On the Power of Dirty Clothes: Learning about Poverty from Two Men Named Francis

On the Power of Dirty Clothes: Learning about Poverty from Two Men Named Francis

Pope Francis was a man who knew poverty. As the Catholic Church’s leader, he made poverty visible as an act of theological witness. As the church’s shepherd, he sought to ameliorate it with pastoral tenderness. As a Baptist, Pope Francis held no formal ecclesial role in my life. But he looms large in my theological imagination, particularly when it comes to my capacity to understand poverty and the Christian life.  This capacity is also shaped b…