The video, of Pope Francis trying to pull his hand away and finally slapping her hand, went viral recently. It was turned into gifs and memes. We all know that Pope Francis has health issues – he looked to me like his hand was physically affected; but that is only conjecture on my part. The story of Pope Francis apologising the next day during his Angelus address did get some media traction. But I have only now read the story that he met specially with the woman a week later in what is called the “baciamano” (when selected people meet the Pope after a general audience). The Pope, in the general audience, spoke about Christ being able to bring good out of any circumstance – even an apparent failure. Wouldn’t it be great if this good-news story, not just the slapping video, also went viral.
I’m sure the lady was delighted to meet him and accept his apology.
I think the Catholic Church has come a long way in the direction of reform in recent years.
It’s not what we do when all is going well but how we go about putting things right so much as possible: ‘Who is this that forgiveth sins also?…Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.’ ( Luke 7 )