Saturday Mezze: Pope Francis Prayed for the Marginalized, Even in Gaza
Mezze - المزة - a wide selection of small dishes served as appetizers, including such delicacies as hummus, cheese, eggplant, brains, stuffed grape leaves, calamari, and much more
|
| |||||||||||||||
Dear Family, Friends, and Colleagues,
I
got up early this morning and tried to watch the Pope’s funeral … I
really tried … but the commentators weren’t saying much that I didn’t
already know … and not much about what I cared about…
My own thoughts follow below the photograph…
Robert
Pope Francis Prayed for the Marginalized, Even in Gaza
Pope Francis was buried today.
Since Easter Monday, when the world learned of his death, coverage of the Pope’s passing - led by mainstream media - has been filled with stories and pithy anecdotes about his life, his humility and piety, and about an inexhaustible ministry which embraced the poor, vulnerable, and oppressed.
Few reports I read fully connected him to his inspiration and namesake, Saint Francis of Assisi, or to the timely inclusiveness of his Easter Message.
That's our loss.
Born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, Francis of Assisi was an Italian preacher and poet who led a life of poverty, a friar who served the marginalized and vulnerable.
Over eight centuries ago, in 1219, Saint Francis traveled to Damietta in the Nile Delta hoping to negotiate a peaceful end to the Fifth Crusade. Francis - accompanied, it was reported, by a single companion - crossed the desert to meet Ottoman Sultan Malik al-Kāmil, commander of the Muslim forces, with the hope of negotiating an end to decades of inter-religious conflict in the Holy Land.
While Francis was respectfully received as a man of faith, his mission to end conflict between Crusaders and Saracens was unsuccessful. After a prolonged stay as guest of the Sultan, Francis returned safely behind Crusader lines without a ceasefire.
It was, however, I believe, transformative.
Over a period of days or weeks Francis and the Sultan engaged in religious dialogue and, it appears from Francis' post-visit writings, that the encounter had a deep religious impact upon both men.
I believe that In daring to embrace The Other each of them came to witness that it is possible for members of different religious faiths to arrive at a common vision of universal peace and reconciliation.
There is no doubt in my mind that Pope Francis - as Francis of Assisi before him - recognized that it was the Qur’an, which is to Muslims as Jesus is to Christians, that "was the source of all good things which Francis [of Assisi] discovered in the behavior of the Saracens and which made such an impression on him: their prayer, their faith, their respectful use of the word God. And since all these good things in the Qur'an did not come from the Saracens, but from God from whom all good comes, Francis wished to also respect the Qur'an.” *
I believe both Francis of Assisi, in 1219, and Pope Francis, 1,006 years later, to be exceptional witnesses, each reflecting a nuanced understanding of Islam lacking - to this very day - in much of Western contemporary thought – each respecting the Qur’an, each recognizing Islam as a monotheistic Abrahamic faith - and in both cases each endured criticism for their principled, and ecumenical, positions.
Francis of Assisi was heavily criticized for reaching out to Sultan Malik; Pope Francis was criticized for his progressive positions on liberation theology, Islam, and his support of the Palestinian people.
In 2016, as Pope Francis was washing the feet of some prisoners - among them Muslims - on Maundy Thursday, I remember him saying, "Today, at this time, when I do the same act of Jesus washing the feet of twelve of you, let us all make a gesture of brotherhood, and let us all say: We are diverse, we are different, we have different cultures and religions, but we are brothers and sisters and we want to live in peace..."
That Pope was my brother, an extraordinary man of faith who challenged entrenched privilege and power, who fought against the disenfranchisement of the oppressed regardless of their faith or tradition.
Pope Francis was buried today.
Witness that is not just Roman Catholics, not just Christians, who mourn Francis' death this week. In Palestine, in the Gaza Strip, the local Christian community - and many Muslims - are not just mourning the loss of a religious leader, but the loss of someone they called “a true father.”
"For nearly 18 months, it is reported, Pope Francis made regular and near-daily calls to the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza to comfort the faithful. **
"'Pope o’clock.' That’s what Gaza residents sheltering in this besieged Catholic parish called the time — usually 8 p.m. local time, 7 p.m. in Rome — when Pope Francis would video call Father Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor of the Holy Family Church in Gaza City.
"'When he called, everyone would gather near the screen and say hello, in Italian, in Arabic, in English,' said Romanelli, one of Gaza’s last remaining priests."
At the start of the war, Gaza's Palestinian Christians initially sought refuge at Gaza’s oldest church, the 5th century Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius. But since that church was bombed on October 20, 2023, killing 17 people from both Christian and Muslim families, the rest of Gaza’s Christian population - along with some Muslims - have sought refuge at the Holy Family Catholic Church.
Indeed, Gaza was among the Pope's last words, saying in his final Easter Message: “I think of the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation.”
Today, for me, for the oppressed, for the Palestinians, it is not whether another Francis might be on the way: It is from where the next meal, next deportation, next erasure, or next drone will appear.
Pope Francis was buried today - "Verily, we belong to God, and to Him shall we return"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Francis and Islam by J. Hoeberichts, Franciscan Press, 1994
** https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-04-25/gaza-pope-francis-palestinians-catholics