<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Courtesy of Think Progress at:</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/12/03/3011421/pope-francis-homeless/">http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/12/03/3011421/pope-francis-homeless/</a></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5em 0px; border-width: 4px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(216, 159, 0); font-family: DagnyWebProBlack, Avenir, 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Sans', Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.15em; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(216, 159, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Pope <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/12/03/3011421/pope-francis-homeless/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(216, 159, 0);">Francis Sneaks Out Of The Vatican At Night To Serve The Homeless</a></h1></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The leader of the Catholic Church has been quietly sneaking out of the Vatican at night to minister to homeless residents, according to a new <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/02/pope-francis-homeless_n_4373884.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">report</a>.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Swiss guards confirmed that the pope has ventured out at night, dressed as a regular priest, to meet with homeless men and women,” writes The Huffington Post.</span></p><span id="trigger-slidedown" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"></span><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The report hinted that Pope Francis had sneaked out of the enclave with Archbishop Konrad Krajewski. As Almoner of His Holiness, Krajewski is the Vatican’s point person on giving charity to the poor and visits the destitute nightly.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This isn’t the first time Pope Francis has earned attention and praise for his predilection to serve the needy. Just months after assuming the papacy, he <a href="http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-invites-200-homeless-to-dinner-at-the-vatican/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">invited</a> nearly 200 homeless people to join him for dinner at the Vatican. He also <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/11/26/2997451/pope-francis-trickle/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">deplored</a> the plight of homeless people in the first apostolic exhortation of his papacy last week: “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Over the years, the Catholic Church has grown too “<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/09/19/2650521/pope-francis-catholic-church/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">obsessed</a>” with abortion, contraception, and gay marriage, Pope Francis argued in May, imploring followers instead to focus on combating trickle-down economics and the world of inequality it produces.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Pope Francis has also taken a <a href="http://imgace.com/pic/2013/03/old-pope-vs-new-pope-chair/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">more modest</a> personal approach than his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, shedding gold-embroidered robes and an ornate golden throne for white threads and a wooden chair.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">These pronouncements and actions have earned him the nickname “<a href="http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/almoner-konrad-krajewski-27019/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Pope of the Poor</a>,” a fitting tribute to a man who assumed the name of Francis after the 13th century <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Saint</a> who focused attention on the poor.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Of course, Pope Francis’s outreach to the homeless is also putting into practice <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+15%3A11" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">what</a> <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/14-31.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">the</a><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+29%3A7" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Bible</a> <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Prov%2022:16" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">teaches</a> about treating those less fortunate in society. Most famously is Matthew 25:40, where Jesus taught followers, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Most interesting, however, is the Pope’s decision to serve the homeless without fanfare. A press release from the Vatican about Pope Francis’ meetings with the homeless would have undoubtedly earned him media praise, but the fact that he chose to sneak out undercover suggests a more humble approach. Perhaps he was following the teachings of Matthew 6:2: “When you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others.” Instead, give discreetly, “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”</span></p></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">---------------------------------<br><br><div>Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</div><div><br></div><div>"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</div><div><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com">http://www.MoscowCares.com</a></div><div> </div><div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Moscow, Idaho</div><div><br></div><div>"<span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">There's room at the top they are telling you still</span><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "> </span></div><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill </span><br style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); "><span style="font-size: medium; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);"><br></span></font></div><div><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469);">- John Lennon<br></span></font><div> </div></div><div><br></div></div></div></body></html>