Posted on 09/04/2013 7:53:01 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Pope Francis bowed before Queen Rania of Jordon, who was visiting the Vatican with her husband, King Abdullah II, breaking once again with protocol that requires visitors to bow to him when they see him at the Holy See.
"Up until the 19th century visitors would kiss the pope's shoes, and the tradition is still that all visitors, women included, bow to him, but Francis behaves as he did before he became pope and is not interested in protocol," U.K.'s The Daily Telegraph quoted a senior Vatican official as saying.
The leader of 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide bowed to Queen Rania, who has been vocal about the importance of cross cultural and interfaith dialogue, on Thursday. Francis apparently did not bow toward her husband, the king, Daily Mail noted.
Pope Francis has shown he cares little about tradition or protocol.
A few months ago, he caused a ripple through the Catholic faithful by washing the feet of a woman – a Serbian Muslim inmate at a prison in Rome – a day before Good Friday.
At the end of the month-long Ramadan fast of Muslims, Francis personally wrote a message to Muslims, urging their leaders to promote mutual respect. "This year, the first of my Pontificate, I have decided to sign this traditional message myself and to send it to you, dear friends, as an expression of esteem and friendship for all Muslims, especially those who are religious leaders," the pope wrote in the letter, addressed to "Muslims throughout the World."
While such greetings are normally sent by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Francis chose to send the message personally.
The pope, who is also head of state at the Vatican, is known for being informal and humble.
In March, the pontiff reportedly kissed Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. "Never in my life has a pope kissed me!" she told the media after she became the first foreign head of state to meet with the new pope.
In July, Brazil's first female president, Dilma Vana Rousseff kissed the pope on both cheeks during his visit to that country.
The pope has said he wants to reform the Catholic Church and bring it back to its original mission.
Soon after his election in March, the pope appointed a group of eight cardinals to help him bring changes in the Church's administration, which has been plagued with scandals especially during the eight-year reign of Pope Benedict.
Francis has told the cardinals that the Church must not become just another charitable group without its divine mission, urging they must stick to the faith's Gospel roots and shun modern temptations. When he addressed the media for the first time, the pope reminded Catholics that Jesus, not the pope, is at the center of the Church, which he said should be "poor, and for the poor."
After his election, the pope took the name of Francis, the most severe critic of the papacy before Martin Luther.
Francis is a humble man and kisses a female head of state and bows to a king’s wife and washes a muslim wonman’s feet.
He should be more arrogant! That rat-bast....
Next he be calling for mercy for sinners if you can believe it.
I like this chivalrous gesture on Francis’ part. Imagine how that must look to Muslim women the world over. Perhaps they are thinking “this Pope sees that we’re human beings, we matter!” In contrast to the “men” of their religion. Probably he was merely being a gentleman, but I’d like to think the move was wonderfully subversive in a muslim context.
I’m not going to speculate on why he did this but a certain level of protocol is important. If you are a head of state, you don’t bow to anyone.
RE: he bowed to the queen not to the King who was standing right there. It appears to be a gesture towards a lady rather than worshiping Islam or being subservient to authority.
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The Queen of Jordan is quite Westernized.
Rania Al-Yassin was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents from Tulkarm. She attended the New English School in Jabriya, Kuwait, then received a degree in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo. Upon her graduation from American University, she worked briefly in marketing for Citibank, followed by a job with Apple Inc. in Amman
I like this guy.
I agree. He was merely showing a Gentleman’s respect to a Lady. He bows, our cowboys tip their hats. Same intent, same respect given. :)
Like I say, I like this guy.
Good point; that makes it even more plainly a courtesy move. That’s what you would expect from the servant of a servant Christ Jesus. Occasions in the gospels where Jesus acted as respectful, even self abasing servant are plenteous. I think of how He said “Thou sayest” to answer a question of Pilate (?) in the affirmative. The man who was going to make the great (but not unforgivable) mistake of sending Him to His death. And here we are all concerned about laying down a little dignity.
This is the kind of keynote which, if continued, will help to greatly open up doors of truly respectful dialogue between the various branches of Christendom. But that is the way of Christ. To lose, is to win.
Muslim women seeing how the leader of the christian world treats women will clearly see the difference.
Papal smiley
Haven’t seen that one before.
I guess a Billy Graham smiley back at you... however that would look.
I just can`t wait until he bows to
Queen Margrethe II (Denmark)
Queen Elizabeth II (the United Kingdom)
Queen Beatrix (the Netherlands)
Queen Consorts:
Queen Paola (Belgium)
Queen ‘Masenate (Lesotho)
Queen Jetsun Pema (Bhutan)
Queen Sofia (Spain)
Queen Rania (Jordan)
Queen Silvia (Sweden)
Queen Sonja (Norway)
Queen Sylvia (Buganda)
Queen Sirikit (Thailand)
Empress Michiko (Japan)
Sheikha Mozah (Qatar)
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