VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Pope Francis will likely be remembered for his gestures: his lone walk under the rain in St. Peter’s Square to pray during the pandemic, his embrace of migrants, his unscripted phone calls and off-the-cuff remarks.
But behind the images, the pontificate of Jorge Bergoglio was built on something quieter — “starting processes” as he would say, a strategy aimed not at immediate results, but at shaping the future of the Catholic Church long after his death.
From church reform to episcopal appointments and a renewed focus on the peripheries, Francis planted seeds meant to outlast him.
Halfway through Francis’ papacy, many observers — especially in a Western world accustomed to measuring leadership in terms of mandates, milestones and results — were wondering what the pope had actually accomplished during his pontificate.
Despite fierce pressure from both progressives and conservatives, Francis made relatively few formal doctrinal changes. Those he did enact could be counted on one hand: revising the catechism of the Catholic Church to declare the death penalty inadmissible; repudiating the 15th-century Doctrine of Discovery that justified the subjugation of Indigenous peoples; an …