“unlike any who came before…”

Header photo credit:TIZIANA FABI, AFP via Getty Images | Francis’ final blessing, April 20 2025

The title of this blog post which I deeply regret having to write, is a citation from the White House announcement for the Medal of Freedom with Distinction award presented to Pope Francis during the final weeks of President Biden’s administration. According to a January 11, 2025 article in the NY Times, the citation went on to laud Francis stating, “His mission of serving the poor has never ceased… A loving pastor, he joyfully answers children’s questions about God. A challenging teacher, he commands us to fight for peace and protect the planet. A welcoming leader, he reaches out to different faiths.”

And now with the Vatican’s announcement this morning of Francis’ passing, one day after Easter, much of the religious (as well as non-religious) world will in the midst of their mourning also be reflecting upon and praising the legacy of this unique Pope who President Biden in his award presentation said was “unlike any who came before.” Over the past six years of these creation justice blog posts, the name, words and deeds of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the only Pope to choose the patron saint of ecology and animals for his namesake, have held a prominent place in our call to seek justice for all God’s creation.

Indeed, it was in the second paragraph of our inaugural blog post in May of 2019 that his name first appeared along with reference to his one-of-a-kind encyclical, Laudato Si (Praised be). I looked upon it then as the most important ecclesiastical document of the decade. It was a prosaic, scholarly, science based and morally compelling letter to all the people of the world from the world’s Christian leader, timed to lead the world into the 2015 COP 21 Paris Agreement. In it Francis prophetically denounced global capitalism, for its exploitation of the poor and destruction of the environment. During his entire tenure as prelate of the Church, Francis lived up to his chosen name as the ecclesiastical champion of environmental justice as he called the world’s attention to the climate crisis and those poor and marginalized that it harms the most.

Upon becoming Pope, and building upon the ecological conscience and writings of his two predecessors, Francis in July 2013 visited Brazil. There he proclaimed boldly how European settlement had been a scourge to the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, and that the Church must not be in the business of exploitation. Then in 2020, Francis wrote Querida Amazonia (Dear Amazon). It was a call once again for “all persons of good will” to steward nature for the common good.

The “Apostolic Exhortation” (as it is known) reminds me of the famous Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I Have a Dream speech:
“I dream of an Amazon region that fights for the rights of the poor, the original peoples and the least of our brothers and sisters, where their voices can be heard and their dignity advanced.
I dream of an Amazon region that can preserve its distinctive cultural riches, where the beauty of our humanity shines forth in so many varied ways.
I dream of an Amazon region that can jealously preserve its overwhelming natural beauty and the superabundant life teeming in its rivers and forests.
I dream of Christian communities capable of generous commitment, incarnate in the Amazon region, and giving the Church new faces with Amazonian features.”

As I read that dream, I can imagine Francis recalling the picture of the early Christian Church painted in the book of Acts (Acts 2:42-47) as he wrote this portion of Chapter One; A Social Dream:

“Efforts to build a just society require a capacity for fraternity, a spirit of human fellowship. Hence, without diminishing the importance of personal freedom, it is clear that the original peoples of the Amazon region have a strong sense of community. It permeates “their work, their rest, their relationships, their rites and celebrations. Everything is shared; private areas – typical of modernity – are minimal. Life is a communal journey where tasks and responsibilities are apportioned and shared on the basis of the common good. There is no room for the notion of an individual detached from the community or from the land”. Their relationships are steeped in the surrounding nature, which they feel and think of as a reality that integrates society and culture, and a prolongation of their bodies, personal, familial and communal.

The fact that this Pope was, as President Biden proclaimed, “unlike any who came before,” leaves all the world wondering who will be chosen by the college of Cardinals to succeed him. Will the pendulum in Vatican City now swing to the far right as conservative Catholics and avowed Christian Nationalists such as Marjorie Taylor Green hope and pray for? The unfortunate reality is that far too many who claim the name of Christian share her jaded and heretical beliefs, a sample of which she posted today on X.”

With the passing of the greatest, most uniquely gifted Pope of my lifetime, with the sad state of affairs that our world is in, there is one fervent prayer to be uttered without ceasing, the Kyrie Eleison.

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy!