Pope In A Fiat

The pope arrived in the United States and rode in a Fiat. [1] Superimpose upon his trip from the airport flanked by all the the US Secret Service's muscle SUVs Handel's Zadok the Priest [2], then one would get the reality of pomp clothed in the pretension of humility.  How can people only see his Fiat and not the large expense that had gone into the preparation of his arrival in the United States and into the security provided to him over the entire duration of his visit?

Would Jesus ride in a horse-drawn carriage?  One would doubt, but He did sit on a donkey and a colt [3] and He is the real King of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Did He have security? No. Was His life precious?  More than any sinner's.

Knowing that he is merely a vicar of Christ, the pope pretended to be humble but this blogger had not witnessed any act that expressed true humility.  Everything he had done that seemed humble to the masses had been staged, like washing the feet of prisoners, rather than washing the feet of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, or of a priest with no fancy title or status. [4]

One might ask: how he could be protected from someone who wishes to assassinate him while traveling without all the security detail?  This question assumes that a pope needs to travel at all when communication is almost instantaneous with today's technology.  At the time of Christ, the world was not limited to the places Jesus had been, from His birth in Bethlehem to His death in Jerusalem [5] and yet, His words spread throughout the world.

The teachings of Christ are not made any more effective by the physical presence of a figurehead.  For any pope to think that he, as an individual, by his physical presence, could bring salvation to the souls of the masses is delusional, but this pope does not pretend to save the soul sinners or to bring the peace of Christ into the hearts of people.  He is a politician, addressing the issues that have plagued humanity since the fall of Adam and Eve: greed, inequality, strife, poverty, sexual disorder and the like.  Since he is a politician, he knows what to omit in his remarks.  On the White House lawn, he was silent on secularism and hypocrisy, especially when it comes to people's indifference to and rejection of God despite claiming to be Christians.

This pope hides behind words of sinners when his job is to bring to light the Word of God.  Riding in a Fiat or in his popemobile, this pope may wave to tens of thousands like a rock star without the music, but when he is gone, how many of them who have come to cheer him would be inspired to go to church and pray to God and reconcile themselves to their Creator Who loves each of them dearly?


[1] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3245370/Who-needs-limo-Humble-Pope-Francis-tiny-Fiat-500-dwarfed-security-vehicles-motorcade-arriving-U-S-President-Obama-travels-1million-armored-Cadillac-dubbed-Beast.html
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiXgOQ9_-RI
[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+21%3A1-7&version=NIV
[4] The reason why that this pope chose not to live in the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace and opt to move into the Domus Sanctae Marthae is perhaps anyone's guess. This blogger thinks that he had chosen to do so not so much out of humility but for other reasons, one of which could be that this pope could not go to sleep knowing that his predecessor had occupied the space before him, one who is still living, who used to wear red shoes, one whom he seemed to dislike.
[5] http://www.centuryone.com/4805-2.html