Farewell to the Pope who tried to change the Church

RomeFrancis's arrival at the Holy See was unexpected, even for himself, and marked the beginning of an atypical pontificate. On March 13, 2013, the white smoke from the Sistine Chapel announced the election of a new pope after something unprecedented in modern history: the resignation of his predecessor, Benedict XVI. "It seems that my brother cardinals have gone to the ends of the earth to find him. Now I ask you to pray for me." This was how the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, presented himself to the faithful packed into St. Peter's Square. He was 76 years old at the time and not only had to rejuvenate the institution, but was also called to modernize it. Completely unexpectedly, the cardinals opted to place a Jesuit at the head of the Holy See for the first time in the history of Catholicism, who would be the first non-European pope in more than a millennium.

Since his proclamation as successor to Benedict XVI—who had resigned following a corruption scandal at the Holy See and the leak of classified documents—Pope Francis demonstrated that he would not be an ordinary pope. His election marked the beginning of a new way of governing the Church—or a return to its origins—right from the choice of his name, which he adopted in honor of Francis of Assisi.

He didn't change his black shoes, the same ones he'd worn while roaming the poorest neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, for the red ones of his predecessors, nor did he move into the Apostolic Palace. On the contrary, he preferred to live in a humble room at Casa Santa Marta, the hostel for religious men in the Vatican where he stayed during the conclave. And in his early years, it wasn't uncommon to see him roaming the streets of Rome in an old Renault.

But beyond apparently transgressive gestures, his greatestrevolutionIt was to shift the Church's compass and place the poor, the discarded, and the world's peripheries as the priorities of his pontificate. It was no coincidence that he chose the Italian island of Lampedusa as the destination for his first apostolic journey, from where he delivered a powerful message in favor of welcoming migrants.

Migrants and refugees were at the center of many of his initiatives. Perhaps because he himself always felt that way. The son of Italian parents from the Piedmont region, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in 1936 in Buenos Aires. He graduated as a chemical technician, but soon traded his lab coat for the priesthood. He began his career with the Society of Jesus and moved to Chile and Spain to study philosophy and theology. In 1970, upon returning to Argentina, he became a professor.

In 1992, he was appointed bishop by John Paul II and, nine years later, was created a cardinal. Criticism in his native country did not tarnish his pontificate, during which he timidly opened the doors of the Church to women and Catholics in irregular situations, such as divorced and remarried Catholics. He was transparent, building bridges between the Church of Rome and other religions until he achieved what seemed impossible: the restoration of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Beijing. International mediator.

As head of Vatican diplomacy and with the Gospel as his sole guide, Pope Francis visited nearly fifty countries on five continents to promote a new geopolitics of peace. From the thaw between Cuba and the United States to the Middle East—initiating a historic meeting with then-President Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas—the Argentine pontiff established himself as the great international mediator, with successes, but also with failures, such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Domestically, Pope Francis will be remembered for his confrontation with the scourge of sexual abuse within the Church. One of his first measures, in 2013, was the creation of a commission of experts, and five years later, he promoted an unprecedented summit at the Vatican that laid the foundations for a process of renewal, with the abolition of the pontifical secret and a reform of the Penal Code, which recognized for the first time the need for justice. The exponential increase in complaints worldwide during his pontificate certified the beginning of the end of the culture of cover-up that for decades protected abusers.

But the announced policy ofzero toleranceIn the face of clerical pedophilia, he had to confront strong internal opposition which, combined with the Pope's misinterpreted willingness to welcome homosexuals within the Church or open the doors to the ordination of married men, provoked a fratricidal war with the most conservative wing of the Catholic Church, which never recognized him.

The simultaneous presence of two pontiffs until 2022 posed a challenge for the Roman Curia and for Pope Francis. Having dragged on since his youth—he had part of his right lung removed at the age of 20—Pope Francis always refused to retire early. "Papal resignation cannot be a fad or something normal. I believe it is a lifelong ministry," he said in one of his last interviews. He was forced to resign in 2013 in case illness prevented him from fulfilling his duties.