(Worldly Jorge Mario Bergolio), focused on the simplicity and joy of the Christian message of love. During his election in 2013, he had a series of unprecedented qualities: he was the first Pope originating from America and the southern hemisphere and the first coming from the Jesuit Order.
It was also very special the choice of the name “Francis” by Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), who had insisted on voluntary poverty during the founding of the monastic Order of the Franciscans.
This rare combination of properties had its importance for a kind of redefinition of the papal institution. More attention was given to the “world south”, where the future of the Roman Catholic Church is considered to be more than in the gradual Christian Europe. The image of a papal institution was shown, which does not project its prestige through power, high aesthetics, luxury or cognitive authority, but it is.
The connective fabric, however, was the spontaneous character of Pope Francis himself, who was convincing that he was primarily motivated by the pursuit of sociality and unpretentious simplicity in his associations and pastoral practice, insisting on love as the most essential Christian.
Pope Francis was the third in a series of great popes, who did not come from Italy, showing a apocalyptic dialectic of the papal institution (although Francis’ family were immigrants from Italy to avoid the fascist regime). Polish John Paul II (Charles Veiya, 1978-2005) had insisted on the Christian origin of the modern ideal of human dignity and rights in a struggle against totalitarianism.
The German Benedict’s (Joseph Ratsinger, 2005-2013) was a great theoretical thinker who emphasized the importance of the European composition of Greek philosophy, Latin institutions and a Christian religion over the prevalence of a postmodernist.
With Pope Francis, the emphasis was placed on practical pastoral theory, the problems of the world and the East, and on an embrace of progressive demands, as a rule not through ideological declarations and changes in the content of faith, but through a encouragement.
In contrast to Pope Benedict, that is, that Christianity is only one of the cultural poles of Europe and needs one of the bottom and a dialogue with other poles of European heritage in a pluralistic context. Unlike Polish Pope John Pavlos II, Argentine Pope Francis restored the spiritual legacy of the Latin American “theology of liberation”.
The latter considers that sin is not only personal but also structural, when we have institutions, which reproduce exploitation. It is therefore a duty of the Christian to oppose not only his individual passions, but also the power structures that cultivate injustice. The Pope affected some extremes of the neoliberal character of globalization, which intensified social inequalities, while insisting that economic progress needed to be combined with justice. With these three non -Italian popes, the papal institution reinforced itself at the end of the Cold War and globalization.
As for Pope Francis’ spiritual ancestry: From the tradition of the Jesuit he has drawn the importance to spiritual distinction. What is prevalent to be called “Kazuist”, often with a negative tone as an immersion in the endless case, had begun as an emphasis on personalization of ethics. With the choice of his name, however, Pope Francis made a composition with the Franciscan spiritual tradition of the priority of the poor. He also denied a series of traditional papal privileges, for example. He did not live in the Vatican, but in the hostel of St. Martha, wearing regular footwear and so on. in counter to the priority of high aesthetics that characterized the previous Pope Benedict.
Pope Francis’ attitude towards the Orthodox was extremely crucial. Pope Francis activated the Synodia, starting at the parish level, while trying to reform the bureaucracy of the papal corner. In this way, which is based on the importance of the local diocese and parish.
In the days of Pope Francis, the largest convergence with Orthodox has happened to now how the “papal primacy” should be considered. Through the very good relationship with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the other challenges of the Orthodox Churches, inter -Christian relations have improved decisively. Indeed, there was a desire to have a permanently common celebration of Easter between Orthodox and Catholics, starting in 2025 that there is any coincidence on the date of the celebration.
As for Pope Francis’ political identity, it can be observed that he was already known in Buenos Aires for his work in the slums. However, the shift to a kind of political progress is regarded by many as a late evolution, mainly after its emergence to the papal institution. Among his iconic movements as a Pope was the introduction of women as complete members in some institutions in Roman Curia, his interest in refugees and immigrants, the view that issues of the LGBTKI community could be treated with pluralistic pastoral improvisation at a local level.
The most important institutional legacy left by Pope Francis is the renewal of the interest in all levels, with the convening of a Special Synod for Synodia by 2023, which is considered to be the most important relevant development in the Roman Catholic Church by the Second Vatican Synod 1965. H.
