Fr Jake Pass

For me, a small gesture in this brief video shows what kind of person Pope Francis was. Last summer, Pope Francis was reported to have used an Italian-language slur for LGBTQ people and made some negative comments about gay priests. It seemed so out of character with the person I knew, had met and corresponded with, and who had always expressed his desire to care for LGBTQ people pastorally. Not long after these reports, in June, I was at the Vatican, having helped to arrange a papal audience for comedians. A few days before that audience, I met with the Holy Father at the Casa Santa Marta and we talked about his comments. For me, it was hard to bring up the topic, but a cardinal friend of mine encouraged me. But Pope Francis seemed eager to talk about it and told me he knew many holy and faithful gay seminarians and priests, and encouraged me to share his comments publicly, which I did (after asking him a few times exactly how to word it). And it turned out that he didn’t realize how offensive the slur was and said he’d never use it again. After that, the conversation turned to other, more relaxed, matters: the US church, the Synod, and so on. It happened to be the 25th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood and so before leaving Casa Santa Marta, I knelt down and he blessed me. As always, it was a great gift to be with him. A few days later, at the papal audience for comedians, along with the rest of the guests, I was invited up to greet the Holy Father in the Sala Clementina, which was captured in this video. You can see that I thank him for inviting me and my laughing because we joked about my being a "famous American comedian." I start to leave, since I know he’s busy, but then he gently pulls me back and surprised me by thanking me for our conversation a few days earlier. He said that he needed to hear that and was grateful for our conversation and then gave me a thumbs up. Afterwards, I thought: Who does that? What world leader thanks someone for a challenging conversation? For me, that small gesture says a great deal about Pope Francis’s humility, openness and freedom, as well his willingness to listen and learn. Weren’t we blessed to have him in our midst?