Leader of Leaders: Ten Years of Pope Francis’ Pontificate

It is the tenth anniversary of “Habemus Papam”, undoubtedly the most remembered and applauded by Argentines in its entire history. Ten years of Bergoglio as pope. And if what the poet said about the human species cannot bear too much reality is true, it is also true that it seems impossible to try to analyze the historical significance of this pontificate as it unfolds. Again. Moreover, it will take many years to put time into perspective and weigh the importance that, for the history of Argentines and of the Church throughout the world, having this Argentine Pope could mean. A Jesuit priest from Buenos Aires, son of immigrants, football and tanguero fan, named Jorge Mario Bergogliobecome Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church.

Among all the considerations that could be made around this anniversary, I want to look and reflect on two major conflicts that have arisen around him: on the one hand, the unusual resistance that Francis has generated and arouses in the conservative sectors of the Catholic Church and, on the other hand, the rejection of her figure that has grown in some sectors of Argentine society over the years.

With regard to the first, we have seen how various conservative sectors of the Catholic Church sharply criticized certain actions and statements of Pope Francis. Some bishops, cardinals and even dignitaries of the Vatican Curia have even done so publicly. These questions come mainly from sectors that consider the Pope to be weakening the traditional doctrine of the Church and that his positions are too lax on divorce, homosexuality and other similar issues. They also opposed some of the reforms that the Pope has promoted in the structure of the Church, such as the decentralization of power and the greater participation of the laity in decision-making, especially in the inclusion of women in important decision-making roles. in the structure of the Vatican Curia.

I believe that this sometimes virulent opposition, which is expressed publicly, and which is almost unheard of in the tradition of at least formal and public obedience to the Pope, especially on the part of bishops and cardinals, is in reality the one of the most notable and modernizing of this pontificate. I consider it a great advance in the tradition of the Church to be encouraged to have a dialogue of ideas and underlying themes with a pope, that is, to conceive of the papacy as a figure of service and spiritual witness rather than as an unquestionable and indisputable absolute monarchy on any subject or matter. I think that the fact that it is precisely the traditionally more papist sectors that question and question a Pope is a great step towards a more modern and at the same time more Gospel-compliant Church, where it is postulated that it is the truth that liberates, and to today’s world, which is more open and needs a sincere and real dialogue that is not tied to mandates or empty formalisms. François hacked the ultrapoperie ultra-conservative sectors.

On the other hand, in Argentina, Pope Francis has been criticized by a part of society that places him in the so-called Argentine “crack”. This crack refers to the political polarization which has characterized society in recent years and which opposes antagonistic sectors. The pope was completely immersed in the antinomy “Peronism-Anti-Peronism” by the two sectors of the debate which like to use their face in this sterile confrontation which occurs today in our company and often also by the media. The consequence of this localist hermeneutics of the Pope is to miss Francis, it is not to know his true message, thus managing to silence an essential and necessary voice for the serious problems that the world and Argentina are going through. Francis is interpreted as a local and biased word, whereas as pope he claims to be a universal and transhistorical voice.

His decision not to have visited the country so far also generates endless questions and criticism about him and his relationship with our country. It seems that for many Argentines the price to pay for having an Argentine pope has been the price of not having one. Se pierde perspectiva cuando se lo considera tan sólo como una voz más dentro del spectro de personajes multiopinantes que alumbran o enlodan el ambiente de coexistence nacional, obviando así su misión única, histórica y universal que le corresponde como el Papa n° 266 de la historia from the church.

However, and beyond all this, I believe that the Pope Francisco has managed to establish himself as one of the most influential leaders in the world, both for their positions on political and social issues and for their ability to connect with people. His accessible style and openness to minorities and the marginalized have been widely appreciated by public opinion, and his role in the fight against poverty and inequality has been recognized around the world and by world leaders. He’s a leader of leaders in the world. In short, I am encouraged to think and to say that the legacy of Pope Francis promises to be one of the most important in the history of the Catholic Church and of humanity.

On the occasion of these ten years I renew my deep desire to see and experience a visit by the Pope to our country And I pray for that to happen.

I would like to end these lines with some questions that Bergoglio himself asked himself exactly twenty years ago and that today we could apply to his own pontificate:

“What will future generations say of us? Will we be up to the challenges before us? Why not ? is the answer. Without demagogy, without messianism, without impossible certainties, it is a question of courageously plunging back into our ideals, into those that have guided us in our history, and starting now to implement other possibilities, other values , other behaviors. (Message from the Archbishop of Buenos Aires to the educational communities. March 2002)

Bergoglio’s message transcends his person. His true leadership is precisely his voice, his teaching, his vision. His ideas and his actions are the protagonists of a leadership that will last beyond the man Jorge Bergoglio. For it is not about him as a person, but about what he signals, inspires, generates, both in the Church and in the world and in history.

Men who transcend themselves, that is the essential.

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