NYTimes
Pope Francis: There Is Faith in Humor
By Pope Francis – Dec. 17, 2024
Excerpt:
[Here’s] the one about Pope Francis in America. It goes something like this:
As soon as he arrives at the airport in New York for his apostolic journey in the United States, Pope Francis finds an enormous limousine waiting for him. He is rather embarrassed by that magnificent splendor, but then thinks that it has been ages since he last drove, and never a vehicle of that kind, and he thinks to himself:
OK, when will I get another chance? He looks at the limousine and says to the driver,
“You couldn’t let me try it out, could you?”
“Look, I’m really sorry, Your Holiness,” replies the driver, “but I really can’t, you know, there are rules and regulations.”
But you know what they say, how the pope is when he gets something into his head … in short, he insists and insists, until the driver gives in. So Pope Francis gets behind the steering wheel, on one of those enormous highways, and he begins to enjoy it, presses down on the accelerator, going 50 miles per hour, 80, 120 … until he hears a siren, and a police car pulls up beside him and stops him.
A young policeman comes up to the darkened window. The pope rather nervously lowers it and the policeman turns white. “Excuse me a moment,” he says, and goes back to his vehicle to call headquarters. “Boss, I think I have a problem.”
“What problem?” asks the chief.
“Well, I’ve stopped a car for speeding, but there’s a guy in there who’s really important.” “How important? Is he the mayor?”
“No, no, boss … more than the mayor.”
“And more than the mayor, who is there? The governor?”
“No, no, more. …”
“But he can’t be the president?”
“More, I reckon. …”
“And who can be more important than the president?”
“Look, boss, I don’t know exactly who he is, all I can tell you is that it’s the pope who is driving him!”
[Blogger’s Note. Not making this up.]
But on the battlefield, it is fighting that counts: victory, defeat, stalemate — the outcome depends on weapons, valor, leadership, stamina, and, sometimes luck. Churches come later, unless their leaders bring tanks and drones.
