The more I read about Pope Francis, the more I deeply admire him. He just visited the home of his name sake: Francis of Assisi.

What I find so challenging is here is a man who heads the biggest “institutional” church in the world, but lives with such prophetic joy. He challenges the religiosity of his own structure, which ends up angering Catholics and evangelicals alike.

His calls for true Christ-like attitudes grate against our current cultural comforts:

“The Church, all of us should divest ourselves of worldliness. Worldliness is a murderer because it kills souls, kills people, kills the Church.”

“Without divesting ourselves, we would become pastry-shop Christians, like beautiful cakes and sweet things but not real Christians,” he said.

I am refreshed and challenged by his example.