Pope Francis- A legacy of love

Here at Sacred Heart University, we mourn the loss of our Pope and Pastor.

From the beginning of his papacy, we have felt a special bond with him.  We are the first university to name a building after him —Bergoglio Hall, which was dedicated by the pope’s friend from childhood, Rabbi Abraham Skora; and we also offer the Bergoglio Lecture series that has featured several Francis-appointed cardinals. In addition, we are a Laudato Si’ campus that recently completed a week-long recognition of Earth Week.

Francis worked to extend the work of the Vatican II Council, and Sacred Heart University was founded by and is shaped by Vatican II thought. Now we are taking time to reflect on Pope Francis’ legacy of love that is visionary, groundbreaking, and transformative for the Catholic Church.

He brought a Vatican II vision that read the signs of the times through the lens of gospel love and mercy. His first encyclical, Laudato Si’, a landmark work, called the world to hear the cry of the earth and the poor. He insisted that we pay attention to the degradation we reaped upon our common home and to recognize the social and economic injustice that this degradation has brought to the poor and marginalized.

In what is a fearless Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, he wanted to extend the conversation and deepen the reflection on the complexities and concerns of the diverse structures of contemporary families. Despite the dubia leveled against this document, the work underscores that God’s love and grace are the foundation, and yes, the maverick Francis wanted to move the church to take a pastoral approach toward respecting and accompanying all families on their journey to God with compassion, mercy and understanding.

Perhaps his most daring and transformative work extending the vision of Vatican II will be the Synod on synodality. Francis’ aim was to change our way of being Church. He brought together clergy and laity, men and women and those with opposite positions, listening to each other and in conversation about what for some were the difficult topics of lifting up the role of women in the church, the LGBTQ community, married priests, divorced and remarried couples. And despite the unfinished work of the Synod, Francis wanted to widen the church’s tent and show that all the People of God are included in God’s loving embrace.

Fiducia Supplicans is a Pastoral declaration on blessings for couples in what the church refers to as irregular situations including same sex relationships. This document received some extremely negative responses, but Francis defended it as being  a way to show God’s love and mercy to those in different relationships. This document does nothing to change Church doctrine about the sacrament of marriage, but it expresses a gesture of love and compassion that Francis wanted the Church to bring to the people on the margins.

I recall introducing this document to my students in our Human Journey: Catholic Intellectual Tradition seminar class. We had been reading an excerpt from Fr. James Martin’s book Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBTQ Community Can Enter into a Relationship, Compassion, and Sensitivity and, while the students were pleased with the idea of Fr. Martin’s book, they still complained about the Church’s position on LGBTQ individuals and other forms of relationships.

Every student in the class had a friend or family member who was LGBTQ, and a number of the students had parents who were divorced and remarried. Some of these students admitted being disaffiliated from the church because of its views on these forms of relationships. When I brought in Fiducia Supplicans and had the students read and discuss it, they responded positively to what they saw as the church being welcoming and inclusive. This response from my students was what Francis intended—a pastoral way for the church to express love and mercy as Jesus had done and to bring people closer to their faith.

Francis viewed the church as a ‘field hospital.’ He wanted the Church to go to the margins bringing love, mercy and care to the poor, the migrant, the dispossessed. He was the sole moral voice speaking about the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. He strongly criticized President Donald Trump’s policy on immigrants, and he urged Catholics to show compassion and care for the immigrant.  At Lampedusa he railed against our indifference to the suffering of others. His voice, filled with love and care, spoke loudly for those who had no voice.

His sacramental gestures symbolized the love and mercy he wanted the church to bring to the world. He was the first Pope to take the name of Francis, after Saint Francis of Assisi and, like his namesake, Francis chose simplicity and humility. When he was selected Pope and stepped onto the loggia, he asked the people to bless and pray for him.

He chose to live in the Vatican’s guesthouse rather than its Apostolic Palace and, for his burial, he chose Santa Maria Maggiore rather than St. Peters with a simple stone reading Francis. He held, embraced and blessed the children wherever he travelled. When asked about a gay priests, his well-known response was “Who am I to judge?” He washed the feet of women and prisoners. He reached out and embraced a disfigured man in the crowds.

While in the hospital with double pneumonia, he called the Parish in Gaza each night. Francis loved being with the people. Even though at Easter, he was not sure he should go into the crowds, he went anyway. How else to bring love into the world and “become the word in body as well as spirit.” And just before he died, he thanked his nurse for taking him to the people.

Dilexit Nos: On Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ was —very fittingly— was Francis’ last encyclical, and we at the university have been reflecting on this document to understand more deeply how our mission and culture are imbued with Francis’ vision and thought. In this last letter from Francis, we find a message for all of us. Francis wrote that the heart, rooted in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is the core of our humanity and the source of our ability to love.

As our Pope and Pastor, Francis lived, wrote about, modelled and exuded that love for us —for all of us. “Todos! Todos! Todos!”

Michelle Loris, Ph.D., Psy.D., is associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and director of the Center for Catholic Studies at Sacred Heart University.

Source – Indonesia News