This is an opinion piece I wrote for the Savannah Morning News
After he was elected Pope on March 13th, 2013, I carefully followed every one of Pope Francis’ public appearances. I rapidly noted a reoccurring motif in every single address: “God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy.” Not knowing a thing about Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, now chosen by his brother cardinals to be the Bishop of Rome and Successor of Saint Peter, these words revealed what he held in the depths of his heart: a desire to make God’s mercy present to an aching world. He chose the motto “Miserando atque eligendo” for his pontificate, translated from Latin to “he looked upon him with mercy and chose him” – a reference to the call of Saint Matthew.
Prior to a Papal election, the voting cardinals gather for a few days in prayer and conversation. During this pre-conclave meeting in 2013, Cardinal Bergoglio foreshadowed the themes of his papacy in a brief but powerful four-minute intervention where he summarized his vision for the Papacy. Considering these words at his death, this very same statement describes now his legacy. Pope Francis was keenly aware of what the Holy Spirit needed from him, and as he passes to eternal rest, he goes in peace having brought to fulfillment what the Lord asked of him.
In his intervention, he noted that the Church must come out of herself and go to the geographical and existential peripheries of the world. He named some of the existential peripheries common to every human being: sin, pain, injustice, ignorance, indifference to religion, intellectual currents, and misery. He then warned that if the Church does not go out to evangelize, she becomes self-referential and gets sick. He proposed the powerful image that perhaps Jesus is knocking at a door from within the Church desiring to go out, but the Church selfishly keeps Him to herself. His third point stressed the result of a self-referential Church, which is the mistaken belief that the light of the Church is her own, rather than the light of Christ. The Church is meant to reflect the light of Christ outside of herself, otherwise she falls into spiritual worldliness.
Pope Francis taught the modern world not to forget those who live in the margins of society – those who are easily discarded or forgotten due to weakness, discomfort or annoyance. He taught us that for true transformation to happen in a heart, you must be willing to walk close to your neighbor, just as God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden, and as Jesus walked with the two disheartened disciples on the road to Emmaus after the crucifixion. Pope Francis showed us the closeness, compassion, and tenderness of God toward every single human person.
Soon after holding the memorable prayer service on Saint Peter Square as the COVID pandemic descended over the globe in 2020, a Spanish journalist asked Pope Francis, “Are you an optimist?” Francis answered, “I don’t like that word. Optimism is like makeup; a knee-jerk reaction. I have hope.” Hope is superior to optimism since hope is grounded in the experience of God’s infinite mercy. The Gospel of Jesus brings hope, because though we deserve punishment for our sins, through repentance, we are granted God’s unconditional forgiveness. Mercy is the source of both Christian hope and joy. Pope Francis embodied this reality.
The opening motif of Pope Francis’ pontificate has resonated in my heart and in my preaching for the past twelve years. I was saddened to hear the news of his death, yet after a fulfilling life of service, he has reached the much-anticipated destination. He offered a concrete path to live out the demands of the Gospel in the modern world which is in desperate need of mercy. Beloved worldwide though misunderstood or disliked by some, Pope Francis’ legacy will forever echo in the life of the Catholic Church and Christianity at large. As he now encounters mercy itself, may his life remind us of the fundamental teaching he loved to profess, “God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy.”
Picture is mine, February 2020, Vatican City State.
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