Pope Francis: An enduring example of love and mercy

 

Pope Francis — An Icon of Reconciliation and Mercy

March 13 was a unique day in the history of the Church. On that day, 115 cardinals selected a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, and a crowd of more than a hundred thousand heard for the first time that a new Pope was elected from the Cardinals outside of Europe. For the first time, a Cardinal from Latin America, a Jesuit named Francis, has been elected as the new Pope. More than 5000 journalists were waiting outside to witness this event and report about it to their people spread all across all the  continents of the world. Thus, a new chapter has been opened in the history of the Church with the election of the new Pope. Within a few moments after his public appearance, he gained the affection of the people waiting to see and hear him. His first words were full of love and concern, calling the people to walk with him in this great pilgrimage of faith: “And now let us begin this journey… a journey of fraternity, of trust between us. I hope that this journey of the Church will be fruitful for the evangelization of this beautiful city.”

It would be interesting to note what the media, especially the Western media, were saying about the situation of the Church and about the role the new Pope has to play. According to the Press, the Church is falling apart, bedeviled with scandals and moral bankruptcy. Some of the major problems affecting the Church mentioned in the media are the following: sex abuse scandals, bureaucratic infighting in the curia, financial difficulties, money laundering, lack of transparency in the handling of finance, the rise of secularism, women's disenchantment, married clergy etc. According to these media reports, the Church is going to disintegrate unless the above issues are settled.

Some see the Church as a corporation and predict that the infighting among the curial bureaucrats would affect the functioning of the Church. The Economist of March 9, in its leading article, thinks of the Pope as CEO. According to the writer, for the successful governing of the Church, a new management style has to be adopted. They see the Pope as a CEO of a corporation. They suggest that, as the Church is international, it would be wrong to have all the bureaucrats who work in the Curia selected from Rome itself. More internationalization is needed in the functioning of the Church. It has even suggested moving the summer residence of the Pope to a country in Latin America. (This was published before the election of the Pope from Latin America).

With  the election of Pope Francis, the situation has changed, and the media and the people were taken by surprise by his humility and down-to-earth understanding of the people and their problems.

 Pope Francis has consistently used the language of reconciliation, love, and mercy. He has never spoken in a way that would undermine the dignity of any person. Even when urged during meetings or conversations to take stringent actions against individuals whose actions were deemed detrimental to the Church, he refrained from harsh responses or remained silent. He understood that such measures could deepen divisions and escalate hostilities.

From the time of his election as Pope, he led the Church with a new and distinctive perception. The very name he chose—Francis—was initially misunderstood by some as a reference to St. Francis Xavier. However, he clarified that he had chosen the name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, whose love for poverty and nature deeply inspired him, even in his early life.

The Face of Mercy

The central focus of Pope Francis's ministry was mercy. His pastoral approach was deeply marked by compassion, especially in his interactions with the poor and marginalized. He paid close attention to the needs of those living on the streets near the Vatican, ensuring they received food, shelter, and warm blankets.

During the last Synod, upon learning that a homeless person had died, he instructed a cardinal to conduct the funeral rites and have the man buried in the Vatican cemetery. In every country he visited, he made it a point to organize special programs for the poor. He also gave particular attention to migrants. For example, in response to the plight of the Rohingya refugees who fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh, he raised substantial funds to assist the local government with their resettlement. I learned of this personally through Archbishop Kocherry, the former Apostolic Nuncio in Bangladesh.

The Pope was always impartial in his approach. He prioritized visiting poorer nations and reaching out to people of different religions.

A New Definition of Hierarchy

Pope Francis redefined the Church's hierarchy by appointing laypeople, women, and religious to leadership positions in Vatican departments that were traditionally led by cardinals. A layman was appointed as the Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, and a religious sister became the head of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life. Through these appointments, he emphasized his commitment to recognizing the capabilities of all members of the Church, regardless of their clerical status.

In the Council for the Economy, he appointed three laywomen, demonstrating his intent to involve everyone in the mission of the Church. To further this inclusive vision, he convened two synods and published their findings to guide the Church forward.

Love of Nature

The protection of the environment was one of Pope Francis’s core missions. His love for nature was powerfully expressed in his encyclical Laudato Si'. He called on humanity to recognize the Earth as a divine gift, urging everyone to preserve and enrich it for future generations. He spoke of nature as “our mother” and reminded us that God’s love extends not only to humanity but also to the creation itself.

His Care for the Syro-Malabar Church

Pope Francis took a deep interest in the growth and welfare of various Eastern Catholic Churches. . It was thanks to his encouragement that we were able to establish four dioceses outside India. 

He maintained warm, friendly relationships with those who worked closely with him. Yet, he never hesitated to express his views firmly when necessary, even to those dear to him. He never compromised the good of the Church for the sake of personal ties. 

He had a heartfelt desire to visit India, though sadly, that visit never materialized.

Inclusivity

Pope Francis never made decisions to favor specific groups. His guiding vision was that all people are children of God, regardless of their beliefs or backgrounds—even those who may hold extreme or misguided views. He respected the autonomy of local Churches in addressing diocesan issues, believing it was not his role to impose from above.

He viewed all religions and ecclesial communities through the lens of shared humanity and mutual respect. His stance was clear: every Church must make its own decisions, grounded in its unique local context.

A Visionary Shepherd

With his passing, the world has lost a shepherd, a guide, and a visionary. He reached out to all people across races, religions, and nations, seeking to unite them under the umbrella of love. His was a broad, inclusive, and undiluted vision of the Church and of humanity.

 

St.John of the Cross,The Dark Night of the Soul

                                     St.John of the Cross(1542-1591)

 

St. John of the Cross is known in Christian circles as a great mystic and an author of mystical works. As a companion and counselor of St.Teresa of Avila, he grew in mystical experience and became a founder of a new order of Carmelite spirituality. Even as a young friar, he caught the attention of St.Teresa of Avila because of his theological knowledge, deep attachment to Jesus, and mystical experiences. Surprisingly, in the 20th century, he had another great disciple and fan in the US. , T.S. Eliot, the father of modern English poetry. T.S. Eliot passed through very dark experiences as a Christian and St. John of the Cross and his works became a source of comfort and strength for him. The following quote from East Coker in the Four Quartets shows the profound influence of John of the Cross on his life :

“You say I am repeating

Something I have said before. I shall say it again.

Shall I say it again? In order to arrive there,

To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,

    You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.

In order to arrive at what you do not know

    You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.

In order to possess what you do not possess

    You must go by the way of dispossession.

In order to arrive at what you are not

    You must go through the way in which you are not.

And what you do not know is the only thing you know

And what you own is what you do not own

And where you are is where you are not.”

It is very easy to see that T.S.Eliot is expatiating upon the theme of detachment enunciated by St.John of the Cross in the following lines from The Ascent to Mount Carmel:

“In order to arrive at that which thou knowest not,
Thou must go by a way which thou knowest not,
In order to arrive at that which thou possessest not,
Thou must go by a way that thou possessest not.
In order to arrive at that which thou are not,
Thou must go through that which thou art not.

(“The Ascent of Mount Carmel” I, xiii)

Reading the biography of St.John of the Cross is excruciatingly painful. Although his father belonged to the nobility, he was disinherited on account of marriage to a lady from a poor background. The father left his hometown to live at his wife’s place. John’s father passed away when he was very young. His mother took the children to their ancestral place but the family was not welcoming. She then left the place and got John admitted to an orphanage. However, through his studiousness, others noted him, and he was appointed as a caretaker of an infirmary. He was very kind to the patients and took care of their needs. His education was taken care of by a kind gentleman. He helped him to join a college nearby and after his studies, John decided to join the Carmelite monastery. There he developed a great thirst for holiness and lived a rigorous ascetic life. It was there that he came into contact with St.Teresa of Avila. Although he was young, St.Teresa chose him as her confessor and of other sisters of her convent as she was drawn by his scholarship and deep attachment to Christ. He became a part of the Reform movement started by St.Teresa in the Carmelite monastic system. John was entrusted with creating the reform for monks and encouraged to start monasteries for them. The new monks and sisters in the new movement began to be known as discalced Carmelites.

Many of the monks in the monasteries that followed the traditional system did not like the initiative of St.John and hence they imprisoned him in a room with no convenience, as a prisoner, for almost six months. He had to endure their insults, punishments, and all kinds of inhuman treatment. He lived like a condemned prisoner in a prison-like cell. He suffered all these inhuman treatments because of his thirst for a pure and more authentic monastic life. He escaped from the prison after six months and ran away to a distant place as he was afraid he would be caught and punished again. With the help of St. Teresa of Avila, he continued his ministry of being a spiritual father and confessor to the sisters of the new movement. In the end, he died in a monastery where the superior was very antagonistic to him. With a lot of pain on account of his breathing problems and skin blisters,  he breathed his last.

When we look at his life, we become amazed at the suffering he endured just because he wanted to be a holy priest. He was compassionate to the poor, the sick, and the suffering and whenever it was possible he spent his time caring for the sick. He knew that he had to help his mother and brothers as they were still not financially successful. He got a chance to visit his mother only a couple of times. He couldn’t be present at the deathbed of his beloved mother when she breathed her last.

It is  in these dark moments of his life that he composed his beautiful poem,The Dark Night of the Soul, explaining in allegorical images the comfort and solace one gets in union with Jesus. One has to pass through the dark night, through a life of detachment, through the world of suffering and hardship ,to  reach this state of perfect bliss with Jesus.

                                    The Dark Night of the Soul

In a dark night,

With anxious love inflamed,

O, happy lot!

Forth unobserved I went,

My house being now at rest.

II.

In darkness and in safety,

By the secret ladder, disguised,

O, happy lot!

In darkness and concealment,

My house being now at rest.

III.

In that happy night,

In secret, seen of none,

Seeing nought myself,

Without other light or guide

Save that which in my heart was burning.

IV.

That light guided me

More surely than the noonday sun

To the place where He was waiting for me,

Whom I knew well,

And where none appeared.

V.

O, guiding night;

O, night more lovely than the dawn;

O, night that hast united

The lover with His beloved,

And changed her into her love.

VI.

On my flowery bosom,

Kept whole for Him alone,

There He reposed and slept;

And I cherished Him, and the waving

Of the cedars fanned Him.

VII.

As His hair floated in the breeze

That from the turret blew,

He struck me on the neck

With His gentle hand,

And all sensation left me.

VIII.

I continued in oblivion lost,

My head was resting on my love;

Lost to all things and myself,

And, amid the lilies forgotten,

Threw all my cares away.

o

 

SSt.John gives a detailed exposition of the meaning of the Dark Night in his commentary, Ascent to Mt.Carmel.

   What this poem tells an ordinary person is that the soul is searching for union with Christ and when it becomes united with Jesus, it experiences unbounded bliss. Everyone who goes through suffering and purification of senses and of spirit in his holy pilgrimage to Jesus, finds in the end this happy union that takes away all the pain of suffering and purifications.

  This poem is thus a source of consolation to all those who suffer on account of their attachment to Jesus.

  The following  quote from John of the Cross is a source of great comfort and peace:

“   "In the twilight of life, God will not judge us  on our earthly possessions and human successes, but on how well  we have loved.”

 

 

Hope, the Autobiography of Pope Francis

 

Hope

The Autobiography of Pope Francis

Hope, the autobiography of Pope Francis, written in collaboration with Carlo Musso, is a remarkable work that offers a penetrating glimpse into the various phases of his life. In this book, he concisely presents the experiences and influences that have shaped his thoughts and spiritual journey. With great clarity—while avoiding the usual verbosity associated with theological works—he narrates the struggles and hardships his parents and grandparents faced while settling in Argentina to start a new life.

A particularly poignant reference is made to a shipwreck that, by the grace of God, ultimately saved his family—including his father, who was just a toddler at the time. His grandparents were supposed to board the ill-fated ship but, due to unforeseen inconveniences, were unable to do so at the last minute. That very ship tragically sank, and all its passengers perished. Pope Francis reflects that had his family boarded it, he would not be here today. The book vividly describes the many struggles his family endured in their efforts to establish themselves in Argentina.

A turning point in his life came during a casual visit to a church while running an errand for his mother. An encounter with a priest and the sacrament of confession deeply moved him, igniting within him a desire to pursue the priesthood. At the time, his mother believed he would study medicine, as he had majored in Chemistry.

The book also articulates many of the key thoughts and reflections Pope Francis has expressed in his encyclicals and exhortations. In the chapter Like the Branch of the Almond Tree, he draws an analogy between the advent of spring and his own spiritual rebirth. He encourages believers not to be imprisoned by their sins and failures but to embrace repentance and renewal:

"We must put our faith in God and in His mercy, which has the power to transform us… We don’t remain imprisoned in our past, whatever it may be, but we start to see the present in another way."

Regarding the liturgy, he emphasizes its pastoral dimension:

"The liturgy can't be a rite that is an end in itself, detached from pastoral considerations. The liturgy is an encounter, and it is a new start toward others. Christians are not those who go backward. The flow of history and grace moves like the sap of a tree that bears fruit… Tradition means moving forward… The Church is certainly not an orchestra in which everyone plays the same note, but one in which each person follows their score—and it is precisely that which creates harmony. Aspiring to unity does not mean uniformity."

In the chapter All Out and All In, he further expands on his vision of the Church:

"The Church is not a court; it is not a place for coteries, favoritism, or machinations, nor is it the last European court of an absolute monarchy. Synodality is not a fashion or a slogan to be exploited. It is a way of listening to one another… It is not about collecting opinions or conducting surveys but about journeying together and being attentive to the movement of the Spirit."

This book is rich with anecdotes, reflections on immigration challenges, and profound spiritual insights. Like the Journal of Pope John XXIII, it serves as a spiritual handbook—one that is inspirational, transformative, and deeply nourishing to the soul.

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Conclave, the movie

The movie Conclave is a blatant and unashamed mockery of one of the most sacred assemblies in the Catholic Church—the gathering of Cardinals to elect a Pope. Though the producers claim that the film is fictional and not intended to antagonize any religious denomination, it is, in reality, a direct attack on the Church. The very use of Catholic imagery, prayers, and rituals demonstrates that this film deliberately targets Catholics, as no other religious group holds a conclave to elect a Pope.

The film portrays the papal election process in a highly distorted and offensive manner, depicting the Cardinals as engaged in bitter power struggles rather than a prayerful and solemn discernment of God’s will. The introduction of a fictional Afghan Cardinal, to whom they ascribe radical liberal views, serves as a vehicle for imposing modern ideological narratives onto the Church. The climax of the film—where, after failing to find a suitable candidate, the Cardinals elect the Afghan Cardinal, only to later discover that he is a transgender individual—reduces the sacred process to a crude satire. This is nothing short of a direct and malicious attack on the Church’s most revered traditions.

Would such a film ever be made about the election of a successor to a spiritual leader in Iran or another Islamic authority? It would neither gain funding nor find a theater willing to screen it. Yet, when the target is the Catholic Church, such an offensive portrayal is not only tolerated but even celebrated—evidenced by its nomination for an Oscar. This is a scurrilous and disgraceful attempt to tarnish the Church’s image under the guise of fiction.