Pope Francis, the iconoclast

If we’re looking for the one speech that seemed to best capture the spirit and overall vision of Francis’s papacy – perhaps the speech that best reflects what kind of “reform” Francis is trying to deliver – it came in Holy Week’s opening act, the traditional Chrism Mass commemorating the institution of the priesthood by Christ. What we have in Francis is the great Catholic iconoclast, not trying to tear down images from church walls, but abstractions from people’s minds.