Free Pope Francis (Pastor of Mercy) by Michael J. Ruszala Page A

and hosted a televised prayer vigil at the Vatican. In a series of continuous messages on peace, he tweeted on October 7, “The only war we all must fight is the war against evil.” Pope Francis strongly denounced the use of chemical weapons, and also denounced unnecessary intervention by outside parties that could make matters worse. He encouraged all parties to dialogue and to look beyond their own interests. Dialogue in Syria was indeed given a chance. As of October 7, both the U.S., the leading voice against the Syrian regime, and Russia, a strategic ally of Syria, expressed cautious optimism over the process of destroying the stockpile of chemical weapons and the regime had agreed. The civil war, however, rages on, and the international situation remains tenuous.

Mercy: A Key to Understanding Pope Francis

Upon selecting a papal coat of arms, Pope Francis retained the shield of his coat of arms from his days as bishop, placing it in front of the traditional symbols of the papacy. Pope Benedict had replaced the triple-layered tiara atop the papal coat of arms with the simpler miter of the Bishop of Rome. The three golden horizontal stripes represented the authority given to Peter stretching to heaven, earth, and under the earth. Two keys of St. Peter are crossed behind it, joined by a red cord. Pope Francis retained these traditional symbols. For the shield of his coat of arms, Pope Francis retained his own former blue shield. Symbols of the Society of Jesus are placed at the center; a golden sun with 32 rays with the monogram IHS in the center capped with a cross and having three nails crisscrossed below it.
     
    IHS stands for Iesus Hominem Salvator (Jesus, Savior of Men). Below and on each side, Pope Francis placed his own chosen symbols. To the bottom left is an eight-point golden star, representing the Blessed Mother. In fact, Pope Francis had his pontificate dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima on May 13 before dedicating the whole world to her on October 13. To the right is a golden clump of spikenard flowers, a symbol popular in Latin America for St. Joseph.
     
    During Vatican II, Pope John XXIII had added St. Joseph, chaste husband of the Virgin Mary and patron of the universal Church, to the Roman Canon of the Mass. On May 1, 2013, Pope Francis added St. Joseph to all the other options for the Eucharistic Prayer to ensure that the model of fatherhood, chastity, humility, and service would be included in the prayers of every Mass throughout the world. Pope Francis chose March 19, the feast of St. Joseph, as the date for his inaugural Mass.
     
    Beneath the coat of arms is a scroll that carries his motto, miserando atque eligendo (seeing through the eyes of mercy, he chose him). If there is one word to encapsulate Francis' pontificate, it is ‘mercy’. At his first Angelus at St. Peter’s Square on March 17, Pope Francis told the crowd, “Never forget this: The Lord never gets tired of forgiving us. It is we, who get tired of asking for forgiveness.” Offering God’s mercy is Pope Francis' answer to the problems and evils of the world and the people who are entangled in them. Pope John XXIII at his opening speech on October 11, 1962, at the Second Vatican Council - the gathering of the bishops of the world which met from 1962 to 1965, pastorally touching nearly every aspect of the Church’s life - exhorted the bishops, “Nowadays... the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity. She considers that she meets the needs of the present day by demonstrating the validity of her teaching rather than by condemnations.”
     
    To the same extent that Franciscan peace is often misunderstood for a shallower counterfeit, mercy is too often subjected to a similar misunderstanding. Mercy is not naiveté of evil that assumes that “I’m okay, you’re okay.” Mercy should not be confused with moral relativism. Instead, mercy is the voice that tells us to “hate the sin