Recently President Obama met with Pope Francis. The most iconic state representative of all free and democratic nations met with the most iconic religious representative of world Christianity. What of it?
Much! That is, depending on what WE make of it.
Pope Francis is well received by the populace. Indeed, he seems to have revitalized the Christian faith not only among Roman Catholics but among Christians in general, young and old. Why?
Could it be because he authentically cares for people? People are his priority. For example, Pope Francis seems to show more concern for the people who make up the church than the institution of the Roman Catholic Church itself—and that’s good. Furthermore, Pope Francis also seems to be much more than just the office he holds. That is, in his case, it’s not so much that the office makes the man as much as the man is making the office. The people like who he is as well as what he is, as a person.
But we often overestimate the power of political and institutional officeholders. For example, when running for presidential office, Republican or Democrat, all candidates promise to “bring change.” Obama did the same. “Change is coming!” he said, “Voting for me is a vote for change.” But, now that Obama has been in office for over five years, many wonder what happened to the changes that were supposed to have taken place in Washington. So it goes. Political realities checkmate most attempts at institutional change.
Both President Obama and Pope Francis represent much power and influence in the offices they hold. The question is, how do they best use their power and influence and to what end? The old adage that effectively says, the world can only be changed one person at a time, is as true for them as it is for us. In short, their power and influence means nothing—without us. We the people must endorse the change that they seek, by our actions.
But there is a catch. The catch is that a good leader—religious, political, or otherwise—must rise above the lowest common denominator in the change that he/she seeks to make. That is, a truly good leader will refuse to cater to either special interest groups or to the whims and wishes of fickle popular sentiment. Because of this and ironically, the people can and often do easily turn against solidly good leaders. Likewise, out of a true care and concern for all people, a truly good leader pursues what is right, good, and just, for the least among us in a compassionate and loving manner, which inevitably upsets the mainstream and powerful.
I think that it is fair to say that these two men, President and Pope, want what is right and good for the common person, the average person on the street. And, the common person has responded accordingly with a collective “Yes!” or “Amen!” Note how, when first elected, Obama’s popularity was quite strong. However, Obama’s popularity is now waning. Why? Failure, ineffectiveness, unfulfilled promises? Whatever the reason, my guess is that the same will happen to Pope Francis. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in a matter of a few years, Pope Francis’s popularity will also go down. You see, it’s hard to be a good leader and do the right thing, to stand for what is good and just, AND maintain popularity among the people. Doing the right thing can be costly, and costliness grates on the average person on the street, who want quick and easy solutions with little cost to themselves.
Thus, we the people are the real problem. We can be socially lazy—wanting others to do the hard work for us to make this world a better place to live in. We can be economically selfish—wanting others to make the necessary sacrifices to make this world a fairer and more just place. And we can be politically fickle—ready to drop our support in a blink of an eye, if things don’t change fast enough or aren’t going in the direction we had expected or wanted. In short, we lack patience, we want immediate gratification, and we tend to demand unrealistic results from our religious and political leaders.
We are a contradiction. We expect too much from them on the one hand, and want too little of their effects on the other. We expect too much of them in that we want them to perform like superheroes in making things better. We want too little of them in that we so easily dismiss them when they call us to account, asking that we live more equitably and be more responsible and act more justly. We want them to change the world, make the world better, while we dig in our heels and say, “But as for me, I’m fine just the way I am.”
If we want good leaders to do what is good, right, and just for all the people, then we must support such leaders with our own willingness to be and do the same.
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