JOHNSON KOTTARAM
I’m not much of a religious person, but Pope Francis is one person I respect for his uncompromising stand on behalf of the poor & the dispossessed and against tyranny of any sort, be it of wealth or ideology!
I’m forwarding here a piece written by one of my friends on the Pope:
“The Shepherd Who Walked Among Us”
Pope Francis is seriously ill with pneumonia in the hospital. His age & the nature of his illness are no indication of a quick recovery.
I feel a special affection for this Pope, unlike any other.
I’ve read most of his letters and documents and followed all his interviews available to the public. He’s indeed someone whose integrity and courage were formidable fortresses for his detractors.
The world will remember him not as a man adorned in golden robes nor as a distant figure enthroned above the faithful but as a shepherd who walked among his sheep, a voice of warmth and conviction in a Church often weighed down by the solemn echoes of tradition.
Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is not merely Peter’s 266th successor; he’s a man who dared to dream beyond the walls of Vatican corridors and sought to breathe new life into an institution burdened by the weight of its own history.
From the moment he stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, his choice of name–Francis–spoke volumes.
He invoked the spirit of the Saint of Assisi, that lover of all creation who found God in the whispers of the wind, the songs of the birds, and the suffering of the poor.
In his namesake, Pope Francis saw a mission: to bring tenderness where there was rigidity, simplicity where there was ostentation & above all, mercy where there was judgment.
He was a Pope of firsts—the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, and the first to take the name of ‘the little poor one’ of Assisi.
But beyond these historical markers, he was the first in a generation to challenge the entrenched norms of a Church often slow to embrace the pulse of humanity’s evolution.
He walked the slums, embraced the outcasts, and spoke of God’s love not as a fortress to be defended but as a river meant to flow freely, embracing all in its course.
His pontificate was marked by a deep commitment to issues that transcended the walls of the Vatican: climate change, economic inequality, migration, and the dignity of every human life.
His encyclical, Laudato Si’, is not merely a letter to the Church but a call to the world, pleading for stewardship of the planet and respect for our common home.
His voice against xenophobia, the dehumanization of refugees & the harsh moralism that often reduced faith to a rule book made him a beacon of hope to many, even as he became a source of contention for those who clung to the past.
He sought to show that the essence of Christianity is not in rigid dogma but in radical compassion.
He envisioned the Church not as a grand fortress of unyielding laws but as a field hospital—a place of healing for the wounded, a refuge for the broken, and a sanctuary for the lost.
He embraced those whom others deemed unworthy. He knelt to wash the feet of prisoners, Muslims & women alike, shattering the barriers of centuries-old exclusion.
He did not redefine doctrine but redefined approachability, opening doors where others saw only walls.
Yet, his journey was not without resistance. He was met with opposition from within by those who viewed his openness as a dilution of tradition and his compassion as compromise. The shadow of Cardinal Burke and others loomed over his pontificate, yet he pressed on, his gaze fixed not on the voices of dissent but on the faces of those whom the Church had too long neglected.
Now, at 88, his body succumbs to the weight of time, to the frailties that no Pope, no matter how revolutionary, can escape. But if there’s one truth that history will affirm, it’s that Pope Francis is not a man who lived for the pomp of the papacy nor the grandeur of its throne.
He’s a man who lived to remind us that the Gospel is not a relic but a call to action, that faith is not a museum piece but a living, breathing force meant to touch the brokenhearted.
If aliens were to come to our planet and look for a sample from the human species to represent all that’s good in humanity, Pope Francis would be the right representative of our human race.
He may have been the only person who truly spoke for the good angels of our nature.
In an age of cynicism, division, and ideological warfare, he reminded us of our shared humanity, of our common yearning for dignity, and of the power of mercy to transform hearts.
I feel that if the Pope could say with ease, he would’ve said that he doesn’t believe in the God these church fathers & tradition have imposed on the faithful.
As he prepares to return to the One whose mercy he so often preached, we do not say goodbye with sorrow alone but with gratitude—gratitude for the bridges he built, the burdens he carried, and the love he rekindled in the hearts of those who had long felt abandoned by the Church.
Your voice may fade from the earthly realm, but your legacy will echo through the corridors of time, calling the Church ever forward toward love, justice, and Christ.
Thank you, Pope Francis, for walking among us as a shepherd, not a ruler.
Your journey on this earth may end, but the light you kindled will burn on.