Many people in the world freaked out when His Holiness Pope Francis said that worldliness is "the greatest danger for the Church, for us, who are in the Church." Worldliness is a trap many people fall into. The opposite to worldliness is a certain spiritual mindedness which is marked by humility. Although Pope Francis's choosing not to live in the Papal Apartments, constantly trying to be among his sheep, and taking public transportation are certainly indicators that this holy man is challenging us to be more humble, they do not imply that this his predecessor was not a humble man.
Pope Emeritus Benedict is currently 86 years old. He knew that he no longer could physically handle such active contact with people because of how advanced he is in age as well as handle running a country and a 2000 year old international organization. He then, with the entire world watching him, ABDICATED the Papacy to someone who could be a better SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD than he could physically. That is probably the most humble act I've ever witnessed.
Therefore, people must not misinterpret Francis's call to us to be humble. That call to humility was always there. It simply couldn't have been expressed in the same way by a man who's too old to make an intercontinental flight and who had in his old age entrusted his security to a team of professionals who had, along with Benedict, seen the Supreme Pontiff (Pope John Paul the Great) gunned down.
I am glad that Pope Francis recognizes Pope Benedict's humility and tries to embody it for us Catholics to imitate. Pope Francis, a man with his priorities set and a youthful vigor in his step, is truly trying to live out his title as Pope St. Gregory the Great put it, "Servant of the Servants of God," by being a pillar of virtue and an example of holiness just as Pope Benedict had.
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