Pope Francis’ Popularity Bridges Great Divides

He may be the world’s foremost Catholic, but to his fans, Pope Francis is more Martin Luther King Jr. than Pope Benedict XVI. He speaks, and millions listen — whether they are Muslim or Baptist, Hindu or atheist.

“I believe he’s a world leader more than a religious leader,” said Sasha Datta, a practicing Hindu who is planning to try to see Francis in Washington. “His openness, his ability to not shy away from real issues — I see a lot of hope when I see people like Pope Francis.”

Two years after his papacy began, Francis — the pontiff with the common touch and the tolerant embrace — is a lodestar to both the spiritual and secular worlds, a global celebrity to those who admire his warmth and a rudder to those who share his concerns about climate change, social justice, poverty and more.

Not all observant Catholics agree with him on the issues: Some conservatives feel he has watered down true belief; some liberals are angry that he has not changed a word of Catholic doctrine.

But for non-Catholics unfamiliar with dogma, Francis has already taken on a broader role, filling a void for those seeking leadership on global issues affecting the planet and the poor.

Like Pope John Paul II, Francis has attracted adulation from throngs of non-Catholics as well as Catholics in every place he has visited. And it was no different Wednesday: At the White House and as he paraded down the National Mall, Francis drew a celebrity welcome, complete with cheers, gawkers, souvenir hawkers and huge crowds of Americans representing nearly every faith and creed.

With a speech in Congress and meetings with lawmakers, the Washington leg of his trip may be more secular than his stops in New York and Philadelphia. But throughout his stay, Francis will be meeting and addressing scores of people outside the Catholic faith.

In Washington, Catholics and non-Catholics have crowded around Francis, in swarms hundreds of people deep, to try to seize a piece of the papal moment.

In Philadelphia, where Francis will cap off his visit by celebrating a Mass at a Catholic conference on family values, the conference’s volunteers include Baptists, Jews and Lutherans who are chipping in not only time and energy, but also money to catch a glimpse of the pontiff.

In New York, where Francis will ride his popemobile through Central Park, a lottery for tickets to see him drew entries from Jews and Muslims as well as Catholics.

The breadth of his appeal can be traced, in part, to the role he has carved out as a champion of causes beyond the scope of church doctrine. A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted in early September found that 45 percent of respondents saw Francis more as a leader and humanitarian spokesman for all people, regardless of their religion, than as simply the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

A Pew Research Center poll in February found that his approval rating among white mainline Protestants was 74 percent. Among those with no religious affiliation, it was 68 percent.

Datta, who works in finance and is in her mid-40s, said her admiration for Francis stemmed from their shared values of working for the poor and marginalized.

“The fact that this pope is pushing this agenda, I love it, because that’s what God’s people are supposed to do,” she said. “Take care of people.”

Cynthia Olmstead, 49, of South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, who identifies as a secular humanist, said she admired his message of inclusiveness, tolerance, social justice and environmentalism. She said she lived in Argentina when Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio made headlines there for taking public transit and mingling with the poor. Now, she said, she is hoping to take her children to New York to see him as Pope Francis.

“I know it sounds strange, but I just feel like it would be a moving experience to see him,” she said. “It’s almost like if you’ve gone to see any kind of civil rights leader speak, and they have a kind of universal message, and even if you don’t necessarily belong to that ethnic group or religious group, you’re moved by the message.”

In New York, most opportunities to see the pope are limited to those with formal ties to the church. But to watch him pass through Central Park, anyone could enter a lottery arranged by Mayor Bill de Blasio, another non-Catholic won over by Francis. (He has said that Francis has inspired him to re-evaluate his famously fraught relationship with Catholicism.).

In the crowd in Central Park will be at least one kipa — that of Rabbi Brian Fink, the director of a volunteer program at JCC Manhattan. “There’s a lot of stuff in all those different teachings and writings that he’s done that’s very consistent with Jewish values and teachings,” he said, noting that a part of Francis’ encyclical on climate change and inequality has been translated into Hebrew and used as a prayer during Rosh Hashana services.

Mostafa El Sehamy, a Muslim originally from Egypt who is married to a practicing Catholic of Mexican descent, said it was he, not his wife, who entered the Central Park lottery and won.

Their three grown children were brought up Muslim, but attended Catholic schools. El Sehamy, 58, said that it is in part because of his multireligious, multiethnic household that he admires Francis and his message of inclusiveness so deeply.

“He’s just one of my favorite people,” El Sehamy said. “He’s so humble and so into people.”

He added: “I’m a Muslim. But I believe that maybe God sent this guy to unite everybody together.”

Francis is coming to the United States primarily for the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, a triennial Catholic conference never before held in the United States.

The roughly 10,000 people who signed up to volunteer at the weeklong event are expected to pay for their own background checks and transportation and to find their own accommodations in a city that officials are warning will be all but paralyzed during Francis’ visit.

Yet officials at the conference said many who wished to help, whether out of civic pride or a desire to connect with the pope, were not Catholic.