St Peter’s Square Pope Francis Blessing
There’s a new spirit in the Vatican.
Pope Francis is the current and the 266th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Full disclosure: I’m not catholic and this is not a campaign or propaganda tool. Nor is this for the clickbait hunters and outrage merchants rubbing hands together with glee to pounce in the comment section.
Let’s start from the beginning…
Back in June (I blogged about it previously HERE) as part of the Worldwide Harley-Davidson 110th Anniversary Celebration biker’s came to Rome and the Vatican as Pope Francis blessed thousands of Harley-Davidson motorcycles and their riders. They were blessed in St Peter’s Square, and he graciously accepted two of the latest Harley-Davidson models, for the Vatican police force that the motor company donated.
HD 110th Celebration – Rome Recap
The thundering motors on that nice morning nearly drowned out the Latin recitation of the “Our Father” prayer that accompanied Francis as he greeted the crowd before Sunday Mass. Nuns and tens of thousands of faithful Catholics also took part in the multi-day event as an unrelated, two-day pro-life rally was scheduled during the same time.
Imagine for a moment the incongruity of the Harley crowd — known for the “Freedom” motto, outlaw image and adventuresome spirit — taking part in a solemn papal Mass to commemorate a 1995 encyclical on the inviolability of human life.
Yeah, it’s difficult to wrap your head around it.
At any rate, jump ahead a few months and basically the Pope sticks his finger in the eye of Harley-Davidson management and slams the the motorcycle lifestyle as an “intoxication of freedom.”
Speaking at a gathering last week, the Pope cautioned that “power and pleasure”, among other things, lead to God being “replaced by fleeting human idols which offer the intoxication of a flash of freedom, but in the end bring new forms of slavery and death.”
Catholic theologians are not the first and won’t be the last to condemn consumerism and wealth inequalities. In fact, Pope Francis has encouraged clergy and religious to show humility in their choice of transportation. In July, he told a group of seminarians and religious novices that he felt hurt when he sees a priest or a sister with a brand-new car. Saying, “And, if you like that beautiful car, think about how many children are dying of hunger,” urging them to choose simpler transportation options.
The conclusion of all this is that the Bishop of Rome has now decided to auction off one of the bikes in order to raise funds for a Caritas homeless project, the ‘Don Luigi di Lietro’ near the Termini station in Rome which offers food and shelter for up to 1,000 people every day. I’m sure it will make for a generous gift to a worthy cause.
But, here is the question. Was the Pope exploited by just another American company/event focused on a PR opportunity? Or was he being opportunistic?
Photo courtesy of Stefano Rellandini / Reuters
Are you sure your headline is accurate. “Pope slams Harley-Davidson as intoxication of freedom”?
The Pope was NOT talking about Harley-Davidson when he spoke of intoxication. You have taken one thing he said (actually on 16th June 2013 and not last week as you claim) and linked it to an event that happened months later and somehow you claim the two are linked.
The Pope was speaking about the rejection of God, nothing to do with Harley-Davidson when he made his intoxication reference. This is what he actually said. “It is the idea that rejecting God, the message of Christ, the Gospel of Life, will somehow lead to freedom, to complete human fulfilment,” he said. “As a result, the living God is replaced by fleeting human idols which offer the intoxication of a flash of freedom, but in the end bring new forms of slavery and death.” (see http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1302616.htm for verification).
His reference to intoxication was clearly about human idols, not motorcycles.
Your headline is therefore completely untrue. You have made this up!
Your final question is equally misleading. “But, here is the question. Was the Pope exploited by just another American company/event focused on a PR opportunity? Or was he being opportunistic?” If you had done your homework properly, you would have discovered that the agreement that Harley-Davidson riders would attend the Mass and that the Pope would accept the motorcycles as a gift was made BEFORE the current Pope was elected. It was his predecessor that agreed to those arrangements. So, you see, the Pope was neither exploited or being opportunistic – he was actually faced with a situation that somebody else had arranged.
Come on, if you are going to make such a wild statement, back it up properley with facts, or at least make sure it is accurate.
@Gary – thanks for the comments. I don’t think it’s a big leap to connect the ‘idols’ and ‘intoxication of freedom’ dots.
You are correct in that the papal blessing was agreed to by Benedict, XVI, and that the new pontiff honored his predecessors commitment. I should have added this to the post to provide additional color. Perhaps H-D’s motorcycle “gift” was a way to say thank you, maybe they truly had a charitable and community giving mind set or maybe it was solely a PR move.
I also left out that previously as part of a run up to the 110th celebration Pope Benedict blessed a pair of motorcycle gas tanks presented by Willie G. The tanks were signed by Pope Benedict and were mounted on a pair of motorcycles, one of which is in the H-D museum in Milwaukee.
To be candid I don’t understand all this H-D blessing?
I also left out how David Uhl (www.uhlstudios.com), the only artist with H-D permission to use H-D bikes in his work, was commissioned to paint “Chance Encounters”… there’s even a commemorated post card and custom stamp made for the Vatican post office—which of course can be purchased.
Exploited might have been heavy handed, but at minimum the motor company turned all this into a PR coup.