SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
When Pope Francis was elected in 2013, it was a reflection across the world of a kind of optimism, a relaxing of the old ways that gave hope that a new future might be possible. At the time, the world felt like it was marching toward progress.
During his 12 years as the leader of the Catholic Church, Francis did something remarkable. He took the world’s largest institution and refocused it from reactionary concerns about forcing people to fit within its ideological constraints, and tried to structure it to meet people in their daily lives.
Pope Francis waves to the faithful as he leaves St Peter’s Square at the end of Palm Sunday Mass on March 29, 2015.Credit: Getty Images
His view of the world was one of divine diversity that ought to be uplifted rather than constrained to a medieval definition of righteousness.
There are times when it feels quaint to believe that our institutions ought to uplift the idea of human dignity. We live in a moment where that premise seems to be called into question more so than others. But Pope Francis believed in the dignity of the poor, the tired, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. His work reflected the idea that all of our actions must be measured against the truth of the innate dignity of all people.
Francis was a quiet diplomatic force, led by a belief that “Every war leaves our world worse than it was before,” and describing conflicts as “a failure of politics and of humanity, a shameful capitulation, a stinging defeat before the forces of evil”.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, he made a daily phone call to the lone Catholic Church in the city, with a final call this past Saturday.
He spoke out in support of immigrants, especially refugees. For the poor, the imprisoned, and those under attack. His rebuke of Vice President J.D. Vance’s comments about immigrants and refugees felt particularly important, leading Vance to remark that there are “things about the faith that I don’t know”.
That his final official meeting was with Vance can only leave us with hope that his words leave a lasting impact on the vice president, who could stand to learn a lesson in humility and service to humanity.
Days before his passing, and having only recently left hospital, Francis visited prisoners in Rome and washed their feet as a sign of humility, something he did every Holy Thursday. Throughout his life, he met with transgender people and sex workers, people he would have known when he was a bouncer at a club in his youth, and the same people Jesus spoke about loving unconditionally.
His concern for the downtrodden reflected the best of all of us.
This, of course, came to a head as he battled, politically and theologically, with the rising tide of authoritarianism around the world, particularly in the United States.
As a Jew, I was always impressed by Pope Francis’ work to reach out to other faith communities, and people with no religious affiliations. Religious minorities around the world are facing increasing hatred, and his work to stem that, and stand in defiance of it, was important.
His work is carried on by people like Father Daniel Madigan, based in Melbourne, a leading Jesuit voice on interfaith dialogue. When you listen to people like Pope Francis or Father Madigan speak about the future, about community and love of humanity, it is difficult to feel cynical.
The world in which Francis was elected seems far away these days. His death comes at an important moment where the world seems to be deciding between two potential futures. Between a reactionary, isolationist one that Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Viktor Orban are flogging, or one in which the global institutions we have built in the past century work to uplift and benefit all.
As with all institutions, the Catholic Church reflects the society in which we live. The selection of the next pope will tell us a lot about how the largest institution in the world will step into the future and the values it plans to project.
As a friend told me recently, it’s best not to walk into the future backwards.
Cory Alpert is a PhD researcher at the University of Melbourne. He previously served the Biden-Harris Administration for three years.
