Remembering Pope Francis

Remembering Pope Francis

Pope Francis was the first Jesuit pope, the first Latin American pope and the first pope from outside Europe in at least 1,000 years. Read the transcript here.

Hungry For More?

Luckily for you, we deliver. Subscribe to our blog today.

Thank You for Subscribing!

A confirmation email is on it’s way to your inbox.

Share this post
The LinkedIn logo in black.
The Facebook logo in black.
X logo
The Pinterest logo in black.
A icon of a piece of mail in black.

Copyright Disclaimer

Under Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

Stephanie Sy (00:07):

He was a symbol of change and hope for the Catholic Church. In March of 2013, Bishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected pontiff at the age of 76s.

Pope Francis (00:25):

Thank you so much for your welcome. Please pray for me.

Stephanie Sy (00:31):

He was a disrupter from the outset, the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere, the first Jesuit pope, and the first to choose the papal named Francis after the Saint who renounced his privilege to follow God. It was fitting for a man who, even as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, lived in a modest apartment and rode the bus. Francis followed the late Pope Benedict XVI, the first pope to resign in 600 years. Unlike his scholarly predecessor, Francis was known for his pastoral approach, says Natalia Imperatori-Lee, who runs the religious studies department at Manhattan College.

Natalia Imperatori-Lee (01:11):

He is committed to what is known as the signs of the times, and Francis, with his papal priorities, the climate, migration, has really looked at the world as it is. The grief of the world, the hope of the world, the joys of the world, and the anxieties of the world, and thought, "How can the Church bring attention to this?"

Stephanie Sy (01:35):

Early in his pontificate, Francis made the first of what would become regular impromptu comments during back-of-plane news conferences that would spark headlines, this remark about homosexuality.

Pope Francis (01:49):

If someone is gay, and he searches for the Lord, and has goodwill, who am I to judge?

Stephanie Sy (01:56):

He maintained homosexual acts were sinful, but for queer Catholics, Francis signaled positive change, and he went farther than other popes, formally allowing priests to bless same-sex couples.

David Gibson (02:10):

In the end, Pope Francis didn't really change any doctrines regarding gay people, but he said that we are all sinners. He put everybody on the same level.

Stephanie Sy (02:21):

David Gibson, the director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University says, "When it came to calling for urgent action on climate change, Francis called the planet our common home."

David Gibson (02:32):

That, if anything, was his social justice priority because he believed so strongly in a culture of life, but a culture of all life. He redefined pro-life as life from womb to tomb, but around the planet.

Stephanie Sy (02:49):

Francis opened an expanded dialogue on whether divorced and remarried Catholics could partake in communion, on the morality of contraception, and on the of women in church leadership. He ultimately dismissed the idea of women becoming priests or deacons, but under him the most recent church synod, traditionally a summit of bishops included laypeople and women. That led in part to this thinly-veiled criticism by American Cardinal Raymond Burke.

Cardinal Raymond Burke (03:20):

Today's bishops and cardinals need a great deal of courage to confront the grave errors that come from within the Church itself.

Stephanie Sy (03:28):

Francis sidelined Burke and other dissenters.

David Gibson (03:31):

Towards the end of his papacy, Pope Francis was getting a bit fed up with the conservative critics, especially those based in the United States. I mean, they weren't just criticizing him, they were saying he was an apostate, saying he was a heretic. They were setting themselves up almost as anti-popes.

Stephanie Sy (03:48):

Francis inherited the sexual abuse epidemic infecting the Church and like his predecessors, he fumbled his way through it. In early 2018, Francis visited Chile to apologize for the sexual abuse of dozens of minors over decades by Father Fernando Karadima.

Pope Francis (04:08):

I cannot but manifest the pain into the shame. Shame that I feel for the irreparable damage done to children by church ministers.

Stephanie Sy (04:19):

But his apology was overshadowed by his defense of Bishop Juan Barros, who had been accused of covering up the abuse. Francis told accusers they needed to provide proof. On the plane home, he apologized, but the damage was done.

Natalia Imperatori-Lee (04:36):

And his words really hurt survivors in real ways. It caused material harm to them to not be believed, again, at the highest levels of the Church.

Stephanie Sy (04:46):

During his papacy, he expanded rules for internal policing and prosecuting sex abuse cases. Francis was welcomed by leaders near and far on his papal missions. On a trip to Canada, he apologized for the Catholic Church's role in the cultural genocide of Indigenous tribes. And in 2015, he came to the US where he became the first pope to address Congress with a soaring vision of an America united in compassion.

Pope Francis (05:19):

But we must move forward, together, as one in a renewed spirit of fraternity and solidarity, cooperating generously for the common good.

Stephanie Sy (05:35):

He sought to elevate the Church's influence on moral issues until the very end. In an open letter to American bishops, he recently called the Trump administration's mass deportation policy, "A major crisis that damages the dignity of many men and women and of entire families." Whether Francis's approach and his efforts to shift the Church on some key issues will continue to have impact, is an open question.

David Gibson (06:02):

Was Pope Francis a success? The only way we can tell is who walks out on the balcony as the next pope. Will it be somebody who continues that legacy, who walks through the door that Pope Francis opened? Or is it somebody who's going to close that door?

Stephanie Sy (06:22):

Pope Francis died at the age of 88.

Pope Francis (06:24):

[Italian 00:06:28].

Stephanie Sy (06:29):

For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Stephanie Sy.

Topics:
No items found.
Subscribe to the Rev Blog

Lectus donec nisi placerat suscipit tellus pellentesque turpis amet.

Share this post

Copyright Disclaimer

Under Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

Subscribe to The Rev Blog

Sign up to get Rev content delivered straight to your inbox.