The Meaning of Pope Francis

The passing of Pope Francis on April 21, 2025 marked not just the end of a papacy but the end of an era in global politics. The moment in which Francis spoke before Congress a decade ago and identified Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and Martin Luther King as models of Christian moral witness feels like another universe — far from the cruel, cramped, suspicious, and selfish world we are living in. What was the Francis era? Where did he come from, and how did he become pope? And what are we losing — besides a pretty good pope — with his passing from the mortal realm? Matt and Sam discuss the passing of Pope Francis and what his papacy meant (to us and to the world), why he scandalized the Catholic right, and why his message feels so necessary and yet so far away. 

Further Reading: 

Vinson Cunningham, "Many and One," Commonweal, Dec 14, 2020. 

Dorothy Fortenberry, "The climate apocalypse is also a religious crisis," Vox, April 12, 2023.

Abeer Salman and Oren Liebermann, "The pope called them every night until his final hours. Now, Gaza’s Christians cling to the hope he left behind," CNN, April 23, 2025. 

Matthew Sitman, "No, Pope Francis is Nothing Like Donald Trump," Commonweal, Feb. 26, 2016.

— "Pope Francis and Civil Unions: We Need Clarity, Not a Media Blackout," Commonweal, Oct. 27, 2020.

Pope Francis, Laudato si’ (“On Care for Our Common Home”), May 2015.

Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, Oct. 3, 2020.

Ross Douthat, "Francis and the End of the Imperial Papacy," New York Times, April 21, 2025.

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