Pope Francis who died yesterday morning, 21 April, at the age of 88 was a trailblazer in more than one respect and definitely one of the most influential figures of the 21st century: the first priest of the Jesuit Order (Society of Jesus) to occupy the Throne of St. Peter as sovereign of the Vatican State, Bishop of Rome, and leader of all Catholics worldwide (1.4 billion of them across the world). He was the first Pope from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first Pope to have been raised outside Europe since Pope Gregory III in the eighth century. It may be said that Pope Francis’ death was not shocking, but it was unexpected at the time it happened, the suddenness of it was more telling, He was 88, and at that age, it is common opinion that anything could indeed happen, mortality being a fact of existence, and death, a debt that all living things owe.
Besides, the Pope had been ill since February. He spent five weeks in the hospital – the Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital in Rome (14 February – 23 March) where his doctors treated him for a case of double pneumonia, which later resulted in other complications: bronchitis, respiratory issues and anaemia. His doctors discharged him in March, and advised him to take a two months’ rest from duty, to convalesce properly. Since his return, there had been hope that the Pope was on the mend. On Easter Sunday, he greeted crowds at the St. Peter’s Basilica. He was seen without the nasal casula, a breathing aid that his doctors had given him. He wished the about 35, 000 Catholics that had gathered “Happy Easter” and blessed the crowd, including children. His Easter message – Urbi et Orbi (“To the City and the World”) was delivered on his behalf, a message striking the same notes of concern that formed a major plank of his papacy: peace, humanism and love. On Easter Sunday, he also met with the American Vice President who visited him. JD Vance is now recorded in the history books as one of the very last world leaders and diplomats to have spent some time with Pope Francis in his last hours on earth, a great privilege, that is. For a man, a once upon a time evangelical Christian, and an atheist, who converted to the Catholic faith in 2019, Vance may well read more than an ordinary meaning into that last encounter.
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The Holy Father has now gone to be with the Lord, and the tributes have been pouring in from virtually every part of the world – a testament to the impactful tenure of the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church, and of the force of his character and leadership. The symbolism and the significance of the time of his passing – right at the end of the Holy Week, on Easter Monday, seem imbued with deeper meaning. The Catholic Church is now in mourning as the Church slips into an interregnum, that is the time between the death of one Pope and the emergence of another. The Holy See has already declared the Novendiale, nine days of mourning, and daily prayer services and requiem masses have already begun at Catholic churches worldwide, as the Church prepares for the burial of Pope Francis. Within the next 15 – 20 days, the Sacred College of Cardinals from all over the world (136 of them currently – those under the age of 80 are eligible to vote) will convene at the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican City to choose a new Pope. During that period, marked by secrecy, ritual and tradition, there will be rounds of voting by the Cardinals until a candidate wins two thirds of the vote, and a white smoke emerges from the chapel to herald the emergence of a new Pope to the shouts of “Habemus Papum!” among the faithful. The secrecy and the politics of this process are well dramatized in a movie titled The Conclave (2006), and also in another movie of exactly the same title, that is- The Conclave (2024), (adapted from Robert Dennis Harris’s 2016 novel still of the same title) – winner of the 97th Academy Award for Best Writing and the BAFTA Award for Best Film. The period of the burial and the emergence of a new Pope should be a season of reflection and introspection for the Catholic Church, and an appreciation of the legacy and example of Pope Francis.
When Jorge Mario Bergoglio (real name of Pope Francis) ascended the Throne of St. Peter on March 13, 2013, following the resignation and retirement of Pope Benedict XVI who died later in 2022, the new Pope had chosen the name Francis in honour of St. Francis of Assisi, the Italian mystic and poet who founded the Order of the Franciscans. This gesture was meant to underscore the 266th Pope’s commitment to a life of poverty, chastity and the defence of the interest of the poor, the powerless, and the underprivileged members of the community. Pope Francis was a transformative leader who modernized the Catholic Church, an Outsider with a liberal disposition who dispensed with convention. He inherited a papacy that was mired in controversy, doubt and debate. He provided greater clarity with his humility, kindness, concern for the poor, commitment to inter-religious dialogue and continuous emphasis on the supremacy of God’s mercy. Born on December 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the eldest child of Italian immigrants, Jorge Bergoglio came to the papacy well prepared within the Church and in the world of practical experience. He once had a girlfriend – Amalia Damonte – who did not marry him. He also once worked as a bouncer in a night club! He loved football. But as fate would have it, he joined the Jesuit Order in 1958, and was ordained a priest in 1969, armed with a philosophy degree from the Catholic University of Buenos Aires. He rose through the ranks within the Catholic priesthood in Argentina, becoming coadjutor archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1997, and eventually Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998. He was quite a controversial figure in the Catholic Church in Argentina, and in the politics of the country especially during his term as provincial superior in the late 70s, and his fierce criticism of the government of the country, although he was criticized for not doing enough to oppose military dictatorship in Argentina. It is instructive that after becoming Pope, he never went back to that country. He had become famous by 2001 when Pope John Paul II elected him to the College of Cardinals. In 2005, his name had come up at the Conclave as a potential Pope, but it was not until 2013 when Benedict XVI resigned that he became Pope.
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His papacy was characterized by the courage with which he stood up to the Conservative wing of the Church who resisted his attempts at reform, and insisted that he was not “a true Pope” having not arrived at the position by way of tradition, rather through the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. This did not deter Pope Francis. He also boldly confronted his critics including American Cardinal Raymond Burke whom he had to demote twice. The church is probably one of the most political organizations in the world. The Catholic Church is not an exception in this regard. What endures however is Pope Francis’ commitment to service – his projection of the ideal of servant leadership, and the view that the church is for the poor who needed to be saved. He shunned luxury and preferred the common touch. He was willing to walk with the poor, live among them and fight for social and economic justice. He shunned the palatial residence of the Pope, any form of ostentation, and lived instead in humble surroundings of his choice, a small room in a guest house at the Vatican – the Casa Santa Maria. He was interested in service and making an impact, and he proved this again and again in the course of his 12-year papacy. His liberalism and belief in inclusive humanity could be seen for example in his defence of the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. He argued that even gay persons deserved the blessing of the church, because like everyone else they are the children of God. As he put it: “if a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person?” Pope Francis also supported climate change initiatives, and the urgent need to save the Earth. He also defended the plight of migrants and refugees in his support for refugees in Lampedusa, and the Greek island of Lesbos. He had the common touch either when seen identifying with the homeless in Washington DC, or the migrants in Lampedusa or washing and kissing the feet of South Sudanese war mongers. He was an apostle of peace, and unity, on the questions of South Sudan, Iraq, Egypt, Myanmar and every other troubled spot in the world. It was most instructive in his last Easter message this past Sunday, that the Pope condemned the deplorable situation in Gaza, anti-Semitism and the worrisome state of the world. Two years earlier, he apologized for the role played by the church in “cultural genocide” especially in Canada. He was also the first Pope to address a joint session of the US Congress, and on that occasion, Thursday, September 25, 2015, he defended the rights of immigrants “to travel North”. He was in the forefront of the campaign for vaccination during the COVID pandemic in 2021. He initiated reconciliation with the Eastern Orthodox Church, the first time since the schism of 1054. He reached out to Muslims and persons of other faiths as well. He was the “Pope of the peripheries”. He was the “Pope of Peace.”
Pope Francis did his best to reform the Vatican curia, but he did not succeed in every endeavour. His effort for example to promote women in the Church to the diaconate and the Bishopric level was widely questioned by the conservatives. When he tried to change the rules about divorced couples, he caused another threat of schism in the Church. He wanted divorced couples to take the Holy communion without the formal annulment of marriage. He had tried to address the challenge of sexual abuse in the church and among the priesthood – the Dirty Dozen affair- but he did not make any progress with that either, what he got instead was a rebellion within the church. Whatever may have been his omissions, however, Pope Francis was all things considered a traditionalist. He upheld the position of the Church on euthanasia, abortion, death penalty and celibacy. He also projected a positive vison of the Church, and was loud and articulate in defending peace and human progress. He leaves behind a message of hope, humanism and simplicity. Other Popes before him were buried in style, he has left word that he should be buried very simply – in one coffin made of wood and zinc. He wants to be buried as an ordinary pastor not as a powerful figure in the world! That should happen within the next six days according to tradition.
Pope Francis was a moral exemplar about the vanity of all things. He will certainly be remembered kindly and positively for his evangelism, his support for the poor, marginalized populations of the world. He will also be remembered for his projection of the Church as a prophetic church, and for his exhortations and encyclicals which raise fundamental questions about the place of the Church in a modern world as in these writings – “Lumen Fidei” (2013), “Evangelii Gaudium” (2013) “Amoris Laetitia” (2016), “Laudato Si” (2015), “Fratelli Tutti” (2020), “Laudate Deum” (2023) and “Dilexit Nos” (2024). For ordinary folks, there is perhaps an additional lesson here about the importance of health. The same ailment that has now resulted in the death of Pope Francis first showed up in 1957 when he was 21 years old. He had pneumonia then, and he had to undergo surgery. Doctors removed one of his lungs, and throughout his life, he struggled with respiratory illnesses. But with the grace of God, and with spartan self-discipline, paying attention to his health condition, he lived to the ripe age of 88, and has left a remarkable legacy.
It is now up to the Sacred College of Cardinals to elect a new Pope, and this obviously would be a question of whether the Cardinals would choose a liberal Pope who would extend Pope Francis’ modernization of the church or a hardline Conservative whose emergence would be a return to the authoritarianism of the Church, or perhaps a moderate who would unite all sides. There is also the question about age. In 2013, Bergoglio was 76. But despite the fact that the election of a new Pope is shrouded in secrecy until the Cardinals decide, this has not stopped the media and pundits from speculating about likely successors, and the big question has been: are we likely to have a Pope for the first time from Asia or from Africa? A certain Cardinal Adeyemi almost made it to the papacy in the movie, The Conclave (2024), but Africa happened to him. As the Catholic Church prepares for a post-Francis papacy, may the good Lord choose his own Bishop for the Throne of St. Peter. Farewell, Franciscus…Our Heavenly Father, we bow in submission to Thy Will…
Reuben Abati, a former presidential spokesperson, writes from Lagos.
