-Analysis-
PARIS — Ever since Joseph Stalin’s famous quip “How many divisions does the Pope have?” we’ve known that the influence of the head of the Catholic Church cannot be measured in terms of tanks and missiles.
The Soviet Union experienced this first-hand with Pope John Paul II and his role in bringing about the end of the Communist bloc in Central Europe.
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As the first pope to come from a country of the Global South, the Argentinian tried to influence, in his own way, several of the great divides of our time. But his impact is not immediately measurable, like that of a classic statesman, but in small seeds that may one day germinate in people’s consciences, with no guarantee of success.
From the wide range of positions he has taken, it’s worth highlighting three powerful images that characterize the man and his vision.
Calling Gaza
The first was a ritual that long remained discreet: every evening, Francis would call the small Catholic community in Gaza, immersed in war, to ask for news and to express his compassion.
The fact that the parish priest in Gaza, Gabriel Romanelli, is Argentinian like himself created a bond, but the Pope was constant in his support. The moral strength he expressed in favor of the Palestinians did not change the reality of the ordeal suffered by the Gazans; but for the Catholics in this martyred territory, the daily presence of this empathetic man was a comfort, as could be seen on the few videos that circulated.
Second image: this was undoubtedly Francis’ main message throughout his pontificate, compassion for migrants, the new cursed upon our earth. His last message, his last breath, on Easter Sunday, the day before his death, was dedicated to this subject: “How much contempt is sometimes nourished towards the weakest, the marginalized, the migrants!“ he wrote. “On this day, I would like us to begin again to hope and trust in others, even in those who are not close to us or who come from distant countries with customs, ways of life, ideas and habits different from those with which we are most familiar, for we are all children of God!”
The message is the encounter
We remember the photo of the Pope returning in 2016 from a trip to the Greek island of Lesbos with a dozen Syrian refugees.
He had opposed the Trump administration on its radical anti-migrant policy, and it’s absolutely worth noting that his last foreign visitor, a few hours before his death, was JD Vance, the U.S. Vice President, a convert to Catholicism but one with an ultraconservative vision — the antithesis of that of Francis.
Face to face
The third image is an aesthetically and spiritually powerful one. It shows Pope Francis meeting Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraq‘s Shiite majority, in Baghdad in 2021. The two men sat face to face, one dressed all in white, the other all in black; their hands rested on their legs, and they looked at each other in silence.
It was a first, and from this interfaith dialogue, the Pope obtained the Ayatollah’s public promise that “the Christians of Iraq must live in peace.” A commitment that stands in stark contrast to the threat to Eastern Christians in a region that has long been plagued by politico-religious convulsions.
Here, as elsewhere, the Pope’s ultimate strength was his presence. “The message is the encounter,” he once said with another Muslim dignitary.
Is that enough to change the world? There is no simple answer to this question, and Francis’ legacy remains to be written.
