He is Time magazine’s "Person of the Year;" he is tweeted about and talked about and loved. He celebrated his birthday last week and invited in homeless neighbors. Later in the week when a woman’s baby was crying, he suggested the child needed to be fed. The mother thought it inappropriate, but Pope Francis told her when someone is hungry and we have the food to feed them, we should. She did.

The Catholic Church has wonderful social justice doctrines that demand Catholics reach out, welcome in, feed the hungry, visit the sick, clothe the naked. Not just when it is convenient, not just in giving our extras, but daily from our hearts, from our wealth. Now we have a leader who lives out our mandates with such grace and compassion, the world has noticed. 

(S-R archive photo: Pope Francis visits the Santa Marta dispensary at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013. For more than 90 years, the dispensary on the Vatican grounds has been distributing milk, clothing, diapers, toys and even baby carriages to families in need.)

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