HDS Professors Clooney, Zegarra Reflect on the Life and Legacy of Pope Francis

'Compassion Lived Out in Service'

Over the dozen years of his papacy, Pope Francis showed us again and again how important it is to have humble and patient, compassionate and forward-looking leaders. He used his authority wisely, calling us all to stand in solidarity with the poor and marginalized, our sisters and brothers who suffer from natural disasters, environmental degradation, senseless violence far and near, the shameful abyss between rich and poor, the sheer cruelty of so many of those in power today. His goal was compassion lived out in service. 

He was not perfect, and on occasion he did not do the just and true thing so many Catholics wanted. But no one can doubt that he was always leading us toward a more just and inclusive Church. He confessed his sins and the sins of Church leaders and strove to eradicate the poisonous sin of clericalism. He worked toward a truly communal Church, grounded in prayer and discernment, all members welcomed and listened to. 

He did not see other religions as threats but called all people of faith and spiritual values to work together on behalf of all God’s people, for the sake of all living beings and the earth itself. The cardinals soon to gather in Rome have a challenging task before them—to choose a leader able and willing to continue the work of Francis in rebuilding the Church as the community of love and service Jesus wanted it to be.

—Francis X. Clooney, S.J., Parkman Professor of Divinity, Professor of Comparative Theology

'A Commitment to a Life of Frugality'

I still remember the day Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope in 2013. Most of us knew nothing about the new pope, but, retrospectively, two elements revealed that day told us plenty. The first Jesuit pope chose the name of Francis of Assisi in a clear sign of a commitment to a life of frugality and to give preferential attention to the poor and marginalized. Similarly, by asking for the blessing of the people first, as he did from the balcony in St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis signaled his desire to give the Church a less hierarchical orientation and to make the people of God central to the Church’s mission. These initial signs were followed by a steady stream of gestures, public speeches, Church-organization choices, and magisterial teaching that made Pope Francis a beloved spiritual leader and potentially a deeply consequential pontiff.

I would like to highlight three of these consequential contributions. First, Francis decisively made the Latin American theological tradition of the preferential option for the poor a central pilar of his papacy. More importantly, he made it crucial in his magisterial teaching. His care for refugees, the poor, the environment, and for all the victims of what he called an “economy of exclusion” truly shaped his papacy and offered a model for the Church and the world. 

Second, in line with this option but expanding it, Francis was willing to engage in difficult cultural and doctrinal issues driven by mercy and his keen pastoral vocation. Indeed, Francis created openings for rethinking the situation of same-sex couples, divorced and remarried couples, and women in Church leadership. Most of these openings may appear weak and insufficient, and there are good reasons to think so. But the severe backlash that Francis received from traditionalist Catholics, including many bishops and cardinals, suggests that the pope was not naive and that he was playing the long game. True and stable change often takes time, and it often starts with small but decisive reorientations.

Lastly, Francis started a synodal path for the Church, which has the potential of a radical reorganization of Church governance. This process, which brought together thousands of Church leaders, including, for the first time a significant number of lay people and women, amounts to a new way to discern the needs of the Church by truly listening to the needs of its people. Naturally, the future course of this process will depend on Francis's successor and the willingness of the bishops to embrace this new model of Church organization. But many of those bishops were chosen by Francis and if he did so because they have taken on the “smell of the sheep,” the promise of new beginnings is still there.

Beyond the internal dynamics of the Catholic world, Francis’s global influence was profound. He became a beloved spiritual and moral leader for millions, particularly in a time in which many of us desperately seek glimpses of hope in the midst of the rubble of war and the erosion of democratic forms of life. May Francis’s memory be a blessing and the hopeful anticipation of the better world he was able to imagine with love. 

—Raúl Zegarra, Assistant Professor of Roman Catholic Theological Studies

Photo credit: Alfredo Borba, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.