The Pope's Black Shoes

Perhaps those who are not Catholic won't understand my feelings about this photo.  Look at those shoes. They are not only black, they are not new... polished, yes, but worn. Probably they are his good shoes, but maybe they are shoes he wore visiting the poor neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, where the neighbors called him Padre Jorge.

They signal a man who will wear what he wants to wear, who won't be shod in fancy red shoes because some cleric in the curia told him it was customary.

They make me glad.