True power is exercised in service of the weakest, pope says September 23, 2024By Justin McLellan Catholic News Service Filed Under: News, Vatican, World News VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While people can get caught up in the pursuit of power and greatness, Jesus teaches that true power is found in the humility of being a servant to the most vulnerable, Pope Francis said. Before praying the Angelus Sept. 22, the pope reflected on the day’s Gospel reading from St. Mark in which the disciples are discussing who among them is the greatest, a conversation they were reluctant to share with Jesus. “While Jesus confided in them the meaning of his very life, they were talking about power, and so now shame closes their mouths just as pride has closed their hearts earlier,” the pope said. Yet Jesus responds to the conversation by saying, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” Jesus asks his disciples, “Do you want to be great? Make yourself small, put yourself at the service of all,” the pope said. That teaching “renews our way of living,” he said. Jesus “teaches us that true power does not lie in the dominion of the strongest, but in care for the weakest. True power is taking care of the weakest — this makes you great!” Pope Francis said that is why Jesus then places a child before the disciples and tells them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me.” “The child has no power; the child has needs,” the pope said. “When we take care of humanity, we recognize that humanity is always in need of life.” All people “are alive because we have been welcomed,” he said. “But power makes us forget this truth. You are alive because you have been welcomed!” By embracing conventional notions of power, however, “we become dominators, not servants, and the first to suffer as a result are the last: the little ones, the weak, the poor,” he said. “Brothers and sisters, how many people, how many, suffer and die because of power struggles,” he said, noting that they are lives “that the world denies,” just as it denied Jesus. “However, the Gospel remains living and filled with hope,” the pope said. “He who has been denied is risen, is the Lord!” Read More Vatican News Can AI be a tool for virtue? Catholics grapple with Anthropic’s claim of virtuous AI Pope’s Robin Hood wraps almoner’s mission and returns to Polish hometown as archbishop Pope Leo XIV names Benedictine monk as bishop of Belleville Diocese in Illinois Pope Leo XIV points to St. Joseph as an example of the importance of ‘being present’ Pope Leo XIV names Augustinian prelate as new prefect of charity dicastery Pope Leo XIV meets with evacuated Tehran cardinal as U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran continue Copyright © 2024 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Print
