He responded to each person he met as if he were already a friend.
With the help of the Gospel, which he began to listen to carefully, Francis began to break down the barriers to friendship inherent in his old worldview. Every person, he began to see, was at the most basic root the same.
Francis's expressions of friendship came from his heart in an uncalculated way. We see Francis befriending without judging, noticing and responding to people's needs, and expressing love simply because that person has been created by a God who says that every created thing is good.
In one of the most personal of all the writings of Francis we possess, this one from 1226, Francis writes a note of encouragement to his closest male friend, Leo... "I am speaking to you, now, as a mother would, because all of the words we passed between us on the road together I am summarizing in this message and bit of advice. If you ever feel the need to for my counsel, I suggest that you turn to this letter. "My advice is this : In whatever way you feel called to serve the Lord, and to make him happy, to follow his footprint and his poverty, do that, and do that with my blessing and with the blessing of the Lord God. "If you ever want to come and see me, Leo, for the sake of your soul or for any other reason, come, by all means, come back to me.