The last bulwark against wars has died: Francis, a Pope who tried to reform the Catholic Church

From Our Vatican Correspondent
Emanuela Provera
April 21, 2025

La versione in italiano si trova qui

Born in 1936 to Italian immigrant parents in Argentina, chemic graduate, alumni at the Villa Devoto Seminary[1] in Buenos Aires: these do not sound like the makings of a future Pope of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church.

Yet Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s ecclesiastical career is unbroken from that distant 1969 when he was ordained a priest. In 1958 he joined the Jesuit order and in 1992 he was appointed, by Karol Józef Wojtyła, auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires, the city of which he became archbishop until March 13, 2013 when he was elected the Church’s 266th Pope.

Consensus

The words of the faithful, gathered in prayer in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Feb. 23, say much about the impact Bergoglio’s pontificate has had on believers: “We hope God hears our prayers for the Pope’s healing,” “Don’t leave us Pope Francis, we need you more than ever.”

The posts on social media are also a manifestation of the consensus that has been consolidated in recent years: “I am close to Pope Francis and as a Muslim who loves Jesus and the Virgin Mary…I will have a thought and a prayer for him,” in short, a kind of universal redeemer.

Anathemas against war

During his pontificate, Pope Francis has been a fervent advocate of mercy and social justice. He has issued anathemas against war; during the Angelus prayer on Sunday, Feb. 23, in his address, circulated in written form, he stated, “As I renew my closeness to the martyred people of Ukraine, I invite you to remember the victims of all armed conflicts and to pray for the gift of peace in Palestine, Israel and throughout the Middle East, Myanmar, Kivu and Sudan.”

He has led significant initiatives to reform the Roman Curia, boldly addressing global issues such as climate change, for example with the encyclical “Laudato Si’.”

He also promoted interreligious dialogue, working to build bridges of understanding between different faiths.

Failed to combat abuse

He has promulgated decrees that have required clerical associations (such as Communion and Liberation, Opus Dei, Focolare Movement) to rewrite their statutes, with a view to downsizing power over people.

Yet there is a historical objectivity that is equally undeniable and made of research, study, and data at hand: the fight against abuse in the Catholic Church has been lost, it has emptied the churches, disaffecting thousands of believers all over the world. While the structure of the Catholic Church is at the base of this loss, unfortunately we must remember Jorge Mario Bergoglio also for this.

Topical fact

Despite his good intentions, the Pope has failed inexorably in the impossible attempt to curb abuses (of conscience, spiritual and sexual) while saving the image of the institution. The result is there for all to see, especially in Italy.

To cite a topical fact, Monsignor Rosario Gisana, bishop of Piazza Armerina, was recently indicted by magistrates of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Enna for perjury in the trial that led to the imprisonment of one of his pupils, the seminarian now priest Giuseppe Rugolo, who was sentenced in the first instance to four and a half years for violence against minors.

The Italian Coordination of groups and individuals, Italy Church Too, has asked the Italian Bishops’ Conference for the establishment of an independent commission on abuse committed by clerics but has gone unheeded, despite the precedent of an independent investigation in the Diocese of Bolzano Bressanone by a law firm outside church circles.

Deep identity

It is not possible to combat clerical abuse without recognizing, according to the thinking of philosopher Slavoj Žižek, that pedophilia is deeply inscribed in the very identity of the institution.

While Bergoglio was in the hospital battling bilateral pneumonia, Laura Sgrò, known in ecclesiastical circles for being a Rotal Lawyer and Advocate at the Court of Appeals of the State of Vatican City, announced her latest book, in bookstores from March 4, 2025: “Sacred Rape.”

Published by Rizzoli publishing house, it collects the stories of Gloria, Mirjam, Samuelle and many other nuns who rebelled against abuses inside the Church. The next Pope will have to start here.

Emanuela Provera
donnadrusilla@gmail.com
© ALL RIGHT RESERVED

[1] https://www.sembue.org.ar/index.php/fundacion/

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