Pope's Work

 

Pope Francis’ Funeral will be held tomorrow.

For those that don’t know the Pope is the Leader of the Catholic Church which has 1.3 Billion People.

Pope Francis is known as “The People’s Pope” because he sought to be accessible to the Ordinary People as well as bringing more Transparency and Openness to the Catholic Church.

Here are some of the things Pope Francis did (for both Catholics and Non-Catholics):

2024 Synod on Synodality (Described as the culmination of Pope Francis's Papacy and the most important event in the Church since the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s): Francis allowed Women to vote in the Catholic Synod of Bishops for the first time.

Institute for the Works of Religion – IWR - informally known as the Vatican Bank): Often criticized for corruption, money laundering, etc. Francis restricted the IWR in 2019 after first authorizing a Pontifical Commission in 2013 (when he first became Pope) to look at the allegations. In 2014 he removed 4 Cardinals in charge of the IWR.

Canonizations: Francis canonized Louis Martin and Marie-Azélie Guérin (the first married Couple to be named as Saints together) in 2015, Mother Teresa in 2016 and Óscar Romero in 2018.

Francis also canonized three of his Predecessors: Pope John XXIII in 2014, Pope John Paul II in 2014 and Paul VI in 2018.

Consistories: Francis created 163 Cardinals from 76 Countries across 10 Consistories (making the College of Cardinals less European-dominated.)

Covid-19: Francis led the Vatican and every Roman Catholic Church through the Covid-19 Pandemic. He cancelled his Public Audiences to prevent People from getting sick, encouraged Priests to visit the sick and Health Care Workers, created the Vatican COVID-19 Commission to listen to concerns and develop responses for the future and preached that getting the Covid-19 Vaccine was a “moral obligation.”

Role of Women in the Catholic Church: In January 2021, Francis issued Spiritus Domini, allowing Bishops to institute Women to the Ministries of Acolyte and Lector which were previously reserved for Men.

In April 2023, Francis announced that 35 Women would be allowed to vote at the Sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops ("just over 10%" of all voters), marking the first time Women are allowed to vote at any Catholic Synod of Bishops.

Apologies toward Indigenous Peoples: In 2022 Francis both apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in its abuses in Canada (Forced Assimilation, Residential Schools and the Mass Number of Unmarked Graves as the Schools) but he travelled to Canada and described the Canadian Roman Catholic Church’s role as “Cultural Genocide. “He also begged for forgiveness for these crimes.

Sexual Abuse Response: In 2017 Francis admitted he mishandled the case of the Italian Priest, Mauro Inzoli, who had been convicted of abusing Children.

He openly admitted the Catholic Church had “arrived late” in dealing with Sexual Abuse Worldwide.

In 2019, Francis defrocked Theodore McCarrick, a former Archbishop of Washington, who maintained a prominent position in the Church for decades despite repeated reports of Sexual Misconduct against him dating back to the 1980s. Francis also publicly released the findings of a 2020 Report on McCarrick.

In February 2019 Francis convened a Summit on Sexual Abuse.

He abolished the "Pontifical Secrecy" privilege in Sexual Abuse cases, clarifying that Bishops do not need authorization from the Vatican to turn over materials from Canonical Trials upon request of Civil Law Enforcement Authorities.

In November 2021, Francis thanked Journalists for their work in uncovering Child Sexual Abuse scandals in the Church. He also thanked Journalists for "helping us not to sweep it under the carpet, and for the voice you have given to the abuse victims".

Francis has apologized for Sexual Abuses by clergy in the United States and Ireland.

Modifying Papal Funeral and Burial Requirements: In 2024, Francis approved a second edition of Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis, the Liturgical Book prescribing Papal Funeral Rites, in order to make his Funeral Rites similar to that of a Bishop.

He also modified the Papal Burial Requirements to no longer include the traditional three coffins of cypress, lead, and oak, opting to instead be buried in one zinc-lined wooden casket.

 Pope Francis will also be the first Pope since Leo XIII (in 1903) to be buried outside the Vatican. Plans are made to bury him in Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica. He had a "great devotion" to the Salus populi Romani icon kept there.

Church Governance: Francis called for Decentralization of Governance away from Rome and for a Synodal manner of decision-making in dialogue with the people. He strongly opposed Clericalism and made Women Full Members of the Church's Dicasteries in Rome.

Environment and Climate Change: In October 2023, in advance to the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), Francis issued the Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum (Praise God), in which he called for decisive action to against the Climate Crisis and condemned Climate Change Denial.

In 2024, Francis organized a Climate Summit that issued a Planetary Protocol for Climate Change Resilience including three Pillars: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction (while prioritizing nature-based solutions), Climate Change Adaptation, and Societal Transformation.

Option for the Poor: In September 2024, Francis renewed calls for a Universal Basic Income, as well as higher taxes on Billionaires.

Homosexuality: In July 2013, Francis televised "Who Am I to Judge?" Statement was widely reported in the International Press, becoming one of his most famous statements on Homosexuals.

In other public statements, Francis had emphasized the need to accept, welcome, and accompany Homosexuals including Children.

He also supported Same-Sex Civil Unions as legal protections for Homosexuals.

In a January 2023 interview with the Associated Press, Francis denounced the Criminalization of Homosexuality (which he called "unjust.")

International Relations:

Cuba: Francis played a key role in the talks toward restoring full Diplomatic Relations between the U.S. and Cuba, announced in December 2014.

Israel and Palestinian Territories: In May 2014, Francis visited Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Francis offered symbolic gestures to both sides in the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict.

He invited Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres to a Prayer Summit at the Vatican—both accepted.

Francis condemned the Hamas-led Attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

From October 2023 until the day he died, he spoke with the only Catholic Church in the Gaza Strip every night.

Migrant and Refugee Issues: Francis made the plight of Refugees and Migrants "a core component of his pastoral work" and had defended their rights in dialogue both with Europe and with the United States.

In April 2016, Francis, along with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Ieronimos II of Athens, visited the Moria Refugee Camp on the Greek Island of Lesbos in order to call the attention of the world to the 2015 European Migrant Crisis. There, the three Christian Leaders signed a Joint Declaration.

In February 2025, following the Election to a Second Term of US President Donald Trump there were mass deportations and swinging cuts to International Aid by the new Administration, defended by Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, by recasting the Catholic idea of ordo amoris (the right ordering of one's love) as a justification for Nativism.

Francis wrote what had been described as "an extraordinary and excoriating response to US Bishops". He cited the parable of the Good Samaritan, described the ordo amoris as the love that "builds a fraternity open to all, without exception" and criticized the focus on solely Family, Community or National Identity as "[introducing] an ideological criterion that distorts social life and imposes the will of the strongest.”

In the Muslim World: Francis condemned the persecution of Christians by ISIS and supported the use of force to stop Islamic Militants from attacking Religious Minorities in Iraq.

In January 2018, Francis met Yazidi Refugees in Europe, expressed his support for their right to Religious freedom, and called upon the International Community "not to remain a silent and unresponsive spectator" to the Yazidi Genocide.”

In February 2019, Francis visited Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on the invitation of Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Francis became the first Pope to celebrate Mass on the Arabian Peninsula, attended by more than 120,000 Attendees.

In March 2021, Francis held a historic meeting with Iraq's top Shi'ite Cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and visited Ur, a site traditionally identified as the Birthplace of the Prophet Abraham. He and the Iraqi Cleric urged the Muslim and Christian Communities to work together for peaceful coexistence.

In September 2024, Francis visited Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim Population, where he attended Inter-Religious Dialogue in Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta and was welcomed by the Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar.

Francis and the Grand Imam additionally signed the Joint Declaration of Istiqlal 2024, underscoring that the values common to all Religious traditions be effectively promoted to "defeat the culture of violence and indifference" and promote reconciliation and peace.

The Declaration was also read and attended by Representatives from other Religions, including Protestants, Hindus, Buddhists, Confucians, and Folk Religions.

Russia and Ukraine: Following the February 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine, a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Francis visited the Russian Embassy in Rome, an unprecedented action.

 He called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to express "sorrow" as the Vatican worked to find "room for negotiation" to end the War.

At a September 2022 Interfaith Event in Kazakhstan, Francis urged Patriarch Kirill not to become an "altar boy" of Putin.

In a September 2022 Press Conference, seven months into the War, Francis said that it was justified for Ukraine to defend itself.

In early October 2022, Francis for the first time directly appealed to Putin to halt the "spiral of violence and death" in Ukraine.

Summary: While Pope Francis did many great things he was a Man who also made mistakes. He worked to reform the Catholic Church and the World, but didn’t always go far enough.

I hope the next Pope will follow the examples of Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis and go even further to make the Catholic Church and the World a better place.