24/04 • POPE FRANCIS

The first pope from Latin America and the first Jesuit to hold the role, Francis brought a profound shift in tone and posture to the global Church. From his earliest moments in office, he emphasised humility, simplicity, and a Church that goes out to the margins.

He reminded us that the role of faith is not to dominate but to serve, and that the measure of Christian witness is found not in institutional strength but in solidarity with the poor, the excluded, and the forgotten.

Francis also demonstrated the 5 Marks of Mission. He proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom - not through grand declarations, but through gestures of compassion and presence. His preaching was often quiet, but his actions were loud: washing the feet of prisoners, embracing those disfigured by illness, and calling leaders to account for systems that dehumanise and divide. 

He responded to human need with a depth of love that defied political borders. Whether visiting refugee camps or disaster zones, he showed that the Church’s place is always alongside those in crisis.

In an age of rising division, he transformed unjust structures not just by critique but by modelling a different way of being - refusing luxury, denouncing the arms trade, challenging the logic of exclusionary economics. And, in his encyclical Laudato Si’, he called the world to care for creation as a spiritual imperative, linking environmental degradation with the suffering of the world’s most vulnerable.

No leader, nor the institution that they lead, is perfect. However, throughout his papacy, Francis insisted that Christian mission was not about deifying a man but uplifting the people God loves. “Be shepherds with the smell of the sheep.”

Pope Francis' legacy is not in titles or ceremonies, but in a Church reawakened to the call of loving service. His death is a moment of mourning - but also of recommitment for us all to follow in his example.