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As a former headline writer, I smile a bit when a headline goes overboard. Today, a news report revealed that Pope Francis at some time in his life snapped the cross off of a rosary in the hands of a dead priest in a casket. One headline reads, “Pope Confesses to Stealing Cross from Coffin.”  Of course, there were no flowers in the coffin, so the Pope—maybe he was a priest when the theft happened– added flowers. More importantly, the Pope has kept the cross to remind him of the mercy that this priest showed others when he was alive.

But of greatest significance, the Pope says,” that thief that all of us have inside of us came into my mind.” The Pope is acknowledging that like all of us, he has not been perfect. The headline captured some of the story, but not the part that was most important.