Flags Droop for a Pontiff

By a Man Who’s Seen Saints and Sinners Wear the Same Robes

Governor Joe Lombardo, with all due solemnity and not a hint of side-eye, has ordered the flags of the United States and the Great State of Nevada lowered to half-staff in honor of His Holiness Pope Francis, who recently departed this world for the next—presumably the better half.

It comes by way of a proclamation from President Trump, who declared that the flags should hang low in national mourning until the day the Pontiff is laid to rest. The official statement read, “Honoring the Memory of His Holiness Pope Francis.”

Now, it ain’t my place to speak ill of the recently deceased—nor is it my nature to make saints out of men just because they’ve finally stopped talking. Pope Francis was, without question, a man of robes, rings, and remarkably vague pronouncements. He waved kindly, traveled often, and said many things about peace, poverty, and contrary to Catholic beliefs.

Still, the flags fall—not for the man, perhaps, but for the chair he sat in. That’s how these things go. We don’t lower the flag for what a feller did—we lower it for what he represented, even if that was mostly lip service and complicated footnotes.

So let the flags dip, the people nod, and the headlines write themselves. As for me, I’ll stand here, hat in hand, wondering—as always—why we mourn the passing of power more than we mourn the passing of the poor.

Requiescat in pace, Your Holiness.