Ten years have passed since Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope on March 13, 2013. What is most notable about his pastoral ministry is his passion for the Gospel and the continuing reformation of the Church in a missionary sense. During this decade, time took on two distinct dimensions: one progressive, initiating processes; .
(Vatican News Network)“Time is better than space”: these words of Pope Francis in his first apostolic exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel”, summarizing the decade since he began his papal ministry. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first Jesuit pope, the first pope from Latin America, the first pope to choose the name Francis, and in modern times, the A pope elected after the resignation of his predecessor. In fact, for him, “space concretizes process, while time stretches into the future, urging us to walk with hope”. This concept of time becomes the key to our interpretation of the pastoral ministry of the current pope, which is presented in two ways: one is progressive and the other is cyclical. The first way allows us to “start the process”; the second way is manifested at the level of encounter and camaraderie.
First and foremost is the Apostolic Charter “Pradicate evangelium”, issued in 2022, which provides the Holy See with a more missionary structure. Among the new things introduced are the establishment of the Congregation for the Congregation of Charity and the new Congregation for the Evangelization, which is directly presided over by the Pope. The charter also focuses on the participation of the lay faithful within the Holy See and finalizes a number of economic and financial reforms that Pope Francis has implemented over the decade, including the creation of the Economic Secretariat in 2015.
The process initiated by Pope Francis also involves ecumenism, interreligious dialogue and fellowship. Since 2015, the “Prayer Day for Caring for Creation” held with the Eastern Church on September 1 every year to persuade Christians to “ecological conversion”. On the issue of caring for the common home, in the same year 2015 Pope Francis issued his second encyclical Laudato si’ (the first encyclical Lumen fidei). jointly with his predecessor Benedict XVI). The gist of the document is to advise people to “change direction” and take responsibility for “caring for our common home”. This responsibility also includes eradicating suffering, caring for the poor, and equitable access to the planet’s resources for all.
On February 12, 2016, Pope Francis met with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in Cuba, and signed a joint statement with him to practice the “Ecumenical Movement of Charity”, that is, Christians jointly build a more fraternal Humanity. On March 16, 2022, at the height of the Ukrainian war, Pope Francis and Kirill had a remote dialogue, reiterating that they would “stop the war” through “negotiations.” Unforgettable was the Pope’s peaceful pilgrimage to South Sudan last month with the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and Church of Scotland leader Iain Greenshields. As for interreligious dialogue, the joint declaration signed by the Pope and Ahmad Muhammad Al-Tayyib in Abu Dhabi on February 4, 2019, “Humanity’s Contribution to the Promotion of World Peace and Living Together The Brotherhood of Christ, is a milestone in the relationship between Christianity and Islam, as it encourages interreligious dialogue and explicitly condemns terrorism and violence. In terms of the ethos of the congregation, Pope Francis is implementing an important change, the final stage of his three-year process: the next Ordinary Synod, to be held in the Vatican in 2023, on the theme “One Church Together”. : Inclusion, Participation and Mission”. The three-year process, divided into diocesan, continental and ecumenical phases, involves listening, discerning and consulting.
Also on Francis’ “progressive” timetable are efforts to combat sexual abuse, the most important of which is a summit on the protection of minors at the Vatican in February 2019. The summit made clear the Church’s desire to act in a truthful and transparent manner, resulting in the issuance of Vos estis lux mundi (You are the light of the world), which establishes new procedures for reporting incidents of harassment and violence and ensures that bishops and The Superior Superior is responsible for their actions.
The second dimension of time, the “circle” of Pope Francis’ time, revolves around his preoccupation with the margins, both geographically and existentially. Pope Francis said reality is seen more clearly from the margins than from the centre, and that from the margins back, people’s minds and hearts are enriched. The 40 international pastoral visits, almost all to the periphery, are typical, as are the 28 trips to Italy: the first on 8 July 2013, to Lampedo The island of Lampedusa, the tragic center of the phenomenon of Mediterranean migration. Equally important was a visit to the Lesvos refugee camp in Greece in April 2016, at the end of which Francis sent 12 Syrian refugees back to Rome on his special plane to help. The theme of immigration will follow four verbs: receive, protect, promote and integrate, which is another microcosm of Pope Francis’ “cycle of time”, as it contains the constant struggle against “a culture of discarding” and “globalization of indifference”. struggle.
Pope Francis’ “circular time” also includes a relentless effort for peace. One of the admirable manifestations is his encyclical “Brothers” issued on October 4, 2020, which reaffirms brotherhood and friendship and firmly says no to war. When the conflict in Ukraine erupted two years later, the document’s exhortations for a “true and lasting peace” seemed prescient in a world experiencing daily a “fragmented Third World War”.
Another example of Pope Francis promoting “peaceful diplomacy”: June 8, 2014 with Israeli President Shimon Peres (Shimon Peres) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Mahmoud Abbas) in the Vatican Garden “Pray for peace in the Holy Land”; and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba on December 17 of the same year. For this historic event, Pope Francis himself spent months calling the two heads of state, Barack Obama and Raúl Castro, urging them to “start a new stage”. The same goes for the provisional agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China on the appointment of bishops, signed in 2018, renewed in 2020 and extended for another two years in 2022. Moreover, in a year marked by the conflict in Ukraine, the Pope has personally committed himself to peace: on February 25, 2022, he visited Alexander Avdeev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Holy See, and in Dominica The next opportunity to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the phone. The Pope keeps calling for a truce.
Evangelization, or zeal for evangelization, is part of the “circular” dimension of Francis’ time, as is the theme of the series of catechesis currently at the Audience: since “The Joy of the Gospel” in 2013 makes it clear that evangelization must It embodies joy, embodies “the beauty of God’s saving love”, embodies a “going out” Church, close to believers, ready for “gentle revolution”.
In addition, Pope Francis has a close connection with his predecessors. On April 27, 2014, Pope John XXIII and John Paul II were canonized as saints. They were joined by Paul VI, canonized on October 14, 2018, and John Paul I, beatified on September 4, 2022, whose smile was captured by Pope Francis. Seen as a symbol of “a church with a happy face”. However, a special place in Pope Francis’ heart goes to Benedict XVI, who dies on December 31, 2022. For ten years, Pope Francis has never concealed his boundless respect for Jose Ratzinger, praising his theological accomplishment, kindness and dedication on many occasions. On January 5 this year, he presided over the funeral of Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Square, the first contemporary pope to hold a funeral for his predecessor.
Now Francis begins his eleventh year of pastoral ministry, and it begins with hope. Those who hope will never be disappointed, the Pope said, because they hope to have the face of the risen Lord.
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