Yakov Fedorov / Wikimedia Commons
CV NEWS FEED // Pope Francis recently wrote a rare op-ed emphasizing the importance of humor for The New York Times. The piece, balancing levity and seriousness, was published Dec. 17, the Pope’s birthday.
The Pope began by urging the importance of avoiding “wallowing in melancholy at all costs.” He stated that humor can serve as a “medicine” for those who have narcissistic tendencies.
“Irony is a medicine, not only to lift and brighten others, but also ourselves, because self-mockery is a powerful instrument in overcoming the temptation toward narcissism,” he wrote. “Narcissists are continually looking into the mirror, painting themselves, gazing at themselves, but the best advice in front of a mirror is to laugh at ourselves. It is good for us.”
He noted that two popes — St. John Paul II and St. John XXIII — were known for their senses of humor.
After including several jokes poking fun at Jesuits and one joking about the Holy Father himself, Pope Francis wrote that the Gospel urges the faithful to become like little children (Matthew 18:3), who are able to smile easily.
“Today, nothing cheers me as much as meeting children,” he wrote. “When I was a child, I had those who taught me to smile, but now that I am old, children are often my mentors. The meetings with them are the ones that thrill me the most, that make me feel best.”
He said that he also delights in meetings with the elderly who, like children, have the “gift of laughter and tears.”
“When I take children in my arms during the audiences in St. Peter’s Square, they mostly smile; but others, when they see me dressed all in white, think I’m the doctor who has come to give them a shot, and then they cry,” Pope Francis wrote. “They are examples of spontaneity, of humanity, and they remind us that those who give up their own humanity give up everything, and that when it becomes hard to cry seriously or to laugh passionately, then we really are on the downhill slope.”
