On The Thanksgiving Wire

I’m offering this up for Thanksgiving as much for the caption as the photo. It reads:

Pope Francis attends his weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square on November 26, 2014 in Vatican City, Vatican. During today’s General Audience Pope Francis told pilgrims the Church is on a continuing journey towards heaven.

Often progressive and forthright, this Pope has also never been one to take himself too seriously. Behold how the photographer plays off the banner, contrasting all the formality of the institution with the Pope “on the ground,” the picture of delight and every bit in the here-and-now. One can qualify this photo as salesmanship. One can discount the church and today’s pilgrims for any number of reasons. On this Thanksgiving Day in America, however, with the view every-which-way so dark and conflicted (quick, cut to shopping and football), it’s a relief — sifting warily through the newswire — to see someone in such a high place overwhelmingly light and looking up.

Best wishes.

(photo: Franco Origlia/Getty Images, Via The Charlotte Observer’s Daily Edit.)