Next <\/button> <\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Francis moved swiftly to overhaul the bank and the management of Vatican finances. His papacy saw the first cardinal prosecuted and convicted for financial crimes in a Vatican court. He issued a new constitution for the Roman Curia and embarked on a mission to reform the church\u2019s internal culture from an overly hierarchical model to one of inclusivity. <\/p>\n
He alarmed Vatican officials by speaking off-the-cuff at audiences, holding freewheeling press conferences at the back of his papal plane and using straightforward, sometimes salty, language. <\/p>\n
His persistent critiques of church \u201celites\u201d and those who held onto \u201cbackward\u201d ideologies meant he developed some powerful enemies, particularly among conservative US groups. While some cardinals had voted for \u201cJorge Bergoglio,\u201d the Argentine with a reputation as a tough, austere Jesuit, they had not expected that the unpredictable \u201cPope Francis\u201d would emerge to set the church on a path of profound renewal. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods,\u201d Francis said soon after his election. Although he spoke out against abortion, he focused on other subjects, changing Catholic teaching to insist that the death penalty is \u201cinadmissible\u201d and possession of nuclear weapons immoral. He criticized global inequalities, stating, \u201csuch an economy kills,\u201d and called on rich countries to do more to tackle the climate crisis. <\/p>\n
Francis was also willing to admit his mistakes, and these included his handling of the clerical sexual abuse scandals, the biggest crisis to hit the Catholic Church in 500 years. He spoke out on abuse, met with victims and issued a string of church laws designed to tackle it. But there were times when he was slow to act. Victims\u2019 groups will be looking to his successor to ensure the church follows through with the changes he began. <\/p>\n
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on December 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires to parents of Italian descent. <\/p>\n
The oldest of five children, the pope often mentioned fond memories of a close-knit family and of how his Italian grandmother shaped his faith. His paternal grandparents narrowly escaped a deadly shipwreck when they migrated from Italy to Argentina, an experience that no doubt influenced his advocacy for those making perilous journeys across the Mediterranean in search of a better life in Europe. <\/p>\n
When he was 16, Bergoglio had a profound experience during confession which convinced him to train for the priesthood. He entered the seminary but three years later started training to become a Jesuit, the religious order renowned for its missionary work. A gifted leader in 1973, at the young age of 36, he was appointed head of the Jesuit order in Argentina, a position he would hold until 1979. <\/p>\n
During that time, the repressive military junta in the country began its \u201cDirty War,\u201d making around 30,000 dissenters disappear, including Jesuits working with the poor in the Buenos Aires slums. <\/p>\n
Bergoglio would later face allegations that he collaborated with the dictatorship, claims that haunted him right up until his election as pope. Two fellow Jesuits, Franz Jalics and Orlando Yorio, accused him of turning them in when they were kidnapped and tortured by the regime in 1976. As time passed, however, evidence emerged that Bergoglio worked consistently to help those who opposed the dictatorship. Italian journalist Nello Scavo reported that he saved more than 100 people during the Dirty War while Jalics also withdrew his claim, celebrating mass with Francis in Rome in 2013. <\/p>\n
Tensions within the order, however, culminated in his \u201cexile,\u201d as in 1990 he was sent 500 miles away to Cordoba with no fixed assignment. But he later described his two-year spell in the wilderness as a transformative experience. <\/p>\n
In 1992, Bergoglio was appointed an assistant (auxiliary) bishop of Buenos Aires, and five years later became archbishop. He would regularly take the metro to visit the city\u2019s poorest areas, lived in a simple apartment rather than the archbishop\u2019s palace and turned his predecessor\u2019s stately office into a storeroom for food and clothes for the poor. <\/p>\n
He was made a cardinal in 2001 and soon became a prominent national church leader. Although he tended to avoid Rome, Bergoglio began to be noticed by his fellow cardinals and was considered as a candidate to succeed John Paul II at the 2005 conclave. However, according to one account, he withdrew his candidacy so as not to prolong the election. <\/p>\n
By the time of the 2013 conclave, the then 76-year-old had one eye on retirement and was no longer seen as a frontrunner for the papacy. <\/p>\n
But during the pre-conclave meetings, he delivered an electrifying speech warning that a church which turns inwards becomes sick and narcissistic. His humility, simple lifestyle, and closeness to the marginalized in society also gained him support. <\/p>\n
When Bergoglio was chosen, the cardinal next to him, Claudio Hummes of Brazil, hugged him and said, \u201cDon\u2019t forget the poor.\u201d He later said Hummes\u2019s words inspired him to take the name Francis after St. Francis of Assisi. He rejected papal finery, opting for plain black shoes and the same silver pectoral cross and ring that he had used as Archbishop of Buenos Aires. He would go on to set up dorms, shower rooms and a barbershop for the homeless at the Vatican. A new era of papal simplicity had begun. <\/p>\n
After reading about migrant deaths in the Mediterranean, Francis decided his first trip would be to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a gateway for many seeking refuge in Europe. He tried to book a plane ticket for himself, but the airline informed the Vatican that someone claiming to be the pope was trying to travel with them. <\/p>\n
An official trip was arranged, during which he celebrated Mass on an altar made from recycled migrant boats and condemned global indifference to refugees. He would make advocacy for migrants a constant theme, urging every Catholic community across the world to host one family of new arrivals. <\/p>\n
Francis practiced what he preached and, in 2016, after visiting the Greek island of Lesbos, brought back 12 Muslim refugees on his papal plane. Francis likened migrant detention centers in Libya to \u201cconcentration camps\u201d and, in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential election, described Donald Trump\u2019s plan to build a border wall as \u201cnot Christian.\u201d The pope sent an extraordinary rebuke of Trump\u2019s immigration deportation policies where he rebutted Vice President JD Vance\u2019s attempt to use theology to justify the crackdown. <\/p>\n
His interventions set him on a collision course with right-wing populist politicians, but he always insisted that his motivation was the Christian teaching to welcome \u201cthe stranger.\u201d <\/p>\n
Environmental and peacebuilding efforts<\/h2>\n Francis\u2019 interventions on the environment were intertwined with his concern for the poorest, who he saw as suffering the worst impacts of climate disasters while wealthier countries refused their fair share of the burden. He discussed the \u201cright of the environment\u201d at the United Nations, released two encyclicals urging action at UN climate talks, and announced plans to include \u201cecological sin\u201d in official Catholic teaching. <\/p>\n
The pope\u2019s appeals often received a warm reception from non-Catholic politicians and policymakers. But he also ran into opposition, including from some in the US Republican Party \u2013 former presidential contenders Jeb Bush and Rick Santorum both publicly criticized his calls. And when the pope convened a bishops\u2019 summit about the Amazon, Brazilian security services monitored preparations, viewing it as a rebuke to the policies of the then right-wing populist president, Jair Bolsonaro. Francis, however, never seemed overly perturbed. <\/p>\n
Nine days after his election, Francis told diplomats gathered in the Vatican that he wanted to be a builder of bridges across religions and create \u201cauthentic fraternity\u201d throughout humanity. <\/p>\n
He focused on the relationship with the Muslim world, seeking to repair ties that had become strained during the Benedict XVI pontificate. He worked closely with Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayeb, a leading Sunni authority, signing a landmark declaration with him on \u201cHuman Fraternity\u201d during a trip to the United Arab Emirates, the first visit by a pontiff to the Arabian Peninsula. He made a daring trip to Iraq amid the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, meeting Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of the world\u2019s Shia Muslims. <\/p>\n
During a trip to Indonesia, the world\u2019s largest Muslim-majority nation, Francis signed another interfaith declaration when he met the Grand Imam of the country at the Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta, which is linked to the Catholic cathedral opposite by a \u201ctunnel of friendship.\u201d The trip was the first stop in a marathon tour of southeast Asia and the Pacific, which saw him highlight interfaith co-operation and the growing importance of the region for global Catholicism. <\/p>\n
Francis\u2019 belief in dialogue bore some fruit in 2015 when he acted as a mediator between Cuba and the US, helping in the re-establishment of diplomatic relations. <\/p>\n
But amid an eruption in global conflicts, the pope was something of a voice crying out in the wilderness. <\/p>\n
He repeatedly urged a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war sparked by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, and met with families of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas, as well as those caught up in the Israeli assault in Gaza. \u201cThis is not war. This is terrorism,\u201d he said. Francis insisted peace would only come through a two-state solution. As conflict raged across the Middle East, the pope insisted that war is always a \u201cdefeat\u201d and that a use of force in self-defense that is not proportionate is \u201cimmoral.\u201d <\/p>\n
However, his attempts to create space for dialogue also saw him criticized following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, as he generally avoided naming President Vladimir Putin, and Russia, as the aggressor. <\/p>\n
The pope remained in contact with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, meeting him in the Vatican in May 2023 and in October 2024, and more than once broke down in tears publicly as he talked about the suffering of people in Ukraine. <\/p>\n
But he also sparked anger in Kyiv after saying Ukraine should have the \u201ccourage of the white flag\u201d and negotiate to end the war with Russia. <\/p>\n
Early on, Francis insisted he wanted a church that was \u201cbruised, hurting and dirty\u201d because it was out on the streets, rather than one that had become \u201cunhealthy from being confined\u201d and \u201cclinging to its own security.\u201d The manifesto for his papacy, found in the document \u201cEvangelii Gaudium\u201d (\u201cThe Joy of the Gospel\u201d), warned against the church remaining bound up in outdated structures and customs or using rules to turn believers into \u201charsh judges.\u201d <\/p>\n
The pope\u2019s signature reform was in his desire for a more credible church that was able to listen and understand the culture in which it operated. He began an ambitious, multi-year renewal process which sought to involve all the world\u2019s 1.3 billion Catholics, and where topics including the role of women, celibacy for priests, church teaching on sex and the use of power were addressed. The backdrop was the clerical sexual abuse crisis, which exposed crimes against minors and the misuse of power and cover-ups. <\/p>\n
Francis also wanted to find ways to include Catholics who had divorced and remarried and so were prohibited from receiving communion. He later said they were permitted to receive the sacrament on a case-by-case basis. He also ushered in restrictions to the celebration of the traditional Latin mass, which he argued was being used to undermine church unity. <\/p>\n
But these moves sparked criticism among some Catholics who accused the pope of undermining doctrine and tradition. Much of the resistance came from a vocal minority in the US, and across the English-speaking world. But he was never swayed. \u201cI pray that there will not be schisms,\u201d he said in 2019. \u201cBut I am not afraid.\u201d <\/p>\n
The most dangerous period for Francis began on a 2018 visit to Ireland, the ground zero of the clerical sexual abuse crisis. Mid-way through, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigan\u00f2, a former papal ambassador to the US, released a dossier claiming Francis had for years failed to deal with allegations of sexual misconduct against then Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington D.C., whom the pope had recently removed from public ministry and ordered to face a church trial. Vigan\u00f2 took the unheard-of step of calling for Francis to resign. The pope responded with silence, refusing to be drawn on the subject by journalists. Several American bishops, however, issued statements supporting Vigan\u00f2. <\/p>\n
The pope commissioned a Vatican investigation into the McCarrick case and Vigan\u00f2\u2019s claims. Its findings cleared Francis in 2020 but found that members of the church hierarchy \u2013 including former popes \u2013 were warned about McCarrick\u2019s sexual impropriety. Vigan\u00f2, who became associated with conspiracy theories involving the coronavirus and what he called the \u201cgreat reset,\u201d was excommunicated by the Vatican for schism after he rejected the authority of the pope and key Catholic teachings. <\/p>\n
In 2022, a small group of cardinals sent him a series of questions – known as \u201cdubia,\u201d or doubts – viewed as an extraordinary public challenge to his authority. The cardinal leading the charge was US prelate Raymond Burke, previously leader of the church\u2019s supreme court. The pope eventually removed Burke\u2019s subsidized Vatican apartment and salary. <\/p>\n
While conservatives tried to paint Francis as a \u201cwoke pope,\u201d some Catholic progressives felt his changes did not go far enough. He insisted the door was closed on the ordination of women as priests and held back from allowing married men to be ordained. <\/p>\n
Sexual abuse scandals<\/h2>\n Francis revealed a surprising blind spot on the abuse crisis. He did not talk very much about it in the early months of his pontificate. When he did, in 2014, he appeared defensive, insisting that \u201cno one else has done more\u201d to root out abuse than the church. <\/p>\n
Amid a growing scandal in Chile, he initially refused to believe that Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno had covered up for a notorious abuser and said the allegations were \u201cslander.\u201d He later commissioned an investigation and made a heartfelt apology, admitting to survivors that he, too, \u201cwas part of the problem.\u201d <\/p>\n
On a visit to Belgium, where clerical sexual abuse scandals had been the subject of two parliamentary inquiries, the pope was told in frank terms by the country\u2019s then prime minister to take concrete action. <\/p>\n
Despite mistakes, Francis took concerted steps on abuse, including holding a Vatican summit where survivors addressed cardinals and bishops and made recommendations. It led to the pope issuing new norms for handling abuse allegations. The pope established the Holy See\u2019s first pontifical commission for the protection of minors, although it struggled to find its place within the church\u2019s central government and saw both a survivor and prominent expert resign in frustration. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no doubt that the child sex abuse scandals are the central stain on his legacy,\u201d said Vatican analyst and editor of Crux, John Allen. <\/p>\n
\u201cOver and over again, Pope Francis said the right things, he met with victims, he expressed heartfelt sorrow, he expressed resolve to get this right, but you know most critics, many victims would say that wasn\u2019t matched with a policy of follow-through,\u201d Allen added. <\/p>\n
In 2023, the pope authorized blessings for same-sex couples, a landmark decision that sparked contrasting reactions. <\/p>\n
While many welcomed it, bishops in Africa said they would not perform them, saying it would contradict the \u201ccultural ethos of African communities.\u201d The pope accepted their reasoning but responded firmly to what he described as \u201csmall ideological groups\u201d who opposed the move. \u201cNo one is scandalized if I give a blessing to an entrepreneur who perhaps exploits people: and that is a most serious sin. Whereas they are scandalized if I give it to a homosexual\u2026 This is hypocrisy!\u201d <\/p>\n
The pope sought to avoid judgmental attitudes on people\u2019s personal lives, and although he did not formally change doctrine on same-sex relationships \u2013 and apologized after reportedly using a derogatory word when talking about admitting gay men to study for the priesthood \u2013 he made some significant updates to the church\u2019s position, including showing support for the legal recognition of gay couples and condemning the criminalization of homosexuality in Africa. <\/p>\n
His insistence that LGBTQ+ people were \u201cchildren of God\u201d and welcome in the church went some way to healing the hurt many gay Catholics felt after the harsh treatment of the past. <\/p>\n
Pandemic pope<\/h2>\n During the coronavirus pandemic, Francis started livestreaming his services, including his early morning Masses, to which an estimated 500,000 people tuned in each day. <\/p>\n
Francis understood that a potent image can express more than a thousand words. Early in the pandemic, as people around the world were under lockdowns, he walked out into a deserted St. Peter\u2019s Square. As the rain came down, he led a short service and at the end raised a gold monstrance and blessed the world. It remained one of the enduring images of the Covid-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n
Francis did not sit still during the lockdowns. He co-authored a book, \u201cLet Us Dream,\u201d <\/em>which offered a blueprint for a post-pandemic world and argued for a Universal Basic Income. The pope also appealed to Catholics to get vaccinated, called on richer countries to share their vaccines with developing nations and offered the Vatican\u2019s Pfizer shots to 1,800 homeless and underprivileged people in Rome. <\/p>\n After his own bouts of illness, Francis, renowned for his humor and who once hosted a meeting of comedians in the Vatican, would joke that he was \u201cstill alive\u201d when asked how he was. <\/p>\n
As pope, he ended each meeting asking people to \u201cpray for me.\u201d Millions around the globe are now likely to be doing so for a leader who strove to leave the world, and the church, in a better place. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n
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Pope Francis, the first Latin-American pontiff, renowned for his outspoken advocacy for the poor and insistence on a more welcoming Catholic Church, has died at the age of 88. Francis was a pope of firsts \u2013 the first pontiff from the global south, the first Jesuit to be chosen as leader of the Catholic Church…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}