Blessed by the Pope’s humility and grace – regardless of my Protestant upbringing
Jamie’s Journal by Jamie Stone
September 2010: Sat in my office in Holyrood with only a few months to go before I stood down as an MSP, I received a curious invitation. I had been asked to be part of the crowd when the then Pope, Pope Benedict XVI, met the Queen at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Best suit on, tie straightened? Check. I hastened out of the Scottish Parliament across the road and joined the large queue of people at the gates of the palace. When I reached the gate, a palace official asked to see my invitation. I took it out of my pocket and showed it to him.
“Ah, it’s red. You’re in completely the wrong queue. Come with me, sir.”
…What was all this?
“Because you’re a committee chair in the Scottish parliament, you are going to be presented to His Holiness.”
…What!?
Then suddenly a thought shot into my mind, and I asked him if we could pause whilst I made a quick call back to my office.
“Hi, now this is urgent. In the top drawer of my desk, there’s a small dark blue box. Could you see if it’s there?” There was a pause.
“Yeh, it’s got a funny little metal thing on it?”
“It’s an Our Lady pendant, it’s for my Catholic goddaughter. Please could you run across the road and pass it to me through the railings of the palace?”
My goddaughter Hattie’s mum had asked me if I could get it blessed by someone senior in the Roman Catholic Church – what were the chances!
We were arranged in semi-circles within the palace, and told if we were not Roman Catholic then we should cross our arms over our chest when we were presented to His Holiness. This I did, albeit with the Our Lady visible in my hand.
When the Pope came amongst us, he rapidly greeted us and touched the pendant. Then suddenly he was gone to the next group, his little red slippers moving fast. I turned to Iain Gray, the then leader of the Scottish Labour party, and said, “Phew, that’s over!”.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, look who’s coming…”
Within a twinkling of an eye, there was the Queen herself.
“Goodness me, he does walk awfully fast.” And then she too was gone.
That was nearly 15 years ago, and I hadn’t really thought about it until we heard the very sad news of Benedict’s successor, Pope Francis’ sad death last month. I thought about what he symbolised to everyone around the world.
Of course, I was baptised a Protestant and have no role in the Roman Catholic Church. Nevertheless, I was always impressed by Pope Francis. I believe my admiration was shared widely by people of all faiths.
This got me thinking about why he was so revered, and I concluded that it was because of the person he was and not merely the figure he became when he assumed the papacy. Just as the then Pope Benedict had blessed my Our Lady, despite a clear indication that I was not Catholic myself, Pope Francis approached his duties with the same unbiased humility and grace.
This was never clearer than when he washed the feet of a Muslim prisoner or got on his hands and knees to implore for peace in South Sudan.
He was a benevolent and peace-seeking man who genuinely cared about the less fortunate in society. Indeed, to have greeted the faithful on Easter Sunday, the day before he died, was an astonishing thing to have done. Be you Catholic, Protestant, Hindu or Atheist, you could not help but respect his spirit.
Returning to the big day at Holyrood, I never realised that it was being televised at the time – and a very devout Catholic lady from Beauly who is no longer with us, Phillipa Fraser, was watching the television at home at the time. I’m told that she nearly dropped her cup of tea when she saw me.
“Good heavens, that’s Jamie Stone!” What on earth is he doing with the Pope?
Astonished that a little boy from Tain could end up meeting the Pope, this did humble me. With the late Pope Francis in mind, I endeavour to uphold his humility. A reminder that despite whatever grand titles we assume in our lives, when all is said and done, we will be judged and remembered on how we treated other people.
