On Friday, the Church celebrated the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. The name Francis means a great deal nowadays not merely to us Franciscans but also to many believers and non-believers alike. It is globally known that the 266th Roman Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church bears the same name of that famous Assisi poverello: Francis!

In his address to the representatives of the communications media just three days following his election as the Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis explained what he felt when he was elected to the See of Saint Peter.

When it became obvious that God has chosen him to be the Vicar of Christ and the successor of Saint Peter, his friend, the Franciscan Archbishop Emeritus of São Paolo, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, after having hugged and kissed him, gently but firmly exhorted him: “Don’t forget the poor!”

Such a heartfelt exhortation spurred Cardinal Bergoglio to choose the name Francis as his pontifical name. Francis was the way the new papacy was to follow. The newly elected Holy Father confessed: “And those words came to me: the poor, the poor. Then, right away, thinking of the poor, I thought of Francis of Assisi. Then I thought of all the wars, as the votes were still being counted, till the end.

“Francis was also the man of peace. That is how the name came into my heart: Francis of Assisi. For me, he is the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation; these days we do not have a very good relationship with creation, do we? He is the man who gives us this spirit of peace, the poor man.”

Pope Francis adopted the Franciscan spirit of poverty personally. The first step he did was to break away from the centuries-old tradition of living in the luxurious Apostolic Palace where the papal apartments are based and chose instead to dwell in the simple guesthouse of Domus Sanctae Marthae. By this evangelical decision the message he conveyed to the world was shockingly simple: On Jesus’ example the Bishop of Rome wants to serve not to be served! Did not Jesus, Pope Francis’ Lord and Saviour, say: “For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45)?

Was not by this radical move Pope Francis living one of his most important titles as Pope, namely ‘servus servorum Dei’, in other words “servant of the servants of God”?

Thanks to his humble words and gestures Pope Francis has strongly brought to life Saint Francis of Assisi. Francis too loved the poor. In the sixth chapter of his 1223 approved Rule after explaining why the friars are to be poor, Saint Francis stated that personal poverty should motivate his brothers to be charitable towards each other. “Wherever the friars meet one another, they should show that they are members of the same family. And they should have no hesitation in making known their needs to one another. For if a mother loves and cares for her child in the flesh, a friar should certainly love and care for his spiritual brother all the more tenderly. If a friar falls ill, the others are bound to look after him as they would like to be looked after themselves.”

Furthermore, from his personal conversion Francis learnt that genuine conversion occurs when the self goes out of itself and serves the brothers and sisters in need. In his Testament, he portrays this saving truth. “The Lord granted me, Brother Francis, to begin to do penance in this way: While I was in sin, it seemed very bitter to me to see lepers. And the Lord Himself led me among them and I had mercy upon them. And when I left them that which seemed bitter to me was changed into sweetness of soul and body; and afterward I lingered a little and left the world.”

Francis echoes Francis in the holy conviction that the poor are our faith educators. Are we ready to let them evangelise us?

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap

SAN GWANN