This year marks the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’s election. Despite Cardinal José Mario Bergoglio’s significant contribution to the South American continent, many thought that this cardinal, who travelled by bus and lived in a small apartment, was at the end of his journey. However, he was only in the beginning. But how can we define his legacy?
The environment: Surely, one of the main themes that has underlined this papacy is the care for the environment, dedicating a whole encyclical to this theme. Laudato Si can, in fact, be considered an important milestone of Pope Francis’s journey, ushering the theme of the care of our ‘common home’ into common usage and putting a responsibility on us all for the care of the environment.
Politics as a vocation: Pope Francis has always seen politics as a vocation and politicians as important actors within our society. In 2015, during his address at the United Nations, he invited world leaders to take concrete and decisive actions for the care of the environment and against social and economic exclusion.
In his encyclical Fratelli Tutti he advocates for:
(a) long-term politics that tries to better the lifes of people; (b) politics that is not subject to the economy; (c) politics that builds communities at all levels; and (d) politics that aims for the eradication of poverty.
Immigration: Pope Francis’s first voyage outside the Vatican was to the island of Lampedusa to mourn the loss of migrants’ lives in the Mediterranean. There he took the opportunity to denounce the indifference of the international community towards them, calling their deaths a “thorn in his heart”.
In 2016, during his visit to the island of Lesbos, in Greece he visited refugee camps and took with him back to the Vatican three families of refugees. In Fratelli Tutti he highlights that our attitude towards migrants should be summarised in four words: welcome, protect, promote and integrate.
Mercy: Mercy is another important theme which characterised this papacy. In 2015, he launched the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. Apart from the fact that his motto is also reflective of the virtue of mercy, such gestures, including the celebration of the rite of the washing of the feet in prisons and the opening of the doors of the Vatican to the homeless, are concrete evidence to this.
Poverty: In one of his first meetings after his election, Pope Francis highlighted that he wants “a poor Church, for the poor”. His selection of the name of Francis, epitomises in the best way possible his option for the poor.
For him, poverty is a fundamental key to understand the Gospel. In the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium he states clearly that “there is an inseparable bond between our faith and the poor. May we never abandon them”.
A key message of Pope Francis along these years is that we are all responsible to create a better society- Daniel Borg
Evangelisation: In his speech at Ta’ Pinu last year, the pope had said that “the joy of the Church is to evangelise”. For him, the Church should shed its fears and reach to the periphery to preach the Gospel. In Evangelii Gaudium (2014), he highlights: “I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.”
Love for the family: The Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia can also be considered an important milestone of these 10 years. It provides us with a whole new perspective of how we should see love and family life, helping us to understand new realities and difficulties that families are facing. It also sends out a clear message that as a Church we can never stop in our discernment of the reality around us.
Youth: Throughout these years, youth have had an important place in Pope Francis’s teachings and actions. The Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit calls for a youthful Church, one that is welcoming to youth and is sensitive to their needs and problems. He continuously calls for youth to meet the person of Jesus and to not let anyone steal their hope and love.
Interreligious dialogue: This aspect has been strongly emphasised by the pope along these years.
On February 4, 2019, together with Imam Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, he issued an important document on human fraternity which emphasises important values such as tolerance, dialogue and the acceptance of the other. One could not also help but notice that his trip to South Sudan was conducted jointly with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland.
The common good: A key message of Pope Francis along these years is that we are all responsible to create a better society, including key actors such as the state, civil institutions and business. Human dignity has to return to the centre of our thinking, whereby the economy cannot dictate society’s choices.
What should we make out of it? These have been 10 important years and, obviously, there is more to this than what has been written here. Nonetheless, no one can deny the deep transformation that the Church is undertaking, this also being shown in the Synodal process.
It is a Church which is moving more towards its roots: the radical message of the Gospel. No one would have imagined that a frail 76-year-old (at the time of his election) would bring about such change.
Daniel Borg is CEO of the Gozo Business Chamber.