Varghese Theckanath s.g,
Pope Francis, who died on April 21, 2025, was given a moving funeral on April 26, Saturday, attended by a quarter million people including world leaders such as President Trump of the US andre President Draupati Murmu of India- but above all the simple ordinary people who crowded in and aroud the Vatican, and the thousands who crowded the streets on the way today the Mary Major Basilica where his mortal remains are buried. In passing away, Francis left a transformative legacy as a global leader, emphasizing compassion, justice, and dialogue across critical issues. His pontificate (2013–2025) was marked by bold stances on climate change, peacebuilding, interreligious dialogue, migrants’ rights, social engagement of religion and the rights of women and children.
Climate Change
Pope Francis emerged as a leading voice on environmental stewardship, framing climate change as a moral and spiritual crisis. His 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, was a landmark document linking environmental degradation to social injustice, emphasizing that the poor suffer most from climate impacts. He called for urgent global action, urging lawmakers to transcend partisan politics and achieve consensus on climate goals, as seen in his 2021 address to parliamentarians before the COP26 summit. At the 2024 Vatican summit on climate resilience, he decried short-term greed by polluting industries and highlighted women’s roles in adaptation, noting their disproportionate burden. His advocacy inspired initiatives like Laudato Si’ Action Platform, encouraging religious people across faiths as well as those with no faith in God worldwide to embrace commitment to sustainable living. He had a deep influence on the Paris Conference and those that came after it.
Peace building
Francis was a tireless advocate for peace, often described as the “Pope of the peripheries” for his focus on conflict zones. He condemned the indiscriminate impact on civilians in the modern warfare, citing Ukraine and Gaza as examples, and called for dialogue and ceasefires. His 2014 Vatican prayer summit with Israeli and Palestinian leaders Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas exemplified his belief in prayer and dialogue as paths to peace. In 2019, he denounced nuclear weapons as immoral during visits to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, urging global disarmament. His final Easter Urbi et Orbi message a day before he passed away, reiterated calls for peace in Gaza, Ukraine, and forgotten conflicts like Sudan, Yemen and Myanmar. His bending down to kiss the feet of the leaders of the warring factions in South Sudan, asking them to build peace in the name of God remains as an icon of a peace maker without parallel.
Interreligious Dialogues
Francis championed interreligious dialogue as essential for peace and mutual respect, emphasizing religious freedom and minority rights as bulwarks in building a peaceful world. His 2019 meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Iraq he underscored lower of dialogue over conflict, leading to his statement that peace requires “brothers and sisters” choosing dialogue over regurgitation of the past wounds. He visited diverse regions, from Abu Dhabi (2019) to Mongolia (2023), engaging with Orthodox, Islamic, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindi, Sikh and other leaders. At the 2021 Vatican interfaith summit, he joined leaders like Sheikh Ahmad al-Tayyeb to issue a climate appeal, blending faith and science. He condemned antisemitism and discrimination against Christian as well as followers of other religious minorities, advocating for respect amid rising centralized control over religious freedom in some nations.
Rights of Migrants
Francis was a passionate defender of migrants and refugees, viewing their welcome as a moral imperative. He housed refugees in Vatican City, laid wreaths in the Mediterranean for those lost at sea, and called for open hearts, lamenting perceptions of migration as an “invasion.” His 2025 letter to U.S. bishops criticized the deportation plane of President Trump, echoing his 2016 remark that building walls is neither Christian nor religious. He linked migration to climate change and conflict.
Socially Relevant Religion
Francis sought to make Catholicism a living, inclusive faith engaged with modern struggles. He shifted the Church’s tone on social issues, inviting divorced, homosexual, and transgender people into the fold, a departure that sparked both progressive praise and traditionalist criticism. His focus on the “peripheries” prioritized the poor and marginalized, as seen in his visits to conflict zones like South Sudan and East Timor. He addressed systemic issues like economic injustice and sexual abuse cover-ups, confronting governance failures head-on. By appointing diverse cardinals from Africa, Asia, and South America, he reoriented the leadership of the Church toward thriving regions, ensuring a global, socially engaged Catholic Church.
Rights of Women and Children’s
Francis highlighted women and children as both victims and agents of transformation in crises like climate change and conflict. He noted their disproportionate suffering but also their resilience, as in his 2024 climate summit remarks. His 2025 Easter homily decried violence against women and children, even within families, urging renewed hope and trust. While he faced criticism for not fully addressing women’s roles in Church leadership, it is to be noted that he made decisive changes in the Vatican Curia (Administration) , appointing a woman to head the Vatican State and another to lead the Vatican Department for religious and secular institutes, a potentially very powerful role. Above all he threw open the Vatican Curia to anyone with talent, men or women- a radical departure from the traditionally irrevocable link between ordination (reserved exclusively for men) and positions of power in the Church.
Voice Against Genocide in Pales tine
Francis was outspoken on the Gaza crisis, calling for investigations into whether Israel’s actions constituted genocide, as noted in his 2024 book for Jubilee 2025. He condemned Israel’s “immoral and disproportionate” attacks, describing Gaza’s situation as “dramatic and deplorable” and decrying civilian deaths, particularly of children. His 2024 letter and 2025 Easter message urged ceasefires, hostage releases, and humanitarian aid, while he maintained close contact with Gaza’s Holy Family parish. These stances drew criticism from supporter of Israel, who argue that he minimized impact of the violent actions of Hamas and Israel’s right to self-defense. Yet many the world over have stood by him as the leading beacon of peace in the region and the world.
Conclusions
Pope Francis’s legacy lies in his relentless pursuit of peace, justice, and in in his own inimitably humble ways. He re-framed climate change as a moral crisis, fostered interreligious unity, championed migrants, and made religion socially relevant. His advocacy for women and children, and his outspokenness against conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, cemented his role as a global conscience. While not without controversy, his compassion and dialogue-driven approach inspired millions, leading behind a Catholic Church more attuned to the peripheries of the world after the example of Jesus.
The process for the election of his successor will begin on 28 April, two days after the final rites of Pope Francis has concluded. Even as the world waits with bated breath for the white smoke to rise from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel that houses the master works of Michael Angelo, the one prayer that is on the lips of everyone is that the next Pope imbibes the core legacy left behind by him – a Pope Francis II.
(Varghese Theckanath s.g, is Director, Montfort Social Institute, email: vtheckanathsg@gmail.com)
