In all the loving television tributes to Pope John Paul II, one virtue in particular has been mentioned over and over by friends and acquaintances: the Pope's humility.
Oddly, however, the Pope's death has not always brought out humility in others.
Along with the fellowship of shared grief, television has a way of encouraging the sin of pride. From virtually the moment the Vatican announced that the Pope had died, reporters, commentators and clergymen alike began telling personal anecdotes about John Paul that, mostly, reflected favorably on themselves.
On Fox News, Anthony DeStefano, author of A Travel Guide to Heaven, recalled when the Pope had dropped the rosary he was handing DeStefano. The Pope, he said, apologized as his guest stooped to pick it up.
"I think it's kind of significant, actually, because it really shows what a personable, humble man this was," he said.
"Here he is, one of the most important men of the century," DeStefano said. "He was humble enough to be embarrassed in the first place and to thank somebody like little old me."
On the NBC Nightly News on Friday, Tim Russert of the NBC News program Meet the Press had already shared the film of the Pope blessing him, his wife and their baby in 1986. He showed the clip again Sunday, explaining that the Pope had kissed his son and said, "very nice, very nice." Russert sweetly confided that "that moment, that blessing will be with us forever." But it seemed for a second as if that moment might stay with NBC viewers forever, as well.
Priests, archbishops and cardinals alike reveled in the chance to share their papal memories on television. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington and formerly of Newark, New Jersey, was careful to tell stories giving the Pope the last word -- or punch line. Friday in Washington, he regaled reporters with all kinds of stories, including one from a dinner where he teasingly pointed out to the Pope an elderly, frail cardinal and said the man looked healthy enough to take on another diocese.
"The Holy Father laughed," McCarrick recalled. "And after the laughter subsided, he turned to me and he said, `Newark' -- my diocese."
Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, was on Meet the Press on Sunday, and he, too, tried to illustrate the Pope's humor, but his anecdote seemed to show how much the Pope appreciated the archbishop's wit. A teetotaler, the archbishop told of being served rum cake at a recent lunch with the Pope. The Pope's personal secretary, he said, asked what he would call a person who doesn't drink alcohol but eats it.
"I said, `a hypocrite,'" he said, "and the Pope had his mouth full and went like this." Foley put his hand to his mouth and mimicked a person gagging with laughter.
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