Quote of the Day

I am certainly among those Catholics who tend to gush about what some religion writers are now calling “the Francis Effect,” and who make much of our new Pope’s evident distaste for baroque vestments, Prada shoes, and ecclesiastical bling; his evident preference for clerical work clothes to pontifical regalia, a casually hospitable residence to the opulent papal apartment, and a four-door Ford Focus to an exotically accessorized Mercedes Benz. All these splendid chops have been on worldwide display during his visit to Brazil, and we haven’t seen the last of them.

It is refreshing to witness the embarrassment of princely churchmen as they’re shown up by the new boss, but even among us good middleclass Catholic outliers, “Commonweal Catholics,” NCR editorialists, nuns on buses, progressive directors of religious education, innovative liturgists, advocates of women’s ordination, and exasperated leftist pro-lifers, there must stir an uneasy sense of “tu quoque.” When the newly elected Pope Francis said that he longs for a Church that is poor and for the poor, he undoubtedly had overdressed and bejeweled cardinals, careerist bishops, and cufflink priests in mind, but he was addressing all the rest of us, too. Just because I don’t sit on a Bernini throne, keep a limo driver on hold and have a staff of vowed religious waiting on me at dinnertime doesn’t mean that I have no ballast to throw out, no occluded lifestyle to simplify, open up and focus.

– Michael O. Garvey
"The Francis Effect"
Commonweal
July 25, 2013

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Doing Papa Proud
Something to Think About – June 6, 2013
Servant Pope
Something to Think About – March 24, 2013
Progressive Perspectives on the Papacy (Part 1)
Progressive Perspectives on the Papacy (Part 2)
Progressive Perspectives on the Papacy (Part 3)
Progressive Perspectives on the Papacy (Part 4)
Progressive Perspectives on the Papacy (Part 5)
Beyond Papalism
Gospel Leadership
St. Francis of Assisi: Dancer, Rebel, Archetype
Francis of Assisi: God's Gift to the Church
No Mere Abstraction
Francis of Assisi: The Antithesis of Clericalism and Monarchism
Solar Brother: Franco Zeffirelli's Brother Sun, Sister Moon

Related Off-site Links:
Pope, Among Poor, Speaks of Social Justice – James Martin, SJ (America, July 25, 2013).
Right Wing 'Generally Not Happy' with Francis, Chaput Says – John L. Allen Jr. (National Catholic Reporter (July 23, 2013).
Apparently Nobody Expected Pope Francis to Actually Be Francis – Colleen Kochivar-Baker (Enlightened Catholicism, July 25, 2013).
Rebel Pope Urges Catholics to Shake Up Dioceses – Nicole Winfield, Marco Sibaja and Jenny Barchfield (Associated Press via Yahoo! News, July 25, 2013).
Pope Francis Attacks Inequality on Visit to Brazilian Slum – Jonathan Watts (The Guardian, July 25, 2013).
Pope Francis in Brazil (Photo Gallery) – The Guardian (July 25, 2013).

UPDATES: Cardinal Burke Labels Social Justice Catholics Communists – Joshua J. McElwee (National Catholic Reporter, July 26, 2013).
Equally Blessed Pilgrims Bring LGBT Faith Witness to World Youth Day – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, July 26, 2013).
Pope Francis: My Advice is Always "Dialogue, Dialogue, Dialogue" – Vatican Radio (July 27, 2013).
The New World of Pope Francis – Fiona Ehlers (SPIEGEL via ABC News, July 28, 2013).

Image 1: Pope Francis is surrounded by children during his visit to the Varginha favela in Rio de Janeiro on July 25, 2013. (Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images)
Image 2: Pilgrims march along Ipanema Beach ahead of Pope Francis's visit to Rio de Janeiro on July 21, 2013. (Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images)