Francis: Profile Of A Pope, Part One

Francis: Profile Of A Pope, Part One

Pope Francis has been drawing a great deal of attention worldwide, and not just from Catholics. He has been praised and criticized for his seemingly non-traditional views on subjects including gay rights, treatment of the poor, immigration and climate change. 
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Gephardt Daily begins a series of exclusive interviews, where Bill Gephardt speaks with a man who knows Pope Francis personally, Utah’s Bishop John Wester. Wester says that there has been no real change since Pope Francis began leading the Catholic Church these past two years, merely that the church is more open to listening and debating for the needs of its members now.

“He is, in person, the same way he comes across in the media,” Wester says.”He’s just a very real person. He’s not a man who puts on airs. What you see is what you get.” Wester describes the Bishop of Rome as a Jesuit, and a man who “works confidently and boldly for The Lord.”

“He’s in the society of Jesus,” Wester said. “So he’s very comfortable walking with The Lord.” Wester goes on to say that Pope Francis is comfortable discerning the will of The Lord in his own life as well as the life of the Church.  Wester says that Pope Francis leads by discernment of the spirit, and that  one of the reasons people find him so refreshing is that he just says what is in his heart.

“One theologian put it this way,” Wester explained. “The pope speaks symbolically, and that it’s up for the theologians and the pundits and everyone else to fill in the language and the words.” We’ll be looking more into the subject of symbols, what they are and what the might mean in Part Two of this exclusive series.