Source: The Crucial Years
by Bill Mckibben
“Just in case I thought one couldn’t feel more forlorn right now, the word came this morning of the death of Pope Francis. It hit me hard, not because I’m a Catholic (I’m a Methodist) but because I had always felt buoyed by his remarkable spirit. If he could bring new hope and energy to an institution as hidebound as the Vatican, there was reason for all of us to go on working on our own hidebound institutions, and if he could stand so completely in solidarity with the world’s poor and vulnerable, then it gave the rest of us something to aim for. I thought this from the start, when he became the first pope to choose the name of Francis (that countercultural blaze of possibility in a dark time) and when he showed his mastery of the art of gesture, washing the feet of women, of prisoners, of Muslim refugees.” (04/21/25)
https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/pope-francis-and-the-sun