BIG HEART      OPEN WIDE

“Right, yes,” the pope continues.  “I know St. Mary Major, St. Peter’s…but when I had to come to Rome, I always stayed in [the neighborhood of] Via Della Scrofa.  From there I often visited the Church of St. Louis of France, and I went there to contemplate the painting of The Calling of St. Matthew, by Caravaggio.”

I begin to intuit what the pope wants to tell me.

“That finger of Jesus, pointing at Matthew.  That’s me.  I feel like him.  Like Matthew.”  Here the pope becomes determined, as if he had finally found the image he was looking for.  “It is the gesture of Matthew that strikes me:  he holds on to his money as if to say, ‘No, not me!  No, this money is mine.’  Here, this is me, a sinner on whom the Lord has turned his gaze.  And this is what I said when they asked me if I would accept my election as pontiff.”  Then the pope whispers in Latin, “I am a sinner, but I trust in the infinite mercy and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I accept in a spirit of penance.”

from A Big Heart Open to God

A Conversation with Pope Francis

Interview by Antonio Spadaro, S.J.

photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/36954483@N03/25915525665″>Can’t think of a title… er… Bob</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a&gt; <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/”>(license)</a&gt;, photo of painting The Calling of St. Matthew from Wikipedia.