Pope Francis continues to be an effective communicator to the world. Over this past month, as we have been reflecting upon the terrorist attacks in Paris, we have certainly been moved to re-assert human rights to freedom of expression. Pope Francis, however, brings up a very important point which must be interpreted in light of the goal which must be before all of us: that we must learn how to communicate effectively, and with love, across religious boundaries.

The pope declared that disrespectful speech about religion is equivalent to insulting someone's mother. This is an excellent analogy. Even if we come to an explicit religious affiliation only late in life, our religious hunger and thirst have been shaped by our upbringing. We learned something about love, and we associate what we learned with our parents. Religious convictions are not merely intellectual; they also carry with them the weight of deep, strong feeling about human dignity and our relationship to a loving God.

In spite of Pope Francis's obvious skill in communicating, there are those who take exception to his remark about someone "expecting a punch" from the one whose mother is insulted. Certainly the pope is not advocating violent responses to hurtful speech. While acknowledging the right to freedom of expression, Pope Francis is stressing that, for the sake of productive conversation among people who recognize differences between themselves, there must be sufficient patience which allows for clarification of misunderstanding and mutual appreciation.

In the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius Loyola (which our Jesuit pope certainly knows better than I do), there are directives about conversation which I have found very practical in my interactions with various people. Whenever we have a hard time understanding someone, we should consider ourselves bound to interpret what we are hearing with the kindest interpretation possible. This sort of approach helps us to seek the right questions to ask as we try to clarify what we are hearing. The care we take with our response contributes to the development of a level of trust.

Every one of us has an appreciation for humor, and we tend to question whether humorless people are really sufficiently developed in their humanity. We recognize, however, that humor expresses itself along a spectrum, ranging from innocuous to deeply hurtful. It is not for nothing that we refer to "cutting" humor, for much humor is in fact an expression of aggression, and we all need to be judicious about the sort of humor we indulge in.

Political humor often takes the form of satire, a type of humor which allows people to expose the folly of people in power. Most satire depends on ridicule, which is not helpful at all in one-to-one relationships, but does serve to rally groups of people who feel oppressed.

Religion is fertile ground for humor. Good religious humor is rooted in a believer's ability to laugh at himself or herself. There exist Jewish humor, Muslim humor, Protestant humor, and Catholic humor: tales which are told by believers themselves. Question: How many Catholics does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Change?!?!?

Humor is a wonderful thing, best practiced among people who love and trust each other and are secure in their relationships. If we are to laugh in the context of a consideration of our religious beliefs, which are so important to us, we must first get to know people of different religions and really listen to what they care about. Just doing this will change us. And this is a change we will welcome.