Pope Francis chose his name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi because he is a lover of the poor. Before he was Pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina, often preferred public transport.
While his predecessors used luxury vehicles, a BMW X5, Pope Francis prefers an eight-year-old Ford Focus when moving around the Vatican. Pope Francis wears a silver ring, not the gold one worn by Pope Benedict. His crucifix is silver. Not gold. He wears black shoes, not the handmade papal kangaroo red leather shoes symbolizing the blood of Christian martyrs. Indeed, the shoes he wore on his way to being Pope were so worn out, friends volunteered to buy him a new pair. That is why it hurts him when he sees a priest or nun with the latest model car. Pope Francis also turned down the offer to live in papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace for a suite in the Vatican guesthouse where he has his meals in the common dining room downstairs. He is the first Pope in 110 years not to live in the papal apartments. In the guesthouse where he lives, each suite has a sitting room with a desk, three chairs, a cabinet and large closet; a bedroom with a dresser, night table and clothes stand; and a private bathroom with a shower. To prove how deep it hurts him to see a clergy and religious men and women live in luxuries,
Pope Francis suspended a German cleric dubbed the “bling bishop”. The pope deems it appropriate to authorize a period of leave from the diocese for Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst. A situation has been created in which the bishop can no longer exercise his episcopal duties. The bishop’s private quarters in a new diocesan building are reported to have cost some $3.9 million and included a 678-square-foot dining room and a $20,600 bathtub -using the revenue from a religious tax in Germany. Pope Francis has made several gestures signaling a more humble style since coming to office in March and has condemned big-spending clerics. He has repeatedly called for the Catholic Church and it’s faithful to rid themselves of earthly concerns in the manner of his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, warning that “worldliness is a murderer because it kills souls, kills people, and kills the church.”
By Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko