Is the pope really Catholic?

When reporters cover Pope Francis, everything has to fit the theme of humility &#8212 like the car that recently picked him up at the airport in Washington D.C.

On Tuesday it was a Fiat, an Italian-made car &#8212 a “simple car,” and a “humble” car as some reporters said, except one who noted that it’s not so simple in Italy.

Oops! I guess not everyone got the humble-car memo. For the record the car was a Fiat 500L, and sells for about $20,000.

But I was more impressed with the conversation on the airplane right before he got into the car.

A reporter asked the pope, “Holiness, your denunciations of the world economic system and the destruction of the planet have people wondering whether the Pope is Catholic. What do you think?”

And Pope Francis answered with a story.

He said: A cardinal friend of mine told me about a very Catholic woman who wondered if it was true that the Bible spoke of the anti-Christ. And the Cardinal asked this woman, “why do you want to know?” And she said “because I’m sure that Pope Francis is the anti-pope.” And the Cardinal asks her, “what gave you that idea?” And she says, “because he doesn’t wear red shoes.”

And I think the Pope told that story to show the absurdity of all the elaborate psychoanalysis going on. He believes he is simply preaching Catholic social doctrine, which is that in God’s eyes, a king, a president, or a pope is no more or less important than a homeless person, a prisoner, a refugee or any one else.

It’s clear from his writings that his message is this: open your eyes to the obvious. Your society may be wealthy, but has neglected a lot of people. Stop obsessing on my shoes, stop describing my car, and do something about it.