The call of Pope Francis to go out to the peripheries and serve those who are living in the margins and fringes of society have made him a hero in the eyes of many. But there are also those who think of him as a fool. The greater foolishness is the enduring problems of poverty and oppression which still afflict billions of people, those in the peripheries. We have the resources and technology to wipe out all poverty. How come we don’t? Because, there are those who make money and profit from the emptiness of others’ lives. Because there are those who would keep for themselves more than what they need and keep the others deprived.
We have all the knowledge and communication tools to wipe out all misunderstandings and conflicts. And yet we do not. There is just so much pride and selfishness so that we talk without listening and we dig in into our biases and prejudices. We fail to see that we are all in this together. The death of just one person is the death of all of us.
In the end, Pope Francis makes sense more than all of those who would dismiss him as a fool. Just as the commandment of Love that the Fool on the hill proclaimed is the only force that will save us all from perdition.