"In Buenos Aires, mothers say to me, 'My son is 34 and he's not getting married. I don't know what to do.' So I tell them, 'Don't iron his shirts anymore." Pope Francis
September 23, 2015
By: Linda Case Gibbons
He kisses babies, but not for votes.
He goes to prison, but not because he was convicted of any crime.
He gives Hope to the Hopeless and Love to the Unloveable.
And he does it just as the man from Galilee did, with his smile and in the name of Love.
In a time of widespread world turmoil, he was a center of peace during his visit to America.
Everyone felt it.
The rise of the oceans did seem to slow and our planet to heal when in his presence.
For a few days the noise stopped, and people wondered, "Is this what it feels like to 'walk in the Light?'"
But that didn't mean that the politics stopped entirely.
President Obama thoughtlessly, and deliberately, invited transgender activists, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop and an activist nun to the Pope's welcome ceremony, then, perversely, showed great sensitivity for the visiting Chinese president, erecting a physical barrier to shield him from dissidents protesting China's human rights abuses, outside of the White House.
In a staged event, set up by an immigration rights group, a five-year-old girl was sent to deliver a note to the Pontiff, begging for her and millions of other immigrants here illegally, to be allowed to remain in this country.
And a CNN reporter couldn't resist using the Pope's words -- that the Koran is as valid as the Bible -- to take a shot at Dr. Ben Carson.
Nonetheless, this couldn't destroy the feeling that the Vicar of Christ created. America embraced him. He seemed to have come when most needed and seemed to stand between the Good and Evil that exists in today's world.
But still...
We wondered why he was so loving to the Castro brothers and why he didn't mention the human rights violations in Cuba.
We wished he had said how well capitalism has treated our poor in America, how welcoming we have always been to legal immigrants.
Did he notice America doesn't lock up people for political reasons, as is still being done in Cuba and Iran?
That we do not stone people to death, as is done in countries practicing Sharia law?
That through hurricanes, tsunamis and humanitarian crises, regardless of race, color, creed or politics, America's people have been there first, and given the most?
Did he notice?
So we winced when he criticized our country.
Puzzled journalists were also conflicted:
"Is climate change a moral issue or a political one?" they asked.
"How do we respond to the Pope's approval of the Iran nuclear treaty as 'proof of political good will'"?
"Why did he offer encouragement to 'immigrants" in our country, when rampant illegal immigration is a crippling problem in America?"
And the thought occurred to us: Wouldn't it be better for him to concentrate on the good America has always exhibited?
Wouldn't a critical dialogue with Italy or Argentina be more appropriate? These as socialist countries that are not doing very well, economically or on behalf of their people.
But we struggled to understand, because we liked him. Maybe, we thought, he was leading by example, like Jesus. But we didn't know.
We did know that when he left us, Shepard One disappearing into the night sky over Philadelphia, we missed his face.
As he so beautifully said at Harlem's Our Lady Queen of Angels School, referring to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to dreams:
"It's beautiful to have dreams. It is also beautiful to fight for those dreams. Today we have to keep dreaming."
So true. And America is the place for that to happen, Padre.
And, by the way, we know how to iron our own shirts.
Hold the line, America.