Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Saintliness Captured

The innocence and kindness of saintliness can be seen in the angelic face below [1]:



A close-up:


Who is giving a blessing to whom?  In my mind, only one answer is correct.  The boy is blessing the pope who needs all the blessings he can get.  His kind eyes gazing at the pope and his gentle and caring hand holding the pope's reassures the pope that God is very real and is with him (the boy but not the pope) and the pope, I imagine, knows that keenly. There is nothing the pope can do but adore the child, as he should.

This photograph by Paul Haring is as classic as any painting by any of the grand masters.  If it were a painting, it could very well be part of the permanent collection of one the world's most well-known museums.


[1] This is a Catholic News Service ("CNS") photograph by Paul Haring.  This photograph was taken on December 14, 2014, at Saint Joseph Parish in Rome, Italy (see page 8 at http://www.catholic-sf.org/files/digital_paper_201412162555.pdf)

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