by B. R. GOWANI
The world we’re living in has never been a very decent place for the majority of people but it has never been as dangerous a place as it has become now with great advances in destructive technology and with leaders, most of them, who are greedy, corrupt, hatemongers, warmongers, and indifferent to the plight of their populace.
Pope Francis, though not too progressive, became a source of consolation for hundreds of millions of people in this cruel and dangerous world with hatefilled and hawkish leaders.
First thing first.
For four decades, before Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis in 2013, he served the Catholic Church in his native Argentina in different positions. In the mid 1970s, the US endorsed the military junta coup there, it unleashed full repressive force on the Argentinian people. 30,000 people were either assassinated or disappeared. Agentina’s Archbishop Adolfo Tortolo exhorted Argentinians “to cooperate in a positive way with the new government.” Bergoglio was the Provincial Superior of Jesuits, and asked the Jesuit priests to concentrate on religious issues rather than poverty and other social problems. Bergoglio was accused of not doing enough for two of his priests who were tortured in captivity for five months. He later defended himself thus: “[I did what I could,] given my age and the few connections I had.”
As a Pope, Bergoglio turned into a beacon of hope in this dark world full of cruel, corrupt, genocidal, misogynist, racist leaders/groups/institutes.
Pope Francis worked for the common people while residing in a small Vatican guesthouse, traveled in subways or a small car, and would talk about ills of capitalism: “Terrorism grows when there is no other option, and as long as the world economy has at its center the god of money and not the person.”
Pluralistic tendencies in Pope led him to meet Sunni Muslim leader Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb from Al-Azhar University in UAE (United Arab Emirates) in 2019 where they issued “A DOCUMENT ON HUMAN FRATERNITY,” and he also met Shia Muslim leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, Iraq, in 2021, whom he addresed as “dear brother.” The goal was to bring Muslims and Christians closer and to disuss the problems Christian minority faced in that country.
Environmentally conscientious, Pope Francis didn’t view environmental and social crisis as separate “But rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.”
Pope Francis was to aknowledge LGBTQ in July 2013:
“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” “We shouldn’t marginalize people for this. They must be integrated into society.”
Pope Francis also opposed treating homosexuality as a crime by many countries. He supported civil union among same-sex couples but would not allow sacramental marriage of the same-sex couples. It was shameful.
Pope appointed women in many positions for the first time which up until then, were held by men. Pope didn’t approve priesthood nor did he approve women as deacons. His answer to Norah O’Donnell of “60 Minutes” was that of a shrewd politician:
“If it is deacons with Holy Orders, no. But women have always had, I would say, the function of deaconesses without being deacons, right? Women are of great service as women, not as ministers, as ministers in this regard, within the Holy Orders.”
Pope was for Universal Basic Income (UBI) and proposed higher taxes on billionaires who oppose egalitarianism “out of pure greed.”
Pope asked for forgiveness from the native people in Canada.
“I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples.”
Congress of Aboriginal Peoples National Chief Elmer St. Pierre
“It’s a step in the right direction.” “[But] it could have been better.”
The Vatican has a huge financial problem of corruption and excessive pay. Pope tried and succeeded, to some extent, but there’s still a long way to go. Pope’s goals was “Let’s make money for the poor.”
Cuba had been under US economic embargo since 1960 with no diplomatic relations. President Barack Obama wanted to establish full diplomatic relations and he did it with the help of Pope Francis. (But with President Donald Trump in White House in 2017, embargo was reimposed and futher tightened by Joe Biden government and second Trump administration.)
Pope had special concern for migrants and refugees. For the first time in 400 years, a new sculpture was inducted to celebrate refugees and migrants in Vatican City.
“Today’s world is increasingly becoming more elitist and cruel towards the excluded.” “Developing countries continue to be drained of their best natural and human resources for the benefit of a few privileged markets. Wars only affect some regions of the world, yet weapons of war are produced and sold in other regions which are then unwilling to take in the refugees generated by these conflicts. Those who pay the price are always the little ones, the poor, the most vulnerable, who are prevented from sitting at the table and are left with the ‘crumbs’ of the banquet.”
Pope had criticized President Donald Trump for his anti-immigrant policies.
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.” “This is not in the gospel.”
Palestine was recognized by the Vatican in 2012 but was made official in 2015 when Pope Francis signed first treaty with Palestine. (Israel was mad.)
In November 2023, in an interview to the Italian state television RAI’s TG1 news channel, Pope Francis said:
“(Those are) two peoples [Palestinians and Israelis] who have to live together. With that wise solution, two states. The Oslo accords, two well-defined states and Jerusalem with a special status.”
Pope called Gaza’s only Catholic church everyday since Occtober 7, 2023.
IMAGE/Vatican Media / Reuters/HuffPost
Below are late Pope Francis’ thoughts on certain issues, inluding a light joke.
On how certain places of natural beauty get forbidden to common people because of privatization:
In some places, rural and urban alike, the privatization of certain spaces has restricted people’s access to places of particular beauty. In others, “ecological” neighborhoods have been created which are closed to outsiders in order to ensure an artificial tranquillity. Frequently, we find beautiful and carefully manicured green spaces in so-called “safer” areas of cities, but not in the more hidden areas where the disposable of society live.
Pope Francis, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, 45.
A joke by Pope Francis in a guest essay, “There is Faith in Humor,” he penned on December 17, 2024, for The New York Times:
As for the danger of narcissism, to be avoided with appropriate doses of self-irony, I remember the one about the rather vain Jesuit who had a heart problem and had to be treated in a hospital. Before going into the operating room, he asks God, “Lord, has my hour come?”
“No, you will live at least another 40 years,” God says. After the operation, he decides to make the most of it and has a hair transplant, a face-lift, liposuction, eyebrows, teeth … in short, he comes out a changed man. Right outside the hospital, he is knocked down by a car and dies. As soon as he appears in the presence of God, he protests, “Lord, but you told me I would live for another 40 years!” “Oops, sorry!” God replies. “I didn’t recognize you.”
On environment:
“If we approach nature and the environment without [an] openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs. By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously.”
Pope Francis, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, in Counterpunch.
On Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025:
On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas! For all of us are children of God!
I would like us to renew our hope that peace is possible! From the Holy Sepulchre, the Church of the Resurrection, where this year Easter is being celebrated by Catholics and Orthodox on the same day, may the light of peace radiate throughout the Holy Land and the entire world. I express my closeness to the sufferings of Christians in Palestine and Israel, and to all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people. The growing climate of anti-Semitism throughout the world is worrisome. Yet at the same time, I think of the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation. I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace!
Let us pray for the Christian communities in Lebanon and in Syria, presently experiencing a delicate transition in its history. They aspire to stability and to participation in the life of their respective nations. I urge the whole Church to keep the Christians of the beloved Middle East in its thoughts and prayers.
I also think in particular of the people of Yemen, who are experiencing one of the world’s most serious and prolonged humanitarian crises because of war, and I invite all to find solutions through a constructive dialogue.
May the risen Christ grant Ukraine, devastated by war, his Easter gift of peace, and encourage all parties involved to pursue efforts aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace.
On this festive day, let us remember the South Caucasus and pray that a final peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan will soon be signed and implemented, and lead to long-awaited reconciliation in the region.
May the light of Easter inspire efforts to promote harmony in the western Balkans and sustain political leaders in their efforts to allay tensions and crises, and, together with their partner countries in the region, to reject dangerous and destabilizing actions.
May the risen Christ, our hope, grant peace and consolation to the African peoples who are victims of violence and conflict, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Sudan and South Sudan. May he sustain those suffering from the tensions in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region, as well as those Christians who in many places are not able freely to profess their faith.
There can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and respect for the views of others.
Nor is peace possible without true disarmament! The requirement that every people provide for its own defence must not turn into a race to rearmament. The light of Easter impels us to break down the barriers that create division and are fraught with grave political and economic consequences. It impels us to care for one another, to increase our mutual solidarity, and to work for the integral development of each human person.
During this time, let us not fail to assist the people of Myanmar, plagued by long years of armed conflict, who, with courage and patience, are dealing with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Sagaing, which caused the death of thousands and great suffering for the many survivors, including orphans and the elderly. We pray for the victims and their loved ones, and we heartily thank all the generous volunteers carrying out the relief operations. The announcement of a ceasefire by various actors in the country is a sign of hope for the whole of Myanmar.
I appeal to all those in positions of political responsibility in our world not to yield to the logic of fear which only leads to isolation from others, but rather to use the resources available to help the needy, to fight hunger and to encourage initiatives that promote development. These are the “weapons” of peace: weapons that build the future, instead of sowing seeds of death!
May the principle of humanity never fail to be the hallmark of our daily actions. In the face of the cruelty of conflicts that involve defenceless civilians and attack schools, hospitals and humanitarian workers, we cannot allow ourselves to forget that it is not targets that are struck, but persons, each possessed of a soul and human dignity.
In this Jubilee year, may Easter also be a fitting occasion for the liberation of prisoners of war and political prisoners!
Pope Francis, Easter 2025
Pope Francis on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) or more correctly “Catholic Fox News“:
“There is, for example, a large Catholic television channel that has no hesitation in continually speaking ill of the pope. They are the work of the devil. I have also said this to some of them.”
(Read Molly Olmstead’s article “An Unholy Alliance” in Slate as to how much conservative Catholics in the US opposed Pope Francis.)
Pope’s thoughts on Islam, terrorism, capitalism, etc. abroad a plane on way to Rome, Italy, from Krakow, Poland, on July 31, 2016:
Antoine Marie Izoarde, i.Media: …Holy Father, I have two brief questions: why do you, when you speak of these violent events, always speak of terrorists, but never of Islam, never use the word Islam? And then, aside from prayer and dialogue, which are obviously essential, what concrete initiatives can you advise or suggest in order to counteract Islamic violence? Thank you, Holiness.
Pope Francis: I don’t like to speak of Islamic violence, because every day, when I browse the newspapers, I see violence, here in Italy… this one who has murdered his girlfriend, another who has murdered the mother-in-law… and these are baptized Catholics! There are violent Catholics! If I speak of Islamic violence, I must speak of Catholic violence . . . and no, not all Muslims are violent, not all Catholics are violent. It is like a fruit salad; there’s everything. There are violent persons of this religion… this is true: I believe that in pretty much every religion there is always a small group of fundamentalists. Fundamentalists. We have them. When fundamentalism comes to kill, it can kill with the language — the Apostle James says this, not me — and even with a knife, no? I do not believe it is right to identify Islam with violence. This is not right or true. I had a long conversation with the imam, the Grand Imam of the Al-Azhar University, and I know how they think . . . They seek peace, encounter . . . The nuncio to an African country told me that the capital where he is there is a trail of people, always full, at the Jubilee Holy Door. And some approach the confessionals — Catholics — others to the benches to pray, but the majority go forward, to pray at the altar of Our Lady… these are Muslims, who want to make the Jubilee. They are brothers, they live… When I was in Central Africa, I went to them, and even the imam came up on the Popemobile… We can coexist well… But there are fundamentalist groups, and even I ask… there is a question… How many young people, how many young people of our Europe, whom we have left empty of ideals, who do not have work… they take drugs, alcohol, or go there to enlist in fundamentalist groups. One can say that the so-called ISIS, but it is an Islamic State which presents itself as violent . . . because when they show us their identity cards, they show us how on the Libyan coast how they slit the Egyptians’ throats or other things… But this is a fundamentalist group which is called ISIS… but you cannot say, I do not believe, that it is true or right that Islam is terrorist.
Izoard: Your concrete initiatives to counteract terrorism, violence?
Pope Francis: Terrorism is everywhere. You think of the tribal terrorism of some African countries. It is terrorism and also . . . But I don’t know if I say it because it is a little dangerous… Terrorism grows when there are no other options, and when the center of the global economy is the god of money and not the person — men and women — this is already the first terrorism! You have cast out the wonder of creation — man and woman — and you have put money in its place. This is a basic terrorism against all of humanity! Think about it!
Catholic News Agency and Youtube
Hope his successor Pope Leo XIV emerges as more progressive and bold.
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com