“I have one life and one chance to make it count for something. . . . My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”
—President Jimmy Carter
One person can change your life. Pope Francis has changed mine.
I got into journalism long ago because I wanted to cover stories that could inspire people. I’ve covered a lot of big events in my career and interviewed a lot of people, but covering Pope Francis’s visit to America was without a doubt one of the all-time highlights.
I didn’t interview him, and I never shook his hand. But that doesn’t matter, because as I followed him and covered all the stops on his trip, his words touched my heart and ignited my spirit. I felt them deep in my soul. Every sermon, every speech he gave moved me more.
When he spoke at the 9/11 Memorial, the NBC News studio fell silent, all of us transfixed as he spoke about pain, remembrance, and the power of love. I listened as he read the Prayer of Saint Francis and the Beatitudes, and it brought me to tears. I watched as leaders of so many different faiths stood up beside him and spoke their truth. I thought about how I’m living my own life.
Later on the trip, when the Pope spoke to Congress about the Golden Rule, I thought about his message and how well I’m living it. When he urged us to all go out and be of service, I took a personal inventory of myself, and I knew that I could do better.
In fact, the whole week made me take an internal inventory of everything in my life. It made me reassess power, success, money, joy, work, and love.
I’m still thinking about the power of his call for Americans to adopt “a culture of care—care for oneself, care for others, care for the environment—in the place of a culture of waste, a throwaway culture.” Wow.
Pope Francis pushes us to realize that we’re all sharing a common home, a home we must care for, respect, love, and honor. He pushes us to open our eyes and our hearts to our neighbors, especially those living on the margins—who live so close, yet whom we may keep outside our consciousness. He challenges us to help real men and real women get out of extreme poverty. He says, “To enable them to escape poverty, we must allow them to be dignified agents of their destiny.” I love that. He’s saying every single one of us should have the wherewithal to be dignified agents of our own destiny.
I love this man. I love the way he speaks, the wisdom he shares, the gentle but strong and clear way he asks each of us for more.
I believe deeply that the world is yearning to be good, to be better and do better than we currently are. I believe in the goodness of people. I believe in their kindness. I saw it everywhere I went while following the Pope around the United States. I believe all of us who hear him—no matter what our religious belief—feel like he is speaking directly to us, and that makes us feel validated, felt, and seen. We all share a common desire to be understood, to be loved, to be accepted, and to be treated like we matter.
You don’t have to meet a great leader in person or talk to him one-on-one to be transformed. A great leader reaches out, listens, feels your pain, and works to make it bearable. A great leader ignites your heart. He inspires you to want to be a better person. A great leader can heal.
“Pray for me,” Pope Francis says to those he meets along his way, and then he says, “To those who don’t believe, I hope you wish me well.” I hope that we all dig down and find the strength to wish one another well. It’s so simple. It’s so profound. It’s so Pope Francis!
In Philadelphia, the Pope told the story of the Pennsylvanian Saint Katharine Drexel, who had a private audience with Pope Leo XIII in 1887. She told him of the challenges faced by Native Americans and African Americans back home. She asked him to send Catholic missionaries to come help these people. The Pope asked her: “What about you? What are you going to do?”
The question made her think about her own contribution to the Church, and she made a decision to change her life. She took her vows, founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, and devoted her life to speaking out against racial injustice and helping and educating American Indians and African Americans. Saint Katharine Drexel was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000.
“What about you? What are you going to do?” The question goes deep. What can you and I do to make our communities better, more compassionate, kinder, and more caring? What can we each do to care for our common home?
As Pope Francis said, it’s up to each and every one of us to lead. It’s up to each and every one of us to decide to walk through the world with humility, tenderness, and a respect for the Other. It’s doubly important to do this, he said, if you’re in any position of power.
I thank Pope Francis for leading with humility, with simplicity, and with empathy and love. And as he asked of us, I pray for him. I’m praying for Pope Francis and praying for you. Please pray for me, too. Amen.
Dear God, help me to confidently answer the calling to help make the world a better place by being caring, tender, and respectful toward others. Help me to be the best version of the person you created me to be. Amen.