Rest With the Lord, Francis!

                This week we laid to rest Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis, who was the 266th successor of Peter, Vicar of Christ, Bishop of Rome, and earthly head of the Catholic Church.  The Cardinal Bishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, he was elected Pope in March 2013 after the retirement of Benedict XVI. He was the first pope from the Americas, and the first to take the name Francis. 

                Controversy surrounded his Papacy as with many Popes, including Peter who was rebuffed by St. Paul. Was Francis liberal or conservative? These are words rife with emotional overtones and best applied to secular politics.  They also have no place in descriptions of the teachings of the Church, or its Magisterium led by the Pope. 

Francis, like all of us, was a product of his culture and time.  He was born in 1932, lived through WWII, the Nazi exodus to Argentina in 1945, and five separate revolutions or coups d’é·tat in Argentina before democracy returned in 1983.  Through these 40 years of war, he saw the people of Argentina brutalized by oppressive and savage fascist governments.  The resources of his beloved Argentina were squandered for the benefit of the elite. Think here of Juan Peron.   Bergoglio thus developed a “special concern for the poor” which became the center of his papacy in the spirit of  Saint Francis of Assisi, who was famous for his ministry to the poor.  His Encyclicals, especially Laudatio Si on the protection of the environment, need to be seen in the light this history, and of his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), written 7 months after he became Pope.  He was beloved, especially for his humility and compassion. His last public appearance on Easter Sunday was just one day before his death.  His Easter message, Urbi et Orbi, praying for an end to all violence , can be read on the Vatican website