The Pope and Jesus

The news this past week has been dominated by the visit of Pope Benedict.  It has been quite interesting to see all the pomp and circumstance.  My first instinct was to be repelled by all this lavishness, but then something else occurred to me.  I let my bias against religion blind me from the fact that this pope does good in the world.  I sometimes get carried away with myself and start to think that religious people especially religious leaders can be narrowly defined.  The truth of the matter is they cannot.  

The Pope (I have to admit I'd rather call him by his first or sir name) has been reaching out to leaders of other major religions and calling for peace and unity....that is always a good thing.  The Pope has reached out in a big way to all the victims of sexual abuse at the hands of priests...and that is good.  I'm no expert on Papal affairs, but I'm sure there are plenty of things he did that are quite noteworthy....However

When I was watching the Pope give a mass at St. Patrick's cathedral and saw him in this procession with all the fancy robes, carrying his Golden Staff, it occurred to me how far it has gotten away from Jesus Christ.  The Pope lives in a spectacular palace like a king...literally.  He reigns (according to his followers) 'infallibly' over billions of people.  When Jesus died, there were literally a few people at his side.  Jesus was a humble man.  Jesus (check the bible if you like) never claimed to be infallible.  Jesus  was one of us.  He ate with the down trodden, he lived meagerly, he had no possessions to speak of.  He was one of us, and that was the beauty of it all.  From where we were, he showed us what was possible.  Jesus showed us what we could do, if we really believed.

Jesus never called for anyone to worship him (check the bible if you life), if he were alive I wonder what he would think of all this fervor.  It's sad to me that in a world where so many people are suffering, a world religious leader could see fit to live in a castle and have throngs of people wait on him like servants.  I heard that the Pope said that materialism is one of the new sins...Wow!

To be clear, I think it would be unfair to color the Pope one way.  It is obvious that the Pope has done great things, my question is...at what cost?

Stay Fly and Fly High!

KLH