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November 18, 2013

"Here I leave my pain"

touchingbypope.jpg

Terribly disfigured man who was held by the Pope relives the moment that moved the world:
‘His hands were so soft. And his smile was so clear and open. But the thing that struck me most is that there has not been thinking about whether or not to hug me. I'm not contagious, but he did not know. But he just did it: he caressed me all over my face, and as he did I felt only love. First I kissed his hand while he, with the other hand, caressed my head and wounds. Then he drew me to him in a strong embrace, kissing my face. My head was against his chest his arms were wrapped around me. It lasted just over a minute, but to me it seemed like an eternity.'

Posted by gerardvanderleun at November 18, 2013 4:46 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

I wouldn't bet that Catholic clergy are bone ignorant about the transmission of contagious disease, what with all those missions to leper colonies and religious orders that minister to the sick and all.

Given that, I doubt the Pope thought there was any option but to embrace the poor bastard. That's the gig, right? I'm not Catholic, I won't insist that I'm Christian, but I don't have to be to admire a noble act, in this crummy spoiled age. I'm not going to claim I could do the same.

And Mohammadans, with no provocation, are murdering Christians in dump-truck load lots in various places even as we post here. Not trying to swerve off-topic, I just have mercy, nobility, and the amount of it in the world that can be gathered together on my mind right now.

Posted by: Mike James at November 18, 2013 6:08 PM

The Catholic Church continues to inspire. It is the difference between being relevant and being timeless.

Posted by: Mikey NTH at November 18, 2013 6:31 PM

"..I just have mercy, nobility, and the amount of it in the world that can be gathered together on my mind right now."



When the almost inevitable sacrifice of a city of millions of innocents comes, soft words like "mercy" and "nobility" will instantly lose their cultured banality, as they will clarify to us our wielding of a terrible swift sword. This is not something I seek, only something I understand will happen while others who seek it live.

Posted by: Ray Van Dune at November 18, 2013 9:31 PM

This is what a true leader looks like.

Posted by: tripletap at November 19, 2013 7:50 AM

Mike, I doubt that Pope Francis even considered whether Mr. Riva had anything contagious or not. (Yes, medicine and nursing are widely practiced by Catholic religious, but Francis doesn't have that in his background. Even a board-certified oncologist won't necessarily know the cause of a tumor just by looking at it). But what the Pope did know is that this badly disfigured man came to him for some comfort--i.e., pastoral care--and the Pope did not hesitate to embrace him. Some are too cynical to see that for what it was, or think that it was all a stage job by the Pope's PR consultants. In my view, what best explains the Pope's act is Occam's Razor: a suffering soul reached out for fellowship, even for a moment, and the Pope answered in the affirmative. Not everything has an ulterior motive.

Posted by: waltj at November 20, 2013 1:29 PM

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