The world needs strong religious leaders willing to speak truth to power and to reorient moral standards that cultural tides have set adrift. That is especially true during times of upheaval and international tension.
Among such leaders today, Pope Francis, whose given name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, stood out, particularly as it concerned the care for the poor.
Francis, who died Monday at age 88 from a cerebral stroke and cardiocirculatory collapse, reinforced this concern with the optics of everyday life. A Ford Focus was his choice for transportation. He eschewed the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, and instead chose to reside in a two-room guest house. He overhauled the church’s bureaucracy to make it more of “a poor church for the poor.”
A champion of the poor
Even the papal name he chose, Francis, hearkened back to St. Francis of Assisi, who had abandoned extravagance for a life of abject poverty.
This passion was undoubtedly informed by his own past. His parents were immigrants from Italy who settled in Argentina.
Francis’ greatest impact, however, may have been in the way he made political leaders uncomfortable by humanizing and championing the cause of poor people worldwide who were desperate to flee the ravages of despotism. As the leader of a church with well over 1 billion members, his words no doubt had great impact.
On this subject, in particular, Francis had a bold and clear voice.
He championed the cause of migrants and railed against global capitalism for ignoring them. He prayed at the border between the U.S. and Mexico for those who had died trying to reach America. He was not silent on immigration policies, urging human dignity in all cases.
Striving for world peace
Francis offered an olive branch to Islam, despite reports of violence against Christians, calling it a religion of peace while visiting nine Muslim-majority countries.
He sometimes used dramatic visuals in efforts to promote peace. Six years ago, for instance, he knelt and kissed the shoes of the leaders of both South Sudan’s government and the opposition in the civil conflict, urging them to wage peace.
He later returned, despite his own poor health, and decried the lack of progress. “No more bloodshed, no more conflicts, no more violence and mutual recriminations about who is responsible for it,” he said, according to the New York Times. “Leave the time of war behind and let a time of peace dawn!”
Mercy
As the Wall Street Journal said, the theme for his time in the papacy could be “mercy.” He made this the theme of a year of jubilee that began in 2015.
In his early years, he had wanted to become a chemist, but he abandoned those dreams when he felt called to the priesthood. He studied for that calling with the Society of Jesus, a Catholic order known as the Jesuits, in 1958. He was ordained a priest in December 1969.
His papacy had critics and was not without controversy, particularly concerning accusations of sexual abuse by priests. Ultimately, he instituted rules making it easier to discipline those who abused or who tried to cover up abuses. Critics have said these didn’t go far enough.
But when it came to caring for the least, the ones struggling with meager means and few opportunities, his voice was clear and unequivocal.
Migration problem is growing
Unfortunately, the world’s migration problem has grown considerably during Pope Francis’ tenure, despite his emphasis on compassion. As USA Today reported, 51.2 million people were forcibly removed from their homes in 2013, the year he assumed the papacy. Last year, that figure had grown to more than 120 million.
Political leaders have control over such things. Religious leaders, such as Francis and others, need to constantly remind them what the right and moral course should be.