Organized religion is not popular on Reddit. r/atheism is one of the larger threads on this hugely popular site, and many of its posts routinely make
the front page. It’s a website born out of and sustained by the techie community — it carries that tradition of ultimate faith in scientific logic. And even in the world of religion, the Catholic Church is especially unpopular. Just look at this cartoon from internet hero The Oatmeal, and notice who’s chosen to represent the points of view he doesn’t like.
That’s why when I signed on this morning and saw a picture of Pope Francis labeled “Good Guy Pope” on the front page, I knew something was up. For the first time I can remember, the Catholic Church had done something that Reddit approved of.
For those that don’t know, the “good guy” memes (correct me if I’m wrong, reddit) started with “Good Guy Greg,” a cheerful-looking guy whom the internet came to understand as a paragon of all that is reasonable, kind, and just plain “good.” Since then it’s expanded to all sorts of other people that can be recognized and praised by the Reddit community. Even Forbes was a “good guy” at about this time last year.
Pope Francis earned his good-guy moniker by breaking tradition and visiting a juvenile detention center for Holy Thursday. He washed the inmates’ feet, including a young, female, Muslim prisoner. It was the first time in history the pope has washed a woman’s feet in this ritual.
It’s a symbol, and an important one. As he has shown before, Pope Francis is willing to break protocol. He’s been establishing a reputation as a champion of the poor and disadvantaged at a time when many parts of the world are struggling with staggering inequality. People have been responding.
