When Pope Francis was hospitalized in February, the editor of Sojourners asked me to write a reflection on his papacy. Sojo, as some of you know, is a social justice faith magazine run by Protestants, so they sometimes call in a progressive Catholic ringer. I have written for them before about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and the stories of queer and gender nonconforming Catholics throughout history, and occasionally on other issues.
We edited the piece in February and then the pope, surprising everyone, made it out of the hospital. But if you saw photos of him after his release, you know that he didn’t look or sound well. Like most workaholics, he wanted to jump right back into things, which led to him meeting with American vice-president and Catholic convert J.D. Vance on the same day the pope died.
Vance, who has the hubris to believe he understands Catholicism better than the pope, had to endure a lecture from Francis’ #2 about immigration before he met Francis for a few minutes long photo op. It reminded me of Queen Elizabeth meeting former British Prime Minister Liz Truss right before the queen passed away. Truss was booted out of office just 48 hours later. One can only hope imagine that the pope put a curse on prayed for a change of heart in Vance.
In any case, while Francis’ record on women and LGBTQ people is decidedly mixed, he will likely be the best pope on the economy, immigration, and worker’s rights in most of our lifetimes. Many are worried that his successor1 will represent a Trump style backlash. But the next conclave will show how much thought Francis put into assembling a college of cardinals that reflects his priorities (no, the result will not be the same as it was in the movie Conclave, although we can dream). I appreciated what Dean Dettloff wrote in The Nation yesterday:
There is a folk saying in the Catholic Church that each pope corrects the errors of the last. This is a tempting intuition given the current state of global democracy, where far-right politics are gaining ground against liberals who have worn out their welcome or failed to cast a compelling vision.
But whoever occupies the chair of St. Peter next will be chosen by those in whom Francis has placed his trust. The conclave will be a test of Francis’s discernment more than a referendum on his approach, and while the results are hard to predict given the many unprecedented electors, it is difficult to imagine a conclave that results in a simple revenge of the right—however much traditionalists might hope for it or cynics might fear it.
In any case, here’s some of what I wrote in Sojourners:
Popes can be unpopular in Rome and popular globally and vice versa. They can be charisma machines or introverted brainiacs. But what they must be are pastors above anything else, and from his days serving in the slums in Buenos Aires, Pope Francis was always a pastor. The pope is primus inter pares, first among equals. Popes are not kings or presidents, not dictators or CEOs. They make mistakes, they stumble, sometimes they hurt people along the way. But the popes who are true pastors recognize that the church and the world it serves can and does change for the better. For any of his faults, Francis never lost sight of this, and neither should we.
On bad days of late, sometimes I look at this photo and laugh2. I think Pope Francis, who had a pretty wicked sense of humor, would appreciate that.
The joke is Francis’ facial expression — I think he was not enjoying this particular photo opp