Pope Francis, who died today, behaved in Rome like a missionary from the end of the world to recover the opening promises of the Second Vatican Council, in a pontificate marked by the fight against sexual abuse, wars and a pandemic.
Born in Buenos Aires on December 17, 1936, the first Jesuit to reach the leadership of the Catholic Church tried to give signs of modernity to the ancient institution, appointing women to positions of power and opening the doors to divorced people and homosexuals, decisions that provoked criticism from conservative sectors of the Church.
At his first mass after being elected, the cardinals heard Francis ask God to forgive them for seeking a Pope at the "end of the world" and, since then, he has been marked by his attitude of detachment from material goods and a harsh tone in condemning the excesses of capitalism.
Dispensing with luxuries and not wanting to live in the Pontifical Palace but in the Casa de Santa Marta, where Vatican guests stay, the first non-European Pope in more than 1,200 years and the first from the southern hemisphere introduced changes, seeking to recover the dynamism of the Second Vatican Council, which he considered still to be fulfilled.
"In many respects, it can be said that the last Ecumenical Council has not yet been fully understood, lived and applied. We are on the way, and we must make up for lost time," he wrote in his recently published autobiography "Hope."
"We still need to fully implement Vatican II. And also to sweep away more thoroughly the culture of courtship, in the Curia and everywhere. The Church is not a court, it is not a place for agreements, favoritism, maneuvers, it is not the last European court of an absolute monarchy," he added.
In the general congregations, meetings of the cardinals before the conclave, the then archbishop of Buenos Aires, who had been one of the most voted in the 2005 conclave, was noticed by his peers, thanks to his proposals for reforming the Curia and the management model, defending greater participation of the faithful and a Roman Church more permeable to the sensitivities of other geographies.
The new Apostolic Constitution merged services, reorganized structures and introduced the possibility of more women and lay people in management positions.
The strict policy regarding sexual abuse committed by many religious figures was one of the hallmarks of his pontificate, appointing new oversight structures, assuming compensation and removing those responsible.
The fight against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church was taken on by Francis as one of his battles, which led him to call a summit at the Vatican in February 2019.
"No abuse should ever be covered up or underestimated, because covering up abuses favors the spread of evil and raises the level of scandal," he told representatives of the religious hierarchy and leaders of episcopal conferences gathered in Rome.
In addition to "looking at the peripheries", Francis left a reorganized curia, more focused on social action and support for the disadvantaged.
In 2015, in the encyclical "Laudato Si" (Praise Be), Bergoglio took up one of his great causes, arguing that rich countries should sacrifice some of their growth and release necessary resources for poorer countries, in a text in which he proposed a social, environmental and economic revolution.
"The time has come to accept less growth in some parts of the world, while making resources available so that other parts can grow in a healthy way," the Pope wrote in the encyclical published in June 2015.
Five years later, in a new encyclical, entitled "Fratelli Tutti" (All Brothers), dedicated to fraternity and social friendship, Francis criticized the resurgence of populism, racism and hate speech, lamenting the loss of "social sense" and the historical regression that the world is experiencing.
"History shows signs of regression. Anachronistic conflicts that were considered overcome are reigniting, closed, exacerbated, resentful and aggressive nationalisms are resurfacing," he wrote.
He then identified the emergence of "new forms of selfishness and loss of social meaning masked by a supposed defense of national interests" and associated hate speech with populist political regimes and "economic-liberal approaches", which defend the need to "avoid the arrival of migrants at all costs".
In addition to these two encyclicals, Francis published "Lumen fidei" (Light of Faith) in 2013, which had been initiated by Benedict XVI and focuses on the relationship of faith with the world in the pursuit of the common good, and "Dilexit nos" (He loved us) in 2024 on the "human and divine love of the heart of Jesus Christ" that marked the beginning of the Catholic holy year (Jubilee) of 2025.
The Pope had to live with the shadow of his predecessor, Benedict XVI (1927-2022), who resigned in 2013 and lived in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery - located in Vatican City - and who was often seen as the convener of the most conservative forces in the Catholic Church.
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