Days before his passing, and having only recently left hospital, Francis visited prisoners in Rome and washed their feet as a sign of humility, something he did every Holy Thursday. Throughout his life, he met with transgender people and sex workers, people he would have known when he was a bouncer at a club in his youth, and the same people Jesus spoke about loving unconditionally.
His concern for the downtrodden reflected the best of all of us.
This, of course, came to a head as he battled, politically and theologically, with the rising tide of authoritarianism around the world, particularly in the United States.
As a Jew, I was always impressed by Pope Francis’ work to reach out to other faith communities, and people with no religious affiliations. Religious minorities around the world are facing increasing hatred, and his work to stem that, and stand in defiance of it, was important.
His work is carried on by people like Father Daniel Madigan, based in Melbourne, a leading Jesuit voice on interfaith dialogue. When you listen to people like Pope Francis or Father Madigan speak about the future, about community and love of humanity, it is difficult to feel cynical.
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The world in which Francis was elected seems far away these days. His death comes at an important moment where the world seems to be deciding between two potential futures. Between a reactionary, isolationist one that Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Viktor Orban are flogging, or one in which the global institutions we have built in the past century work to uplift and benefit all.
As with all institutions, the Catholic Church reflects the society in which we live. The selection of the next pope will tell us a lot about how the largest institution in the world will step into the future and the values it plans to project.
As a friend told me recently, it’s best not to walk into the future backwards.
Cory Alpert is a PhD researcher at the University of Melbourne. He previously served the Biden-Harris Administration for three years.
