Pope Francis’s trip to the US is a major news story for Catholics and non-Catholics alike. But it has a special resonance for a new generation of priests looking to follow in Francis’ footsteps, some of whom are traveling from Brighton to Washington to see the pope in person.
There was a palpable excitement in the halls of St. John’s Seminary in Brighton earlier this week, as about 90 seminarians prepared to travel to Washington, DC to greet Pope Francis. Among them: Patrick Fiorillo, a Franklin native who remembers watching the news of Francis’s selection with his fellow seminarians two and a half years ago.
“We were gathered in a room, I remember I was with another 50 or so seminarians, and when they came out and announced, “Cardinal Bergoglio,” the room erupted in cheers,” said Fiorillo. “Now, granted, most of us didn’t really know who he was, like the rest of the world, really.”
Today, Fiorillo has a sharper sense of Francis’s style, and how it compares to his predecessors
His focus is creating a gospel based on personal encounters with people. And that’s in no way opposed to the previous popes, but a beautiful compliment to it. Because really, for me, what Pope Francis is doing is taking all the incredible philosophy and theological reflection that John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI gave us and just applying it, making it real to everyday life.
On Monday, the St. John’s contingent will join other seminarians from around the country for the first canonization mass on US soil. Making the trip with Fiorillo and the others, David Harris of Rye, New Hampshire.
“What has really surprised me is just how much he’s reopened the arms of the church to the world,” said Harris. “He’s taken everything the church has always had, but through his charism of being a people person, and being so easily relatable, he’s presented that to the world in a very attractive way.”
Sometimes, Harris admits, Francis’s statements on topics like homosexuality and abortion do catch his fellow seminarians by surprise.
“We say the same thing everyone else does. We say, Whoa, what’d he just say? Did a pope just say that? And at the same time, we also say, Thank God,” said Harris.
Because ultimately, Harris says, Francis is making the church more welcoming to both lapsed Catholics and nonbelievers, and showcasing a different side of the priesthood.
Maybe with Francis, that rockstar persona, people will say, OK, the priesthood is a cool thing. But time will tell.
Since the seminarians will be sitting inside a church on the campus of Catholic University, watching on video while the pope says mass outside, the chances they’ll actually speak with him are slim. Still, given Francis’s penchant for the unexpected, it’s not impossible. So I asked them: if you meet Francis face to face, one on one, what would you say? Here’s Harris’s response.
“I would just thank him and encourage him. I can’t imagine what a pope goes through every day, and the amount of opposition and obstacles he faces,” said Harris. “And I’d certainly love to ask him about his first years as a priest. What can he show me to do help me do a better job at what I’m being called to do?”
And after he paused for several seconds, Fiorillo had this to say.
“I would ask him, what does he believe is the most important thing for me as a soon to be ordained priest, the most important thing for me to stay faithful to Jesus Christ, to remain faithful to the promises I’m about to make.”
Francis might also address the American seminarians gathered in Washington as a group. But even if he doesn’t, both men say the trip will be worth it.
“Well the pope we believe is the vicar of Christ—the successor of St. Peter and the Apostles. He is the source of unity in the Catholic Church,” said Fiorillo. “So for him to come to the United States, that’s a great witness to the unity and the universality of the church.”
