Francis: radical leader who broke the papal mould
THE FIRST JESUIT POPE!
ByAFP
April 21, 2025

Francis was the first pope from the Americas and from the southern hemisphere - Copyright AFP/File Filippo MONTEFORTE
Ella IDE
Pope Francis, who died Monday aged 88, will go down in history as a radical pontiff, a champion of underdogs who forged a more compassionate Catholic Church while stopping short of overhauling centuries-old dogma.
Dubbed “the people’s Pope”, the Argentine pontiff loved being among his flock and was popular with the faithful, though he faced bitter opposition from traditionalists within the Church.
The first pope from the Americas and the southern hemisphere, he staunchly defended the most disadvantaged, from migrants to communities battered by climate change, which he warned was a crisis caused by humankind.
But while he confronted head-on the global scandal of sex abuse by priests, survivors’ groups said concrete measures were slow in coming.
From his election in March 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was eager to make his mark as the leader of the Catholic Church.
He became the first pope to take the name Francis after Saint Francis of Assisi, a 13th-century mystic who renounced his wealth and devoted his life to the poor.
“How I would like a poor church for the poor,” he said three days after his election as the 266th pope.
He was a humble figurehead who wore plain robes, eschewed the sumptuous papal palaces and made his own phone calls, some of them to widows, rape victims or prisoners.
The football-loving former archbishop of Buenos Aires was also more accessible than his predecessors, chatting with young people about issues ranging from social media to pornography — and talking openly about his health.
Francis always left the door open to retiring like his predecessor Benedict XVI, who in 2013 became the first pontiff since the Middle Ages to step down.
After Benedict died in December 2022, Francis became the first sitting pope in modern history to lead a papal funeral.
He suffered increasingly poor health, from colon surgery in 2021 and a hernia in June 2023 to bouts of bronchitis and knee pain that forced him to use a wheelchair.
His fourth hospitalisation, of more than a month for bronchitis in both lungs, was his longest, raising speculation he might step down.
But he brushed off talk of quitting, saying in February 2023 that papal resignations should not become “a normal thing”.
In a 2024 memoir, he wrote that resignation was a “distant possibility” justified only in the event of “a serious physical impediment”.
– Kissed prisoners’ feet –
Before his first Easter at the Vatican, he washed and kissed the feet of prisoners at a Rome prison.
It was the first in a series of powerful symbolic gestures that helped him achieve enthusiastic global admiration that eluded his predecessor.
For his first trip abroad, Francis chose the Italian island of Lampedusa, the point of entry for tens of thousands of migrants hoping to reach Europe, and slammed the “globalisation of indifference”.
He also condemned plans by US President Donald Trump during his first term to build a border wall against Mexico as un-Christian.
After Trump’s re-election, Francis denounced his planned migrant deportations as a “major crisis” that “will end badly”.
In 2016, with Europe’s migration crisis at a peak, Francis flew to the Greek island of Lesbos and returned to Rome with three families of asylum-seeking Syrian Muslims.
He was also committed to inter-faith reconciliation, kissing the Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in a historic February 2016 encounter, and making a joint call for freedom of belief with leading Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb in 2019.
Francis re-energised Vatican diplomacy in other ways, helping facilitate a historic rapprochement between the United States and Cuba, and encouraging the peace process in Colombia.
And he sought to improve ties with China through a historic — but criticised — 2018 accord on the naming of bishops.
– Climate appeal –
Experts credited Francis with having influenced the landmark 2015 Paris climate accords with his “Laudato Si” encyclical, an appeal for action on climate change that was grounded in science.
He argued that developed economies were to blame for an impending environmental catastrophe, and in a fresh appeal in 2023 warned that some of the damage was “already irreversible”.
An advocate of peace, the pontiff repeatedly denounced arms manufacturers and argued that in the myriad of conflicts seen around the globe, a Third World War was underway.
But his interventions were not always well received, and he sparked outrage from Kyiv after praising those in war-torn Ukraine who had the “courage to raise the white flag and negotiate”.
In his modest rooms in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta guesthouse, Francis dealt with stress by writing down his problems in letters to Saint Joseph.
“From the moment I was elected I had a very particular feeling of profound peace. And that has never left me,” he said in 2017.
He also loved classical music and tango, stopping off once at a shop in Rome to buy records.
– ‘Who am I to judge?’ –
Francis’s admirers credit him with transforming perceptions of an institution beset by scandals when he took over, helping to bring lapsed believers back into the fold.
He will be remembered as the pope who, on the subject of gay Catholics, said: “Who am I to judge?”
He allowed divorced and remarried believers to receive communion, and approved the baptism of transgender believers as well as blessings for same-sex couples.
But he dropped the idea of letting priests marry after an outcry, and despite nominating several women to leading positions inside the Vatican, he disappointed those who wanted women allowed to be ordained.
Critics accused him of tampering dangerously with tenets of Catholic teaching, and he faced strong opposition to many of his reforms.
In 2017, four conservatives cardinals made an almost unheard of public challenge to his authority, saying his changes had sown doctrinal confusion among believers.
But his Church showed no inclination to relax its ban on artificial contraception or opposition to gay marriage — and he insisted that abortion was “murder”.
Francis also pushed reforms within the Vatican, from allowing cardinals to be tried by civilian courts to overhauling the Holy See’s banking system.
He also sought to address the enormously damaging issue of sex abuse by priests by meeting victims and vowing to hold those responsible accountable.
He opened up Vatican archives to civil courts and made it compulsory to report suspicions of abuse or its cover-up to Church authorities.
But critics say his legacy will be a Church that remains reluctant to hand paedophile priests over to the police.
– ‘Raised on pasta’ –
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born into an Italian emigrant family in Flores, a middle-class district of Buenos Aires, on December 17, 1936.
The eldest of five children, he was “born an Argentine but raised on pasta”, wrote biographer Paul Vallely.
From 13, he worked afternoons in a hosiery factory while studying to become a chemical technician in the mornings. Later he had a brief stint as a nightclub bouncer.
He was said to have liked dancing and girls, even coming close to proposing to one before, at age 17, he found a religious vocation.
Francis later recounted a period of turmoil during his Jesuit training, when he became besotted with a woman he met at a family wedding.
By then he had survived a near-fatal infection that resulted in the removal of part of a lung. His impaired breathing scuppered his hopes of becoming a missionary in Japan.
He was ordained a priest in 1969 and appointed the provincial, or leader, of the Jesuits in Argentina just four years later.
His time at the helm of the order, which spanned the country’s years of military dictatorship, was difficult.
Critics accused him of betraying two radical priests who were imprisoned and tortured by the regime.
No convincing evidence of the claim ever emerged but his leadership of the order was divisive and, in 1990, he was demoted and exiled to Argentina’s second-largest city, Cordoba.
Then, in his 50s, Bergoglio is seen by most biographers as having undergone a midlife crisis.
He emerged to embark on a new career in the mainstream of the Catholic hierarchy, reinventing himself first as the “Bishop of the Slums” in Buenos Aires and later as the pope who would break the mould.

REUTERS/Dylan Martinez/File Photo
Pope Francis has died on Easter Monday, aged 88, the Vatican announced. The head of the Catholic Church had recently survived being hospitalized with a serious bout of double pneumonia.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell’s announcement began:
Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father.
There were many unusual aspects of Pope Francis’ papacy. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas (and the southern hemisphere), the first to choose the name “Francis” and the first to give a TED talk. He was also the first pope in more than 600 years to be elected following the resignation, rather than death, of his predecessor.
From the very start of his papacy, Francis seemed determined to do things differently and present the papacy in a new light. Even in thinking about his burial, he chose the unexpected: to be placed to rest not in the Vatican, but in the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome – the first pope to be buried there in more than 300 years.
Vatican News reported the late Pope Francis had requested his funeral rites be simplified.
“The renewed rite,” said Archbishop Diego Ravelli, “seeks to emphasise even more that the funeral of the Roman Pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful person of this world.”
Straddling a line between “progressive” and “conservative”, Francis experienced tension with both sides. In doing so, his papacy shone a spotlight on what it means to be Catholic today.The day before his death, Pope Francis made a brief appearance on Easter Sunday to bless the crowds at St Peter’s Square.
Between a rock and a hard place
Francis was deemed not progressive enough by some, yet far too progressive by others.
His apostolic exhortation (an official papal teaching on a particular issue or action) Amoris Laetitia, ignited great controversy for seemingly being (more) open to the question of whether people who have divorced and remarried may receive Eucharist.
He also disappointed progressive Catholics, many of whom hoped he would make stronger changes on issues such as the roles of women, married clergy, and the broader inclusion of LGBTQIA+ Catholics.
The reception of his exhortation Querida Amazonia was one such example. In this document, Francis did not endorse marriage for priests, despite bishops’ requests for this. He also did not allow the possibility of women being ordained as deacons to address a shortage of ordained ministers. His discerning spirit saw there was too much division and no clear consensus for change.
Francis was also openly critical of Germany’s controversial “Synodal Way” – a series of conferences with bishops and lay people – that advocated for positions contrary to Church teachings. Francis expressed concern on multiple occasions that this project was a threat to the unity of the Church.
At the same time, Francis was no stranger to controversy from the conservative side of the Church, receiving “dubia” or “theological doubts” over his teaching from some of his Cardinals. In 2023, he took the unusual step of responding to some of these doubts.
Impact on the Catholic Church
In many ways, the most striking thing about Francis was not his words or theology, but his style. He was a modest man, even foregoing the Apostolic Palace’s grand papal apartments to live in the Vatican’s simpler guest house.
He may well be remembered most for his simplicity of dress and habits, his welcoming and pastoral style and his wise spirit of discernment.
He is recognised as giving a clear witness to the life, love and joy of Jesus in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council – a point of major reform in modern Church history. This witness has translated into two major developments in Church teachings and life.
Love for our common home
The first of these relates to environmental teachings. In 2015, Francis released his ground-breaking encyclical, Laudato si’: On Care for Our Common Home. It expanded Catholic social teaching by giving a comprehensive account of how the environment reflects our God-given “common home”.
Consistent with recent popes such as Benedict XVI and John Paul II, Francis acknowledged climate change and its destructive impacts and causes. He summarised key scientific research to forcefully argue for an evidence-based approach to addressing humans’ impact on the environment.
He also made a pivotal and innovative contribution to the climate change debate by identifying the ethical and spiritual causes of environmental destruction.
Francis argued combating climate change relied on the “ecological conversion” of the human heart, so that people may recognise the God-given nature of our planet and the fundamental call to care for it. Without this conversion, pragmatic and political measures wouldn’t be able to counter the forces of consumerism, exploitation and selfishness.
Francis argued a new ethic and spirituality was needed. Specifically, he said Jesus’ way of love – for other people and all creation – is the transformative force that could bring sustainable change for the environment and cultivate fraternity among people (and especially with the poor).
Synodality: moving towards a Church that listens
Francis’s second major contribution, and one of the most significant aspects of his papacy, was his commitment to “synodality”. While there’s still confusion over what synodality actually means, and its potential for political distortion, it is above all a way of listening and discerning through openness to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
It involves hierarchy and lay people transparently and honestly discerning together, in service of the mission of the church. Synodality is as much about the process as the goal. This makes sense as Pope Francis was a Jesuit, an order focused on spreading Catholicism through spiritual formation and discernment.
Drawing on his rich Jesuit spirituality, Francis introduced a way of conversation centred on listening to the Holy Spirit and others, while seeking to cultivate friendship and wisdom.
With the conclusion of the second session of the Synod on Synodality in October 2024, it is too soon to assess its results. However, those who have been involved in synodal processes have reported back on their transformative potential.
Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge, explained how participating in the 2015 Synod “was an extraordinary experience [and] in some ways an awakening”.
Catholicism in the modern age
Francis’ papacy inspired both great joy and aspirations, as well as boiling anger and rejection. He laid bare the agonising fault lines within the Catholic community and struck at key issues of Catholic identity, triggering debate over what it means to be Catholic in the world today.
He leaves behind a Church that seems more divided than ever, with arguments, uncertainty and many questions rolling in his wake. But he has also provided a way for the Church to become more converted to Jesus’ way of love, through synodality and dialogue.
Francis showed us that holding labels such as “progressive” or “conservative” won’t enable the Church to live out Jesus’ mission of love – a mission he emphasised from the very beginning of his papacy.

Joel Hodge, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Theology and Philosophy, Australian Catholic University and Antonia Pizzey, Postdoctoral Researcher Research Centre for Studies of the Second Vatican Council, Australian Catholic University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 1936-2025

"Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta," the Vatican said in a statement posted on X.
The head of the Catholic Church Pope Francis has died at 88 after a short illness.
The pontiff was admitted to hospital in February with a respiratory tract infection, having suffered various ailments in his final years. Despite his declining health, he had firmly and repeatedly made clear that unlike his predecessor, he had no intention of resigning the papacy.
Born in Argentina in 1936, Jorge Mario Bergoglio took over the papacy in 2013 after Benedict XVI stood down. At the time the Jesuit Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he was the first pope from the Americas, and had already become a high-profile figure in Latin America in general, particularly thanks to his public statements during Argentina’s financial crisis in the early 2000s.

As Pope Francis, he projected a more austere, scaled-back image than his predecessor; one often-repeated story, never officially confirmed, claims that he refused to wear elaborate papal garb for his first public appearance, telling an aide that "the carnival is over."
The pope frequently expressed a personal identification with the poor and was known for speaking up for refugees and people displaced by conflict. During the 2015 migration crisis, which saw a surge in dangerous and deadly crossings to Europe over the Mediterranean, Pope Francis announced that the Vatican would take in two refugee families and called on Catholics to offer their help as well.
"Before the tragedy of tens of thousands of refugees fleeing death in conflict and hunger and are on a journey of hope, the gospel calls us to be close to the smallest and to those who have been abandoned," he said.
The pontiff also called for peace in various conflicts, including Israel’s recent assault on Gaza.
"We cannot in any way accept the bombing of civilians," he wrote in an address delivered in January. "We cannot accept that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed or a country's energy network has been hit."
"My wish for the year 2025 is that the entire international community will work above all to end the conflict that, for almost three years now, has caused so much bloodshed."
While the pope's comments about conflict and humanitarian crises won him sympathy around the world, he also created occasional controversy.
In May 2024, he was forced to issue an apology after two Italian newspapers reported he had used a homophobic insult in a private meeting where he expressed opposition to allowing homosexual men to train as priests.
The incident went against Pope Francis’ image as relatively tolerant of LGBTQ+ people compared to his predecessors. In 2013, he famously opined that "If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him" — and in 2023, he gave permission for priests to informally bless same-sex relationships.
"I don't bless a 'same-sex marriage,' I bless two people who love each other and I also ask them to pray for me," he said in an interview at the time. "Always in confession, when these situations come, homosexual people, remarried people, I always pray and bless. Blessing should not be denied to anyone."
Towards the end of his papacy, Pope Francis also had to confront persistent anger over the Church's cover-ups of child sexual abuse committed by clergy around the world. In 2014, he described the global scandal as "moral damage carried out by men of the Church" and said he felt the need to "personally ask for forgiveness" for the abuse itself and the protection of abusers by Catholic authorities.

A particularly sensitive moment came last year with a papal visit to Belgium, where the pope apologised for the abuse of hundreds of children by priests in Flanders and accepted that the Church should be "ashamed."
But while reforms and procedures to safeguard against abuse and hold perpetrators accountable were put in place under Pope Francis' leadership, there have still been numerous allegations of priests accused of abuse being moved to other dioceses rather than subject to formal investigation or criminal charges.
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