On October 17, 2023, Pope Francis was interviewed by Shannon Mullen of the Catholic News Service.

Shannon asked the Pope if it was “hard being the representative of God on Earth” during these troubled times?

Pope Francis gave a surprising answer: “I’m going to say a heresy. We are all representatives of God. Every person who believes must testify to what they believe and, in this sense, we are all representatives of God.”

“It is true that the pope is a privileged representative of God,” he added, laughing, “and I must testify to an inner coherence, to the truth of the Church and the pastorality of the Church. That is, a Church that keeps its doors open for everybody.”

When he asked about his personal prayer life, Pope Francis described it as child-like and old-fashioned. “I maintain the piety I had as a child. My grandmother taught me how to pray and I maintain that simple piety of praying, as we say in Argentina ‘the faith of a coal miner.’

“I’m not complicated when I pray. One might even say I have an old-fashioned spirituality,” he said. “My religious consciousness has grown a lot, that’s different, it has matured, but the way I express myself to God has always been simple. Being complicated is not in me.

“Sometimes I say [looking up], ‘You fix this, because I can’t.’ And I ask the Virgin and the saints to intercede, to help me, and when I have to make a decision, I always pray … to the light above. But the Lord is a good friend, he has been good to me. He takes care of me, as he takes care of all of us. We must pay attention to the way he takes care of each of us; he has a different style with each of us. That is really beautiful.”

Pope Francis also spoke in the interview about the importance of having a sense of humor.

Responding to a question about what amuses him, he said with a laugh: “A sense of humor is a certificate of good health. Every day for the past 40 years I  have prayed St. Thomas More’s ‘Prayer for Good Humor,’ which begins: ‘Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest. Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humor to maintain it.’

“People who don’t have a sense of humor,” the Pope said, “are boring.”

What do YOU think about what Pope Francis says about YOUR being a representative of God, his old-fashioned and child-like prayer life and having a sense of humor?

PLEASE KEEP POPE FRANCIS IN YOUR PRAYERS AND THOUGHTS AS YOU GO ABOUT YOUR DAY TODAY.

JUST BECAUSE PEOPLE LET YOU DOWN, DON’T GIVE UP ON THE GOD WHO NEVER WILL!!