Spot the Difference

Starting from 2hrs 35 mins, we have Pope Francis's incensation of the Blessed Sacrament, our Eucharistic Lord.

Starting from 8 mins 41 seconds, we have Pope Benedict XVI's incensation of the Blessed Sacrament, our Eucharistic Lord.

Kneeling before our Eucharistic Lord has always been important to Popes, as you can see.

Kneeling Catholic will be none too pleased for reasons which will be obvious. Our beloved Holy Father says so many good and wise things but one wonders if there were some behind His Holiness who were wondering when Pope Francis would use the prie-dieu set before him.

Pray that the Holy Father sets a good example to the rest of us, especially at this time when faith in the Real Presence is so weak and so fragile, to kneel before our God, as did his predecessor and, presumably, all of His Holiness's predecessors.

St. Francis of Assisi, in his "Letter to All Superiors of the Friars Minor" said:

'When the priest is offering sacrifice at the altar or the Blessed Sacrament is being carried about, everyone should kneel down and give praise, glory, and honor to our Lord and God, living and true.'

I liked the gesture that the Holy Father made in travelling humbly by foot as a pilgrim following the Lord in procession, as one of us, but would have preferred that the Holy Father had not broken with his predecessors on this occasion and had knelt before the Lord Jesus in adoration and worship. It goes without saying that kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, in adoration, is a genuine gesture of humility before God.