Here is a familiar image!
Has anyone seen a similar image of Cardinal Bergoglio kneeling before his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI?
There are plenty of pictures of Bergoglio kneeling before Pope Saint John Paul II. There are also pictures of Cardinal Bergoglio standing face to face with Pope Benedict. Surely the future Pope must have also knelt before his immediate predecessor.
It seems to me that that image would be very valuable to find, publicize and remember, the future Papa Bergoglio at the feet of Papa Ratzinger. In my mind that image is much more significant than the ubiquitous image of the new Pope bowing to be "blessed" by us!
Pope Francis himself would surely do well to retrieve that image and recall it frequently!
Many inside and outside the Church have (I think wrongly) read the Francis Papacy in discontinuity with the Magisterium of his predecessors, especially with that of Pope Benedict. This fighting of this Synod brought that impression to a climax! What will the Holy Father do to mend his image which is ever more perceived as an anomaly, even if a widely popular one?