Today, the world mourns. He left our earth just a day shy of World Earth Day (April 22). The whole creation felt his impact because he was no ordinary clergy. It was as if Mother Earth sent him on a mission to this planet at a time when such a green emissary was needed the most. Indeed, his task was orchestrated by divine hands. On March 13, 2013, his colleagues chose him, and he was assigned the Pontiff’s shepherd rod. His first task was to adorn himself with green garb.
“Call me Francis,” he declared. The name was from Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), patron saint of the environment, animals, and birds; known for his piety and service to society, and called the ‘Green Saint’.
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1936, Pope Francis was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State, with many firsts. He was the first pope from the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order); the first of Latin American identity; the first from the Americas; the first from the Southern Hemisphere; the first born or raised outside of Europe since the 8th century Syrian pope Gregory III; and, in my estimation, the first green pope.
Even at death, he still makes history. He chose the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major) as his resting place. This means that he is going to be buried outside the Vatican. The last pope to be buried outside the Vatican was Leo XIII, who died in 1903. In fact, in Pope Francis’ final testament, he specifically asked to be buried “in the earth, simple, without particular decoration” and with the inscription only of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus. What a man!
An epitome of simplicity, he brought a humble touch to his grand office, thereby making things easier for a complicated world. He reformed the church through the adoption of inclusive practices like the washing of women’s feet at Easter rituals and the assignment of more roles to women.
In July 2013, a few months after becoming pope, Francis visited Brazil, where he underlined how European settlement had been detrimental to Amazonian indigenous peoples. And that the church could not be like the exploiters. “The church’s presence in the Amazon Basin is not that of someone with bags packed and ready to leave after having exploited everything possible. The church has been present in the Amazon Basin from the beginning, in her missionaries, religious congregations, priests, laity and bishops, and she is still present and critical to the area’s future.”
Later, on February 12, 2020, he came out with Querida Amazonia (Dear Amazon), pleading with members of his flock as well as all persons of goodwill to save the great biome that is the Amazon.
““LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs. This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail”…,” wrote Francis.
He was not shy in professing his thoughts on climate change. The 184-page Encyclical declared, “Climate change is a global problem with grave implications… It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.” Interestingly, Francis’s 2015 Encyclical came just before the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Paris, the very COP21 where the historic Paris Climate Accord was negotiated.
In 2019, he called ecocide a ‘sin’. He added that it should be made a fifth category of crimes against peace, which should be recognised as such by the international community. That same year, Francis called for a radical energy transition to save the planet. He almost attended the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change but pulled out at the last moment for health reasons.
Most recently, it will be recalled that Pope Francis responded to the growing social turbulence brewing in the world by extending the Shepherd’s love and empathy towards the LGBTQ community. He declared that the church would henceforth bless same-sex couples, an action which understandably received gales of backlash.
In my view, those who criticised Francis needed to understand that he stood on the same platform established by Benedict VI and John Paul II. They began this green journey, but Francis-just like any true scion would do–escalate the green principles towards universal inclusion and gender sensitivity. In other words, he continued the environmental legacy of his predecessors.
It was Benedict who, in 2010, released the Message for the World Day of Peace, where he called for respecting creation as “it is the beginning and the foundation of all God’s works and its preservation has now become essential for the pacific coexistence of mankind”. On his part, John Paul II was the one who, in 1979, designated St Francis of Assisi as the patron saint of those who promote ecology; and in January 2001, declared, “We must therefore encourage and support the ‘ecological conversion’ which in recent decades has made humanity more sensitive to the catastrophe to which it has been heading.”
So, as the world prepares for the burial of Francis this Saturday, we must determine to go beyond mere rhetoric and diplomatic involvement – thankfully, Francis simplified traditional papal funeral rites.
American President Donald Trump has already announced that he would be attending the late Pope’s funeral in Rome. He described him as a good man and directed that the American flag fly at half-mast. However, I am inclined to believe that the soul of the late Pontiff would rest better if the world’s most powerful president would honour his memory by shifting his ground on issues of climate change and sustainable development.
We need to consciously imbibe those values that have made Pope Francis a darling of the modern world. His peace should stir us towards tolerance, justice and global harmony. His simplicity should teach us that planet Earth values those who seek its sustainability. His humility should nudge us into the realms of inclusion and empathy. As a matter of fact, his aura shall stick to our terrestrial spheres for a long time to come, even as we earnestly pray that the Vatican conclave can elect another pope who would continue the three-decade-long green trajectory of the papacy. Yet, even if our dreams never come true, we must never drop this green ball that Francis had left in our hands.
Credit:Punch