OPINION | “Happy Birthday”, Francisco

Editor’s note: Rafael Domingo Oslé is a research professor at the Center for Law and Religion at Emory University and professor of Law at the University of Navarra. The opinions expressed in this article correspond exclusively to its author. You can find more opinion pieces at CNNe.com/opinion.

(CNN Spanish) – At 85 years old and with the physical limitations of his age, Pope Francis continues, firm and indefatigable, directing Peter’s old boat, that repaired divine boat that does not sink, no matter how misdeeds its crew do.

When Jorge Bergoglio attended the 2013 conclave, after the historic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, it is likely that he did not think about the complicated old age that destiny had in store for him: the sexual abuse crisis, the covid-19 pandemic, a persecution of Christians in various parts of the world, and even with much higher figures, the corrupt squabbles with the Vatican finances and so much more.

If Pope Francis has been able to survive so much political, financial, sexual and media uproar, it may have been due to two long-standing customs that he has managed to keep to the letter: his long nap after lunch and his evening hour of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, which, in Sometimes, according to what the pontiff himself has told us with the simplicity that characterizes him, it has also become a restorative nap. And it is that Francisco is a very human and very divine shepherd, who does not mind smelling sheep while he is transformed at the altar celebrating the Eucharist.

Seeing this panorama, it is not surprising, a posteriori, that Pope Benedict XVI resigned due to sudden impossibility, since dealing with such a task requires physical energy and mental discipline that is not within the reach of any fortune.

Francisco has it, in addition to knowing very well how to measure his strength and time, position himself on the ground, master the situation and act at the right time. Otherwise, Francisco’s intuition is proverbial.

With a great and multifaceted pope like John Paul II and a wise and prudent pope like Benedict XVI (both will be doctors of the Church one day), Francis did not have it easy. But the Argentine pope was right from the first moment, when he adopted the name of Francisco.

His model has been pure sanctity embodied in the humility of the poor man of Assisi. During his years of pontificate, Francis has offered the world a fresh vision of Catholicism, deeply evangelical because it is based on the same image of the merciful Christ, who goes after the lost sheep, eats with publicans and sinners and forgives prostitutes.

Pope Francis has been a great promoter of interreligious dialogue, he has emphatically condemned the issue of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, he has opened the Vatican to everyone, regardless of race, language, religion, sexual orientation; has placed women in high positions in the Roman curia, has criticized consumerism and savage capitalism, has denounced wars, has officially declared that the death penalty is inadmissible, has listened fondly to the prisoner, the poor, the oppressed, has defended immigrants and refugees, has promoted ecumenism and peace. There they remain for history his stay on the island of Lampedusa or his brave trip to Iraq, ignoring the advice of the false prophets.

The pope has been the great theologian of the intrinsic value of the garden that God provided for man, and has known how to tune the thunderous noise of the world with the eloquent silence of the spirit. I always thought that Francis was not going to be an encyclical pope. I was terribly wrong, because Laudato si (from May 24, 2015) and Fratelli tutti (from October 3, 2020) are two master jewels called to survive for centuries. Due to their clarity and their immediate practical applicability, both are in the top ten of the social teaching of the Catholic Church.

I believe, however, that the best of Francis’s pontificate is yet to come. Francis will go down in history as the pope of synodality, that word that he likes to pronounce so much and that will mark the last part of his pontificate. For Francis, “synodality expresses the nature of the Church, its form, its style, its mission” (Address to the faithful of the Diocese of Rome, September 18, 2021).

Synodality is the proper way of governing the Church in fraternal communion, in open, sincere and committed dialogue, such as that maintained by Peter and Paul; It is the way to walk in a Church guided by the Holy Spirit, who is the great protagonist of history. And history, all history, is tradition, but not understood – as Francisco insists – as a dry bonfire, but as a living fire that invites contemplation of God and the service of others, overcoming all paralyzing rigidity.

The Argentine pope knows what he wants and where he is going and he is not afraid, not even to make mistakes, because he knows himself to be a son of God and an instrument in his hands. Therein lies its strength. And its spiritual fruitfulness. Happy birthday, holy father!