Value of humility is rarely honoured in our world of arrogance

Pope Francis is not just the leader of over a billion Catholics worldwide, his holiness, humanity and humility have a global appeal. Despite his age - eighty-two years - he is energetic and spontaneous, still able to take his audience by surprise through his everyday language and amazing human gestures. Who can forget his washing of the feet of prisoners and asylum seekers and opening up the Vatican to street people where they can get a warm lunch and a clean bath on a daily basis?

But even by his own standards and unpredictability, the sight of Francis getting down on his hands and knees last Thursday to kiss the feet of warlords Salva Kiir and Riek Machar took everyone by surprise, most of all the two protagonists in South Sudan’s civil war. Such humility and simplicity may have sent a stronger message than any of the reflections that they had heard during the two day spiritual retreat in Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican.