What does meditation consist of? The Pope explains it in the audience"From conflict to communion": Pope Francis' ecumenical vision"Creative fidelity", Pope Francis' request to the new cardinals.To understand the pontificate of Pope Francis it is essential to know the main interpretative keys.
First of all, we must remember that when the Cardinal of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, arrived at the room he would occupy during the conclave, he found on his desk a copy of the first edition in Spanish of the work of Walter Kasper, a German Cardinal and Jesuit who was staying opposite, on the mercy of God.
The Pope of Mercy
As is well known, this book, reprinted many times in recent years, summarizes very well the pontificate of Pope Francis. Indeed, he will go down in history as the Pope of the mercy of God. In fact, he was enthroned on March 19 and Holy Week began immediately. But on Easter Monday 2013, during the recitation of the "Regina Coeli", the Pope announced to the world the tenderness of God: the "tenerezza di Dio", that is, the sweetness of God and the power of his mercy.
Indeed, among the attributes of God is the divine gift of mercy. Entitatively, for the great theologians of history, who copied one another with impunity without quoting each other, the gift of mercy was the last, after omnipotence, wisdom, etc. Anyway, for us, the gift or divine attribute that interests us most is that of mercy.
The first Holy Year convoked by the Holy Father Francis was the Year of Mercy, an extraordinary Holy Year that began on December 8, 2015 and concluded on November 20, 2016, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council and to stir the souls of Christians to turn to the sacrament of Penance: "God does not tire of forgiving, it is man who tires of asking for forgiveness."
The Jubilee of Mercy
The bull "Misericordiae vultus" of Pope Francis was promulgated on April 11, 2015 and with it was recalled the main arguments patiently collected by Cardinal Kasper in his book, but assimilated and meditated by the Holy Father Francis.
Since then, the Holy Father Francis has marked the way he has approached the serious problems that afflict humanity: the wars that have grown and multiplied in those years, emigration, poverty, marginality, slavery, economic inequalities, gender violence, pederasty and pedophilia, the lack of ecological sensitivity, the absence of freedom and the flagrant violations of human rights, famines, terrorism and so many other scourges that have been the subject of his speeches at major events: On Christmas and New Year's days, he has always been faithful in St. Peter's Square to bestow the blessing "urbi et orbe" and at the same time denounce these terrible facts.
The mercy of God will be the key to the last ordinary Jubilee Year of 2025, "Spes non confundit" (Rom 5:5), with which the Holy Father encourages all Christians to come to Rome to gain the indulgence or to the Jubilee temples designated by the bishops of the whole world. God's mercy is based on Jesus Christ's gaze on every person: "misereor super turbam": he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd" (Mt 15:29).
The pontificate of a pastor
Immediately, we must point out that the Holy Father's pontificate has been profoundly pastoral, both in its closeness to people and to the particular churches, as well as to countries never previously visited and, above all, its closeness to the problems and difficulties in the governance of the universal Church.
For example, it has taken first-hand command of the protocols of action in cases of abuse, and has even reacted with such forcefulness and speed that it seemed to bypass the principle of presumption of innocence in order to set an example to the whole world of sensitivity and to immediately stand by the side of the victims and their families.
Undoubtedly, Francis will go down in history for his closeness to the needs of Christians, including direct phone calls from the Holy Father to the Argentinean parish priest in Gaza from the Gemelli hospital to convey the Pope's affection for all the Catholic Palestinians suffering there.
Likewise, the Holy Father has been very close to the youth, first of all, putting all his affection for young people, secondly, seeking the necessary generational changes so that they would take the lead in the Church and, to the extent of their strength, in the various governmental cadres of society and, finally, promoting vocations for all the institutions of the Church, especially for fathers and mothers of Christian families.
Discernment
It is also profoundly pastoral that, as a good Jesuit, having applied the "gift of discernment of spirits", both in his personal life and in the institutions and dioceses, since he wished to discern for himself and for all, seeking to give greater glory to God.
If we look at the various speeches he has made and the way in which he has tackled the difficult and thorny problems he has faced, it has always been with the discernment and prudence of government. Moreover, he has not hesitated to bypass the usual mechanisms of government in order to have direct access to the problem and tackle it quickly. As the adage goes: "to solve a problem you have to get out of the problem". It is therefore very pastoral and, also pastoral of urgency, as many "ad hoc" commissions as he has organized.
Undoubtedly, there is much work to be done: the salvation of the more souls the better, so no one will be able to say that the Holy Father has not done everything possible to introduce a great apostolic dynamism. In fact, the usual reform of the curia that all Roman Pontiffs undertake in Francis has taken on a clear missionary nuance, as can be seen in "Praedicate Evangelium".
We cannot end this quick analysis without mentioning his enthusiasm for a synodal church, returning to the style of the exercise of the pontificate during the first millennium, well aware that synodality will collaborate with the missionary, ecumenical and pastoral dimensions of the Church.
