Pope Francis leaves behind a legacy of faith and service in the Catholic Church

Pope Francis, who said on the night that he was elected pope that the cardinals “went to the ends of the earth to find a new bishop of Rome”, died in Rome on Easter Monday from a cerebral stroke, according to the Vatican, after a recent battle with respiratory illness. 

Pope Francis, the first Argentinian pope from the Global South, was elected on 13 March 2013. 

His service as the Bishop of Rome and the spiritual head of all Catholic Christians has marked a significant period in the Catholic Church’s life. Over his 88 years, Pope Francis lived in generous and creative service to God, the Society of Jesus (of which he was a member), the Catholic Church and, in his time as pope, the global community. 

Inspired by the example and spirituality of St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order, Pope Francis has consistently shown deep compassion for the poor, the sick, prisoners and the elderly. Throughout his ministry — whether as a priest, bishop, cardinal or pope — the poor and the outcast, those whom the rich and powerful often relegate to the margins of society, were close to his heart and his pastoral concern.

Pope Francis shifted the emphasis of the papacy. In many ways, he set a new trajectory for the Catholic Church by the issues he addressed. 

At the beginning of the papacy, the cardinals who elected him tasked him with reforming the Catholic Church. He took up this challenge and, against some internal resistance, worked to reform the Catholic Church’s central administration, promoting professional competence and inclusivity. Pope Francis tried to humanise the Vatican administrative machinery, making it more attentive and welcoming to people rather than emphasising structures. 

Pope Francis took the reins of leadership in the midst of both a financial and clergy sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. He acknowledged the painful legacy of sexual and financial abuses, and worked to begin to address these wrongs. Although some critics believe his actions came too late, or that he has done too little, he dismissed some perpetrators from the ministry and from positions of power. He also met numerous times with victims. 

During the dark days of the global Covid-19 pandemic, Pope Francis emerged as a global leader. Images of him were televised worldwide as he led a prayer service and walked across an empty St Peter’s Square. This gesture signified the pope’s closeness with people around the world as they struggled with the pandemic and death. 

Pope Francis courageously reached out to individuals living in diverse situations — unwed mothers, divorced persons and same-sex couples — encouraging discernment in ministry and showing that God’s love is inclusive of all people. More conservative people in the Catholic Church strongly criticised him for his willingness to reach out to those who were often condemned and made to feel unwelcome in the Church.  

During his time as pope, Francis responded to the calls for greater inclusion of women in the Catholic Church. He appointed women to significant roles and initiated discussions on the possibility of women’s ordination to the diaconate, addressing a critical area of unfinished business. Although this seems to have stalled in the last year, and many women feel he did not go far enough, he will still be remembered as the pope who appointed women to positions in the Catholic Church that women have never occupied. 

In the religious world, Pope Francis reached out to the Muslim world more than any other pope. He visited numerous Muslim countries and sought commonality with non-Christians rather than differences. 

Standing alongside figures like St Francis of Assisi, Pope Benedict XVI, and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, he called for stewardship of the earth. His groundbreaking encyclical, Laudato Si’, highlighted the intertwined crises of environmental degradation and social injustice, urging collective action to care for our common home by caring especially for the poor who are often at the coal face of environmental degradation.  

Pope Francis was not afraid to speak to the rich and powerful in the world. His consistent call for the welcome and care of migrants and refugees, when many politicians used xenophobia in politicking, often meant he was at odds with world leaders. His ministry extended to prisons and refugee situations, where he showed compassion and empathy for the marginalised, regardless of their national or religious identity, pleading their cause. At the beginning of his recent illness, he was not afraid to challenge the leadership of the Catholic Church in the US. He strongly condemned the direction in which the US administration was moving on the issue of migrants. 

Pope Francis called for peace in war-torn countries and relentlessly advocated justice in the world, also addressing the United Nations. Many people will remember how he knelt down and kissed the feet of Sudanese leaders when they signed a peace agreement in Rome in 2019. 

In the past few years, Pope Francis has called for the Catholic Church to become “synodal”. He wanted to include the voices of the people in the Catholic Church on all levels by urging a spirit of listening and cherishing diverse insights. He called two meetings of the Synod of Bishops in Rome after a global consultation of all Catholic communities. He placed a lot of emphasis on dialogue. 

Pope Francis constantly called for peace in the Middle East. He appealed to both Israelis and Palestinians to seek the path of peace through dialogue and not arms. In some of his most explicit criticism of Israel, last November, he suggested that the global community study whether Israel’s military campaign in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people. Pope Francis became increasingly vocal about Israel’s war on Gaza. In December 2024, he unveiled a nativity scene in Rome in which baby Jesus was wrapped in a keffiyeh. 

South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier was one of the electors at the conclave that elected Jorge Bergoglio as Pope Francis. As pope, Francis appointed many new bishops in southern Africa. His most notable appointment in recent times was making the Archbishop of Cape Town, Stephen Brislin, a cardinal in September 2023. In October 2024, he moved Cardinal Brislin from Cape Town to be the Archbishop of Johannesburg. He took up the leadership of South Africa’s biggest diocese in January 2025. Cardinal Brislin will have to travel to Rome to elect a successor to Pope Francis in a conclave in the coming weeks. DM

Russell Pollitt is a parish priest at Holy Trinity Catholic Church.