Pope, a guiding light for a troubled world

Pope Francis sure has a mind of his own and he constantly speaks it.

In a new salvo, he criticised the West’s involvement in Afghanistan as an outsider’s attempt to impose democracy.

In a radio interview, Pope Francis was asked about the new political map taking shape in Afghanistan after the United States and its allies withdrew from the Taliban-controlled country after 20 years of war.

“It’s necessary to stop the irresponsible policy of enforcing its own values on others and attempts to build democracy in other countries based on outside models without taking into account historic, ethnic and religious issues and fully ignoring other people’s traditions,” the Pope said, using his own translation into Spanish. Earlier, Putin scathingly criticised the West over Afghanistan, saying that the Taliban’s rapid sweep over the country has shown the futility of Western attempts to enforce its own vision of democracy. Instead, Merkel urged Russia to use its contacts with the Taliban to press for Afghan citizens who helped Germany to be allowed to leave Afghanistan.

Francis also said there that “all eventualities were not taken into account” in the departure of Western allies from Afghanistan.

“I don’t know if there will be any revision (of what happened during the withdrawal), but there was much deceiving from the new authorities (of Afghanistan),” said the Pope. “Either that or just too much ingenuity. Otherwise, I don’t understand.”

Francis called for Christians across the world to engage in “prayer, penance and fasting” in the face of events in Afghanistan.

Truly this is a no-nonsense Pope, who does not like any form of duplicity. He is also known as a clergyman who is not hidebound by convention.

Pope Francis overturned decisions by his two predecessors and re-imposed restrictions on the old-style Latin Mass preferred by traditionalist Roman Catholics, saying it was being exploited to divide the Church.

Traditionalists rejected the new style’s sing-along hymns and guitar music. Many missed the Latin rituals and the centuries-old Gregorian chant that went with it.

The Pope certainly feels strongly on issues such as dignity and freedom. In a message sent shortly after the second Catholic US president was sworn in, Francis also said he hoped Biden would work towards a society marked by true justice, freedom and respect for the rights and dignity of every person, especially the poor, the vulnerable and those with no voice. He also lays bare his views on other issues. Three days after the Jan.6 attack on the US Congress by supporters of former president Donald Trump, Francis said the violence had left him “astonished”.

Pope Francis also slammed the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant families at the Mexican border, saying populism was not the answer to the world’s immigration problems. He remarked that the COVID-19 pandemic showed that market forces alone and “trickle-down” economic policies had failed to produce the social benefits their proponents claim. After he underwent an intestinal surgery recently, he made a plea for free universal healthcare.

This is a Pope made of an altogether different mould. He mixes freely with people who would be shunned by society, regarded as downright discards. Photographs of him embracing and kissing a leper, for instance, have gone viral. He has urged people to keep at a distance those ills attendant upon superfluous wealth, which were not plain homilies meant for listening on the pews.

If there is one quality that he stands out for, it is that he is extremely patient and tolerant to a T. Which is why it is very apt that he visited a nation which, in a world riven by conflict and hatred for other faiths, is a lodestar of tolerance to the whole world. Like the UAE, the Pope is a global model of compassion and humanity.