he would gaze at the sun, the moon or the smallest of animals, he burst into song, drawing all other creatures into his praise. He communed with all creation, even preaching to the flowers, inviting them 'to praise the Lord, just as if they were endowed with reason.' "
Okay, I love Pope Francis and St. Francis and I have a deep love of flowers, even dandelions, but I'm drawing the line at actually preaching to them. Maybe that's why he's Saint Francis and I'm just plain old Bob.
Laudato SÃ runs to 142 pages, each one more compelling than the last, as the Pope lays out what is happening on earth and the effect it has on the most vulnerable among us.
"Climate change," he goes on, "is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods. It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day. Its worst impact will probably be felt by developing countries in coming decades. Many of the poor live in areas particularly affected by phenomena related to warming, and their means of subsistence are largely dependent on natural reserves and ecosystemic services such as agriculture, fishing and forestry.
"They have no other financial activities or resources which can enable them to adapt to climate change or to face natural disasters, and their access to social services and protection is very limited. For example, changes in climate, to which animals and plants cannot adapt, lead them to migrate; this in turn affects the livelihood of the poor, who are then forced to leave their homes, with great uncertainty for their future and that of their children.
"There has been a tragic rise in the number of migrants seeking to flee from the growing poverty caused by environmental degradation. They are not recognized by international conventions as refugees; they bear the loss of the lives they have left behind, without enjoying any legal protection whatsoever. Sadly, there is widespread indifference to such suffering, which is even now taking place throughout our world. Our lack of response to these tragedies involving our brothers and sisters points to the loss of that sense of responsibility for our fellow men and women upon which all civil society is founded."
Ten years ago Pope Francis paid a visit to the United States, visiting Washington, D.C. and addressing a joint session of Congress. He then headed to New York City and celebrated Mass in Madison Square Garden.
He finished his tour in Philadelphia, where he celebrated an outdoor Mass for over a million people on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
A month or so before Pope Francis' arrival on American soil, I received a call from the program director of the Catholic Channel, part of Sirius XM Satellite Radio that is headquartered in New York City.
Would I be willing to help cover the portion of the Pope's tour that involved New York and Philadelphia, sometimes on the air in studio and other times out in the field covering one of his many live events?
I couldn't say "yes" fast enough.
Upon arriving at press headquarters in downtown Philadelphia to grab my credential, I was greeted by a life-size cutout of Pope Francis right next to the table set up for journalists with a last name beginning with the letters A through D.
The kind person assigned to my line gladly snapped a photo of me with the Paper Pontiff, which I promptly sent home.
In no time at all I was besieged with emails from family and friends wondering how it was that I got to meet the Pope in person and asking if he was able to talk with me in English.
I have never owned up to the fact that this was actually a Fake Francis, but I did mention it in Confession on Christmas Eve, so all is forgiven.
In Philadelphia, among other assignments, I was sent to cover the closing outdoor Mass, where broadcasters from around the globe were assigned to a set of makeshift bleachers a dozen or so yards from the altar where the Pope would be.
Because we were to be so close, we first had to go through a body search that would put your average TSA agent to shame. This included weapon-sniffing dogs that searched every inch of our humanity. This all took place at press headquarters at a convention center downtown, a short ride from the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
After getting the all-clear from the authorities, we were loaded onto a large bus complete with a number of bishops and cardinals who had made their way to Philadelphia for this Catholic Super Bowl. This was an hour or so before the Pope was scheduled to travel down the same route as we did.
I think it must have been the massive police escort on all sides of our bus that fooled much of the crowd - which had been camped out for several days - into thinking that the Pope himself was on our bus.
"Papa, Papa," they screamed in jubilation as we rolled slowly by.
Because I had a window seat, I waved wildly back at them and I know my photo was snapped hundreds of times during that short ride to our spot in the bleachers.
I mean, if they thought I was the Pope and they had something to tell the grandchildren, so be it. I would have offered them my blessing, but I don't think I'm authorized to do that and I didn't want God to wonder what on earth was going on.
Because our radio "booth" was located at the very top of the bleachers, we had a 360-degree view of all that was happening, including the excited crowd and the narrow route Pope Francis would be taking to the beautifully decorated outdoor altar.
It was a stunning late September afternoon as we finally spotted the Popemobile snaking ever so slowly along the parade route. Every 15 seconds or so, it seemed, the Pope would raise his arm as if to say "halt" in Italian sign language and he would bound onto the street and into the crowd to kiss a baby that had caught his eye and chat at length with the baby's parents.
This happened over and over and over again until we began to think that Mass might not ever begin.
I will not lie and say that the Pope mentioned me by name in his homily. Or that I received Holy Communion directly from his hand.
I was just one pilgrim in a million who was happy to be at this very spot at this very moment in the City of Brotherly Love.
Well done, good and faithful servant.
Reach me at bobdunning@thewaryone.com
During the wondrous early weeks of the Franciscan papacy, I often worried that the Pope could not possibly be as amazing as he seemed. A dozen years later, I realize I need never have doubted. Now the case is, sadly, closed. Francis was a gift to humanity.
Great story, Bob. Francis was much loved around the world for his humanity and his embrace of issues that are dear to most of the public. Conservative Catholics had much to say about his day to day leadership in Rome, his liturgical unorthodoxy, and his loosening of official attitudes about the LGBTQ commuinity. However, I'm reminded of what the great Maria Callas said when told that "some people don't like her voice." Her response: "the hell with them". The hell with Francis' critics; he had his own voice that was admired by the public. He was a man for the ages. and he will surely be remembered like his namesake, with reverence, respect, and love.