The choice of “Pope of the end of the world”
In 2013 it was known that the departure of Benedict XVI It was imminent. After the process of the White Fumata, Cardinal Argentino Jorge Mario Bergoglio He was chosen by the cardinals. In the previous one, there was talk of a “Black Pope” and a “Pope of the end of the world”in relation to the new leader.
“It seems that my cardinal brothers have gone to look for a new Pope almost at the end of the world,” were his first words when leaving the main balcony of San Pedro Square, in the Vatican.
The role of women and the closeness with the poor
One of the most important ceremonies for the Catholic Church is the commemoration of Jesus’ Last Supper, which is remembered in the offices of Holy Thursday.
The ceremony includes the washing from feet to twelve people, in memory of the gesture that Jesus fulfilled the apostles. Throughout these years, Francisco, in this ceremony, has washed the feet of women, transsexuals, immigrants and non -Catholics.
“How I would like a poor and the poor church,” he said in one of his pontificate’s first speeches.
Pope Francis’s moral positions: abortion, contraception, euthanasia and death penalty
While he had an opening on the place of women in general, he maintained his historic position against abortion, to which he described more than once as a “crime.” The same position maintained during the debate of the Voluntary Pregnancy Interruption Law in Argentina both in 2018 and 2020.
During a trip in 2018, he explained to journalists his opinion on the subject. Abortion “is not a religious problem: we are not against abortion for religion. No. It is a human problem”. He even argued from science. “The third week after conception, many times before the mother realizes, there are all organs, all, even DNA. Isn’t that a person? It is a human life, and point. And this human life must be respected,” he said.
The same condemnation had with euthanasia. “Euthanasia is a crime against life. Incurable does not mean ‘unstoppable'” “highlighted in the letter of the congregation for the doctrine of faith. There it was reiterated that “euthanasia is a crime against human life”, and that “all formal or material cooperation immediately to such an act is a serious sin” that “no authority can legitimately impose it or allow it.”
A significant nuance was his Opening towards contraceptive methods. In 2015 he reiterated that the Church maintains the prohibition of the imposition of “artificial” contraceptive methods, but noted that it promotes “responsible paternity.” That time, as a joke, he told the journalists present on the flight that transported him: it does not mean “that to be good Catholics we have to reproduce like rabbits.”
In 2022 the Vatican called a group of theologians and philosophers to discuss the issue and concluded that, In some cases, They could accept the use of contraceptives.
Yes, his position was hard against the death penalty. “The death penalty is not in any way the solution to violence that can be folded on innocent. Executions, far from doing justice, feed a feeling of revenge that becomes a dangerous poison for the body of our civilized societies, “he said.
Environmental protection and climate change
Undoubtedly, Francisco will be remembered as the Pope who requested the most for the care of the environment, “our common house.” On more than one occasion he talked about the subject.
He May 24, 2015the Pope published his second and encyclical revolutionary. It was “Laudato yes’about the care of the common house. “For the first time a Pope spoke extensively and as a theme that the Church of Defense of the Environment and Climate Change has to be occupied. It has become an environmental manifesto for the world.
Postures regarding homosexual marriage and the LGBT community
Pope Francis had an opening policy of the Catholic Church to different sectors. Among them, the LGBT community, which meant a great change. His position was clear: “Homosexuality is not a crime. It is a human fact” He said more than once and left the doors open for anyone who wants to be part. “If the Church puts a customs at its door, it ceases to be the Church of Christ,” he explained.
Although he promoted this opening, he set a limit: the homosexual union that in Argentina became a right with the sanction of equal marriage. In an interview he said that “The blessing is for everyone,” but then clarified: “What I allowed was not to bless the union,” because this goes against “the law of the Church.”
The interreligious dialogue
Another of his pontificate’s brands was the interreligious dialogue he promoted. “Dialogue as an antidote to extremism, and as a providential sign for peace and fraternity,” He argued in a text by Francisco for the delegation of the International Jewish Committee of Interreligious Consultations.
He met with different religious leaders throughout the world, always calling respect. Perhaps the most important milestone was its continuous Interventions to achieve peace between Israel and Palestine. One of them occurred on June 8, 2014 at the Vatican gardens.
That day the 10th anniversary of the “Invocation for Peace in the Holy Land” was held. Given the presence of the presidents of Israel and Palestine, Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas, asked in a stretch of his prayer:
“Let’s not stop dreaming of peace, which gives us the unexpected joy of feeling part of a single human family. I saw this joy a few days ago in Verona, on the face of those two parents, an Israeli and a Palestinian, who hugged each other. This is what Israel and Palestine need, a hug of peace! “
The fight against pedophilia in the clergy
In the last three decades, the Catholic Church was shaken by several complaints of cases of pedophilia and sexual abuse in the clergy. ANDL Pope Francis called a “total battle” against these crimes and performed different actions in this regard.
In February 2019, he convened a church leaders summit where he called “to a total battle against child abuse“And he insisted that the Church needed to protect the children”of raptor wolves”In December of that year, he announced that he would abolish the high level of secret about accusations of sexual abuse against clergy.
Work and education
Francisco rejects jobs that subject people to unfair or denigrating working conditions, such as prostitution or clandestine workshops, which qualifies as “slavery” and “human trafficking”:
“I ask for justice for these men and women subject to human trafficking in any of the items: clandestine workshops, prostitution, boys subjected to farm jobs and cardboard living from crumbs that fall from the table of the satisfied.
It also criticizes the people who work with the ultimate goal of the accumulation of money, which thinks they face a «Descending cataract of moral degradation. “
Francisco created an educational project in 2013 to promote harmony between schools. With this, its project called Occurrent Scholas has been presented to the United Nations Organization, and also includes sport and a collaborative and multirreligious online platform.
It is an educational entity of public good, promoted by Francisco, that links technology, art and sport to promote social integration and the culture of the encounter. One of its declared missions is to recreate a different education, which recovers an anthropological look and essential human values and that covers all the reality that school students live.
The creation of the Council of Cardinals
The Cardinal Council was created by Pope Francis on April 13, 2013 and permanent institutionalized on September 30, 2013 To meet reform needs within the Roman curia and review the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus.
The main objective of the group is that of the Pope’s advice in the government of the Universal Church, which exercises it both by way of advice and on a personal capacity, each member being free to make their own suggestions. However, the comments of the council are orientative and the final decision falls on the pontiff. They have gathered numerous times since their institution.
His statements of Santos
It was also very active in the canonization of Santos. In total, made 74 canonizations. The chosen people were very different times and particular characteristics.
Some of the Pope was John Paul II deceased in 2005, María Teresa de Calcututa, Founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity, and the “Cura Gaucho” José Gabriel Brochero, An Argentine who did a great evangelization work in the Zrdlasierra area in Córdoba.
COVID-19 AND PANDEMIA: The darkest moment
The hardest moment in the world, of which the Vatican was not exempt. In full pandemic, Francisco decided to leave on March 15, 2020 to pray to a crucifix of the 16th century before which the Romans implored in 1522 the end of the “great plague”.
He showed it again March 28perhaps at the darkest moment of pandemic. “Dense darkness have covered our squares, streets and cities; they took possession of our lives filling everything with a silent silence and a bleak vacuum,” the Pope described.
It was a totally antagonistic image when, because of the pandemic for the Coronavirus, the Pope arrived alone at the iconic square of San Pedro.
Diplomacy and multilateral dialogue
Pope Francis’s intervention was key to achieve in 2018 a thaw in the United States embargo on Cuba.
Undoubtedly, the role of mediator of the Pope Francis It is one of the outstanding points. His intervention in the conflict between Cuba and United States It is proof of this, managing to end the island of embargoes.
So much Barack Obama as Raúl Castro They thanked Francisco for his delicate collaboration to start the thaw. In October 2014, the Vatican secretly welcomed the delegations of both countries, which announced the agreement on December 17 of that year, coinciding with the Pontiff’s birthday.
He also interceded in The conflict between Russia and Ukrainewhere he received the Ukrainian President Zelenski. Meanwhile, Moscow’s approval is expected to achieve a conclave with Putin.
The Pontiff said then that he had no problem traveling to kyiv and putting together the parties, to close the war and find the exit of peace.
Source: Ambito
