The "change-agent" challenges and legacy of Pope Francis in 7 perspectives
- sciart0
- Apr 21
- 1 min read
Updated: Apr 23
Excerpt: "Pope Francis, who died this morning at the age of 88, was elevated to the papacy in 2013 on the feast day of Saint Rodrigo. The coincidence is suggestive.
During his pontificate, Francis would also find himself pressed into the role of a would-be mediator—not only between rival factions within the Catholic Church but also between the Church and secular liberals, who saw in the first Latin American pope a fellow traveler.
Like those of Saint Rodrigo, Francis’s efforts at mediation largely failed. The Church today is more divided—her competing factions more embittered and refractory, her secular critics more emboldened—than before his election.
Francis came to bring not peace but a sword. On whose behalf was it wielded? By the time Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis, the battle lines were already being drawn between traditionalists, progressive Catholics, and moderate conservatives, who would have a hard time reconciling their maximalist understanding of papal authority with a pope who did not always share their commitments."
