Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr | Will New Pontiff Continue Pope Francis’ Glasnost?

As the world mourns the death of Pope Francis, the first Latin American head of the Roman Catholic Church, who died on April 21, Easter Monday, at the age of 88, the Catholic Church’s top prelates in the Vatican will be busy in the next few weeks with the election of the new Pope. The Church has its time-honoured bureaucratic procedures of electing the successor to Pope Francis through the members of the College of Cardinals below the age of 80. Interestingly, Pope Francis has created 30 cardinals from Asia and Africa, making the important assembly of cardinals even more representative. So, the speculation about the successor of Francis is whether it would be another outsider like him -- an Argentine though his Italian grandparents had migrated to Argentina after the First World War to seek a better life compared to the straitened economic status in Turin.

He was also the first Jesuit to become the Pope. This has its own symbolism. The Jesuits, known as the Society of Jesus, had spearheaded the Counter-Reformation in the face of German Augustan monk Martin Luther’s Protestant rebellion. The Jesuits have been known to be the defenders of the Roman Catholic Church, reputed for their shrewdness and cunning. Pope Francis was shrewd in many ways but in a benign sense. His liberal views on the issue of gay priests -- his famous riposte “Who am I to judge” -- and his attempt to reach out to the Islamic world at the time of rising Islamophobia -- have their element of cunning too. But he made these issues more than a matter of policy and strategy.

The openness he displayed was rooted in his moral commitment. And here comes the interesting complication of his worldview. Even as he adopted the name of Francis after St. Francis of Assisi, he showed his commitment to the Franciscan vows of poverty, compassion. Pope Francis cared for the poor, and one of his declared commitments on becoming the Pope was to keep the Church poor and to care for the poor. This awareness of the poor can be traced back to his own growing-up years in Buenos Aires in a neighbourhood of immigrants. And he was also drawn to the famous Liberation Theology movement of the Roman Catholic priests in Latin America. He recalls in his autobiography, Hope, that he grew up among people of other faiths, who included Jews and Muslims. This is a dimension that shaped his views about religions and how the church should approach the issue.

The general view of Pope Francis has been that he has been a liberal and progressive pontiff, and the Roman Catholic Church was in need of a man like him after the pronounced conservatism of his predecessor Pope Benedict XV and of Pope John Paul II, who was hailed as the man who contributed to the downfall of Communism starting with his native Poland. That was a formidable legacy. John Paull II was the Pope from 1978 to 2005, and Benedict XVI from 2005 to 2013. So, Pope Francis’ papal term of 12 years seems to have just opened the windows to winds of change if they are to be called that.

The conservatives in the Roman Catholic Church remain entrenched, and Pope Francis had to brush them aside. He did not always consult the College of Cardinals, and formed his own small, select committee of nine cardinals to advise him. He appointed many women to key positions in the Roman Curia, the administrative setup of the Vatican.

The other revolutionary and conservative -- yes, this is indeed the mix of irreconcilable features -- aspect of Francis’ papacy has been his canonisation policy. He has reached out to create saints through the well-laid out process of the Roman Catholic Church from outside the Western realm -- Kolkata’s St. Teresa (of the Missionaries of Charity) in 2016, Cardinal John Henry Newman, the 19th century English Catholic priest who is known for his famous essay The Idea of a University. And also from Argentina and Brazil. The little noticed canonisation was that of 800 Catholics who had been massacred by the Turks in 1480 and known as the Italian martyrs of Otranto. The total number of those canonised by Francis rises to a phenomenal 912. Among those canonised were three of his predecessors, Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. Canonisation is a way of strengthening the Roman Catholic Church. It can be rationalised as a way of remembering the people who have done much for the faithful. And he would have most likely defended it as such.

Pope Francis had adopted a nuanced stance of being rooted in religion and the traditions of the Church even as he reached out to the poor people of all faiths across the world. And he derived his compassion and concern from his own religious beliefs. To remain rooted in religion and faith in a time of both existential and political uncertainties is a matter of both integrity and courage. It is in this act of commitment that Pope Francis becomes an ideal, and it is not surprising that people across the world and across faiths admire him.

So, can the papal conclave elect a man to succeed Pope Francis who can combine the many gifts, talents and commitment that Francis had brought to his high office? There is little doubt that the Roman Catholic Church is mired in controversy -- moral and financial -- and there is need for a man with a clear moral vision to be at the helm. It is not an easy task for members of the conclave. The eyes of 1.3 billion Roman Catholics will be focused on the Vatican even as they mourn the passing of a charismatic Pope Francis.

There are millions who are disgusted with the workings of the Roman Catholic Church, and they are mainly from among the Roman Catholics. But they also realise the importance of preserving the historical edifice with its centuries-old traditions because it offers hope and sustenance of its own. It might be easy to dismiss the Roman Catholic Church as a humongous superstition. But to millions it is an edifice of solace. And it is from the many who are dedicated to the Church that men like Pope Francis emerge. Around the world, political leaders have turned out to be more than shallow and diabolical. It is in this vacuum that the importance of individuals like Pope Francis in a position of leadership seems so necessary.