The dull November sun begins to set upon the masses assembled for a General Audience with the Pope at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican City. As the light begins to wane, the crowd slowly disperses; the session is coming to a close. Near the front of the crowd, a strange looking man calls out to a man dressed in white. The man in white pauses, then approaches the odd crowd member. Nearing the other man, the white-clothed man realizes the one who called out to him is horribly disfigured. His face is covered in thick boils and his neck is bunched in rolls of rotting flesh. It is also apparent that he is in unbearable pain. Now face-to-face, the repulsive man begins to stammer on in broken Italian about genetic deformities that make his life a living hell. The man draped in white pulls in the rambling man and silences him with a hug. He then begins to pray passionately, with tears forming in his eyes, for the man in his loving embrace. After he concludes his prayer, the man in white proceeds to plant a kiss directly on one of the boils of the deformed man’s face.

In any scenario, this act of kindness would be remarkable to see, but when considering the men who were involved, it becomes even more astonishing. The man in white was none other than Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church. This man leads the largest organization in the world and helps guide over one billion of his followers towards God. The other man was a relative nobody; a poor soul who was born with neurofibromatosis, a disease which causes great pain and can result in paralysis, impaired vision, deafness, mental retardation, migraines and even cancer. People with this disease even face discrimination because of their appearance. Treatment of the condition is very complicated, so this man was simply looking for the comfort and blessing of the Lord.

What would cause a man as high and mighty as the Pope to stoop down and help this sick man? There was no motivation for him to do it; he could have simply walked on by him and continued to hold one of the most powerful positions in the modern world. His motivation is one that many people misunderstand in our day and age. Pope Francis was exemplifying the wonderful trait of humility.

When discussing humility with peers, one would generally be led to believe that being humble is about putting yourself beneath others. In the “general” definition of humility, it is implied that one must reduce their self-worth in order to achieve a humble state. According to this, a skilled athlete must disregard their talents and abilities and place their less skilled substitutes ahead of them to be “humble”. However, this definition is quite misleading in its wording.

To me, the definition of humility is more fitting when phrased as “putting others above yourself and being thankful for your position.” With this definition, the athlete would instead seek to help train his understudies and give credit to his teammates or the team’s success. Pope Francis shows true humility in his actions because he steps down to minister to the needs of a hurting individual, thereby placing the man above himself. However, in doing so, he does not undermine his own worth. Instead, he merely utilizes his God-given talents without a demand for retribution or recognition. True humility is like being a gracious servant leader and using your influence to encourage and inspire those under you while still leading them fearlessly.

Pope Francis shows humility through his kindness that promotes others, while still managing to give credit to his God and not devalue himself. If everyone would have the courage to be humble, not vain or self-defeating, our society as a whole would change for the better. The only thing holding this change back is our own pride. Perhaps it’s time we took a page from the Pope’s playbook and learned how to properly show true humility. If we all take that small step, we can make a real impact in our world.