Pope inspires important conversations

Kaity Holtman

The pope’s arrival last week has been a major topic of conversation on social media, from national media, and in face-to-face meetings.

While not all conversation has been positive and productive, he has at least opened the lines of communications about not only the Roman Catholic faith, but even about the very fundamentals of people’s values and morals.

And those are conversations we should be having every day.

Topics like those Pope Francis has invoked are so much more inspiring than which celebrities are in rehab, which cute puppy video is circulating Facebook, or even which baseball team will win the World Series.

(That’s a mute point anyway, it will obviously be our Kansas City Royals.)

It is absolutely inspiring, to me anyway, to think that we’re discussing topics as basic as “loving your neighbor as yourself,” caring for the poor, working hard, and building families.

I mean, these are the basic “who do you want to become” principals we talk about with our eighth-graders on a weekly basis in religious education. And I often think to myself, so many people don’t think about their fundamental beliefs often enough.

And he has brought so many of those fundamentals up with such simple actions — blessing the sick and the youth as he passes by; preferring to serve the poor over eating with rich, famous, political leaders; choosing modest vehicles to ride in, and challenging us all through his speeches.

Sure, I am realistic enough to know that the pope’s visit won’t change everyone’s view toward organized religion, or specifically, Catholicism, in the snap of a finger.

But it’s been evident that the pope has ignited the interest of media and people everywhere, and not just in the last week.

I have seen more articles and coverage of what seems to be every word that comes out of Francis’s mouth than the previous pope.

Now, I’ll admit, this is only the third pope of my lifetime. But the mixture of this pope’s delivery and the effects social media has on spreading information, this religious figure has become a topic of conversation in the majority of homes across the world.

See, Pope Francis hasn’t changed any of the Roman Catholic Church’s beliefs, even though the media may sometimes portray it that way.

Rather, he has changed the delivery from negative to positive.

He has shifted the focus from the “rules” that people against the Catholic Church dwell on to the fundamentals that most Christians can agree upon.

And that even has many Catholics re-evaluating how we perceive our faith and how we live our lives.

He has shown forgiveness, compassion, understanding, and genuine love for all people. And those values are truly what the Roman Catholic Church, along with all of Christianity, is based upon.

Yes, there are hypocrites and ‘bad eggs’ in every group of anything, from organized religion to political leaders, clear down to offices and families.

But I have to believe that the majority of all people want to do good deeds and be good people.

I mean, we could think otherwise, but what a sad way to live — always looking for the negative and assuming the worst in people.

I believe that Pope Francis is the quintessential example of Catholics and Christians — that we all desire to forgive, love and understand our neighbors, no matter their religion, political affiliation, or list of sins.

See, all Christians are sinners trying to live like Christ. And while the pope is obviously not Christ, he is a pretty tangible, visible role model for us to try to achieve our goals every day.

And for that reason, I couldn’t be happier to have him striking up these inspirational conversations all over the world.