A Soul Drawn to Francis

Sometimes a name,
a life,
a spirit crosses your path again and again.
Not by accident,
but by invitation.
Not by coincidence,
but by calling.

For me, that name has been Francis of Assisi.
I first was introduced to him in India, many years ago.
Since I love Churches and Chapels, and there was many in Goa,
but I was drawn to this one.
I entered Church of St. Francis of Assisi.
Nothing special about that at the time, but I later found a book that I had,
didn’t know from where, but it was about Francis of Assisi.

There was more signs and things that kept Francis of Assisi to pop into my life.
The only saint I know anything about and that I really love all about.
The only saint I ever knew by heart, not because of lessons, but because of how the Earth itself seemed to whisper his name to me.

Francis of Assisi lived barefoot inside the sacred.
He spoke to birds, bowed to rivers, healed wounds with presence, and sang to the stars.
He chose poverty over power, simplicity over status, kinship over conquest.

🌿 “Brother Sun, Sister Moon,” he called them.
🌿 “All creatures are my family.”

When Pope Francis was elected, he, too, chose the name “Francis”.
Not for glory, but for the same reason Francis of Assisi lived:

“Don’t forget the poor.”

Pope Francis whispered back to the world:

“Let us rebuild - with compassion, with humility, with love for all creation.”

Why does this matter to me as a non Christian?

When I hear about Francis, I remember.

To walk more slowly.

To speak more gently.

To live not above the Earth, but with her.

To find the sacred not just in altars, but in everything around us.
In the wildflowers, the stones, the rivers, and in silent prayers.

Francis is not just a saint from history.
Francis is a breath of the world becoming whole again.

🕊️ May we all walk barefoot into the sacred.
🕊️ May we all speak with the birds.
🕊️ May we all choose love over fear.
🕊️ May we all return to what matters most.

🕊️ Francis of Assisi and the Heart of Pope Francis

The Saint: Francis of Assisi

Born into wealth in Assisi, Italy around 1181, Francis was never meant by worldly standards, to be poor, barefoot, or holy.
He was expected to be a merchant, a knight, a man of status.

But something in him refused to settle for a life of gold and war.

After surviving a bloody battle, imprisonment, and illness, Francis' heart began to change.
He withdrew from his old life, spending long hours in caves, ruins, and forests.
It was in silence that he heard the voice of God saying:

“Francis, rebuild my Church, which you see is falling into ruin.”

At first, he thought it meant rebuilding broken chapels.
But slowly, Francis realized:
The true church that needed healing was the human heart,
broken by greed, division, and pride.
That healing is now more important than ever.

He gave up everything, his inheritance, his clothing, his ambitions.
He lived among lepers.
He called the sun and moon his siblings.
He spoke to birds as if they were choir members.
He wept over the suffering of every creature.

Francis lived as if the entire Earth was a cathedral, every stone sacred, every soul beloved.

He was not only a saint for his time.
He became a vision of what humanity could be: tender, humble and free.

🕊️ The Pope: A Man in His Spirit

When Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope in 2013, he knew immediately what name he must take:

Francis.

It was not tradition.
No other Pope had ever dared take that name, because to take it meant committing to radical humility, service, and rebuilding from the margins.

Pope Francis, like the Saint, began his leadership not with splendour, but with simplicity:

He refused the luxurious papal apartments.

He carried his own bags.

He wore plain robes and simple shoes.

He called the poor, the sick, and prisoners his "priority."

He washed the feet of refugees and prisoners, not just Catholics, but Muslims, women, nonbelievers.

In his own words:

“The Church must be like a field hospital after battle.
Heal the wounds. Heal the wounds.”

Like Saint Francis, Pope Francis preached:

Care for the Earth (Laudato Si' — his encyclical on creation)

Care for the Poor (his constant urging for economic justice)

Care for Peace (his calls for dialogue, not division)

Care for the Outcast (welcoming migrants, refugees, and the marginalized)

The Shared Heartbeat

Both Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis built their lives around one radical idea:

Love without condition.
Simplicity without pride.
Compassion without borders.

Neither sought power.
Both sought presence, the sacred hidden in every moment, every creature, every broken place.

Why It Matters Now

In a world drowning in noise, speed, and separation,
Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis remind us:

It is not too late to return.

It is not too late to rebuild what has been broken - with love, not conquest.

It is not too late to walk gently across the Earth, naming every being “brother” and “sister.”