Tony Flannery in The Irish Examiner: Francis was a counterweight to those who venerate power

Link to article: https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-41618119.html

Though not a great surprise, due to his recent serious illness, the announcement of the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday morning is a matter of great sadness  to many people. 

I am deeply saddened by his death.  He was a remarkable man who made an enormous contribution not only to the Catholic Church, but to the whole world.

The role of the papacy in the Church had become very inflated over the past few centuries, probably since the Council of Trent in the 16th century, but especially since the First Vatican Council in the middle of the 19th century, with the definition of Papal Infallibility. 

This teaching declared that the pope had a direct line to God, and that when he spoke infallibly he could not err, and raised him to an almost super human level. The exalted position was accentuated by residing in the papal residence, the elaborate attire – remember Pope Benedict and his red shoes. 

So when Francis, on the day of his election, came to the balcony in a simple white soutane and announced himself as the Bishop of Rome, rather than the Pope, it gave an immediate signal that this would be different. Somehow, he was on par with other bishops around the world. There was a shift in emphasis from the global to the local.

When asked who he was, he responded that he was a sinner. So now we had someone who was equal to the rest of us, not standing above us, or claiming any special status. In that too, he was giving a message, one which he continued to emphasise right through the succeeding years, to all bishops, to all clergy, that they were to be servants of the people rather than lords over them.

In a world that is increasingly unstable, and is falling under the rule of people who seem to be obsessed with their own power, and moving more and more toward  control over the lives of their people, Francis was a strong counter voice, constantly portraying a different type of leadership, one that was about love, care, justice, rather than oppression. 

He was a great defender of the poor, the migrant, and saw everybody as equal, and gave them all a welcome. But at the same time he was always open to meeting world leaders of all shades of opinion, because he believed that progress was made not by excluding people but by meeting and talking to them.

This was shown right to the very end by meeting with the United States vice president J.D. Vance, who had been a very strong critic of him, and whose values appear to be at odds with those of Francis.

Francis will be remembered for his stance on the environment, one of the major issues of our time. His encyclical, Laudato Si, will be one of his great legacies. 

A small local angle to that encyclical, but also one who shows that measure of the man. In founding the Association of Catholic Priests in 2010 I was joined by Brendan Hoban and Seán McDonagh. Seán, a Columban priest, was an expert on the whole world of climate change.  

Maybe it was his involvement with the ACP that caused him to be ignored by the Irish Church authorities. But we were all surprised when Seán got a message from the Vatican, asking him to come to Rome and help draft the encyclical. He did, and played a significant part in putting it together.

Francis was not perfect. I think it is fair to say that the Church has traditionally had an obsession with matters of sexuality and gender, and Francis was not completely free from those attitudes. He upheld the ban on women becoming deacons or priests, and that has been a great disappointment to many, especially women. 

But he opposed efforts that were being made by various bishops and priests to exclude people from receiving the Eucharist, such as people who were in second relationships or members of the LGBT community. Under Francis, the Church generally was a more compassionate and welcoming place. 

His biggest legacy, if it becomes embedded in the future Church, is the process of synodality. The vision he had that members of the Church would be consulted on all matters that affected them is intended to dramatically change the way the church operates, by opening up the exercise of authority and decision making to lay people, and in that way reduce the control of the clerical caste over the Church.

Francis had many critics within the Church, including men in very high offices both around the world and in the Vatican. The United States Church in particular is very divided and among its Catholic hierarchy there seem to be very few supporters of Francis or of his message.  

I hope and pray that his successor will continue his work, but I am not holding my breath. I think the next conclave could be a battle.

• Tony Flannery is a Redemptorist priest and a founder of the Association of Catholic Priests.