Reflections on Pope Francis (Part 1)

When we lose a loved one, we experience a mix of grief and gratitude, and an opportunity to reflect upon the bigger picture of their life. In the case of the Pope, we are united in this grief and gratitude, and we now have the opportunity to reflect upon the bigger picture of his remarkable Pontificate.

It is impossible to summarise the rich and powerful legacy of Pope Francis in a single message. It is all too tempting to try to force him into our own pre-conceived categories of thought and politics, and we will see many of these over-simplified narratives in the secular media – this is to be expected. However, Pope Francis himself regularly warned us against such over-simplifications of our faith.

As Catholics, who are not simply “external observers” of the Pope but rather the family of faith united under his leadership, may we take the time to reflect more deeply, and from the heart, during the days, weeks, months and years ahead, upon the powerful and challenging messages Pope Francis proclaimed through his words and deeds. I will be doing this myself and sharing some of these reflections in future messages.

For now, the reflection that I choose to share comes from one of his early interviews as Pope, and a response which I believe provides us with a beautiful insight into the man and his mission.

When he was asked as a first question in an interview “who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio”, the Pope paused in silent reflection and then responded: “I do not know what might be the most fitting description...I am a sinner. This is the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.” He then spoke of the motto he chose as Bishop and Pope: “Miserando atque eligendo” which means “having mercy and choosing him” – based upon Jesus’s call of Matthew, the tax-collector. He then concluded his answer: “Here, this is me, a sinner on whom the Lord has turned his gaze. And this is what I said when they asked me if I would accept my election as pontiff…I am a sinner, but I trust in the infinite mercy and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I accept in a spirit of penance.”

I have a clear memory of watching the live footage of Pope Francis’s opening address after he was elected Pope (13 March 2013). Before the Pope’s first Papal Blessing as Bishop of Rome “to the city and the world” (the “Urbi et Orbi”), he asked the city and the world to pray for him, and bowed in silence as we prayed for him. How fitting that, as frail and weak as he was on Easter Sunday, he so generously made his way to that same place, to give the Easter Urbi et Orbi, imparting the blessing of the risen Christ to the city and the world, before departing this world that night - his work on earth complete. How fitting that we celebrate his funeral on Divine Mercy Sunday, the Sunday of the year most explicitly dedicated to remembering the infinite mercy of the crucified and risen Christ. As he asked of us as he began his Pontificate, may we continue now to pray for Pope Francis, with gratitude for his service, and with confidence in the infinite mercy of the risen Lord, which he experienced so deeply within himself and shared so generously with the world.