Editorial

A September to Remember

Posted

A papal trip to New York had been widely expected for months, especially after the official Vatican announcement that Pope Francis would participate in the Vatican-sponsored World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in September.

But the acknowledgement this week by the pope himself that his U.S. visit will include both New York and Washington, D.C., has made it real.

And we can’t wait!

The pope’s Jan. 12-19 trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines was an electrifying journey—certainly for the millions of people who packed his public Masses and motorcades in the Philippines, with its huge population of Catholics, to see and hear him in person. But also for those of us who watched from a distance.

Now, the excitement will build over here. Americans will be privileged to welcome Pope Francis to these shores, with Catholics throughout the country joining his many admirers in eager anticipation of the trip, and the message he will bring with him.

In the Philippines and Sri Lanka, the world heard his message directly from the words he spoke in homilies and other addresses.

He preached unity in Sri Lanka, which suffered 26 years of civil war and where Christians make up only seven percent of the population. But he told the people that before they can forgive each other they must repent of their own sins, reminding them that Mary “forgave her son’s killers at the foot of the cross.”

In a Manila park on Jan. 18, preaching at an outdoor Mass in pouring rain to more than 6 million people—the largest gathering ever for a papal Mass—he called on his listeners to protect the family, a theme he touched on two days earlier at a meeting with Filipino families when he cautioned against practices such as same-sex marriage and contraception.

We also saw his affinity for the poor and the suffering and for young people, as demonstrated by his actions, both planned and spontaneous.

There was the impromptu stop at a shelter for Manila street kids, the visit to a typhoon-ravaged region of the central Philippines even as another storm threatened and, most poignantly, his response to a tearful 12-year-old girl who asked why God allows suffering.

“Certain realities in life can only be seen through eyes cleansed by tears,” the pope said.

Environmental problems, poverty and corruption were also topics on the four-day Philippines visit, as were warnings about the dangers of materialism and consumerism. In characteristic Francis fashion, he encouraged Filipino youth to become “beggars,” and learn to receive with humility and be evangelized by the poor.

We also saw on the trip a powerful gesture of peace and religious harmony with the unexpected stop at a Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka, and we saw a confident leader give a gentle instruction to Church planners, in an aside at a youth gathering in the Philippines, to include “more women” in the public ceremonies when the next pope comes to visit.

With all of that, it’s no wonder, then, that we’re excited about the visit to come, eager to be in his presence and ready to pray with him and hear what he has to say.