On Thanksgiving Day, amid tragic civil wars, the recklessness of political behavior in many parts of the world and the cruel reluctance to fight poverty everywhere, Pope Francis comes as a significant guide to confront indifference and cynicism. It is, therefore, possible to acknowledge and give thanks to this emerging healing role of the pontiff while confronting headlong issues that were sidestepped and marginalized and serious problems of conflict left unaddressed. 

His bold initiatives in decrying “idolatry of money” — saying, “Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories. … This opinion expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power” — constitutes a breakthrough in the Vatican's narrative.

Furthermore, his pronouncements constitute a major contribution to a much-needed consequential dialogue in confronting the gap between the wealth of the few and the poverty of the many.

The tragic consequences on quality of life, especially in the various developing countries, renders his new narrative a prescription to transfer the ideal into real and the prevailing injustices into significant steps toward justice. In other words, what is deemed as ideal can no longer be the alternative to the real.