On this day of Pope Francis’s funeral, first of all we pray for the repose of his soul.
Everyone would acknowledge, no matter the side on which they would land, that Francis’s Pontificate was controversial and divisive. I don’t find any need to rehash debates. Rather, I’d like to reflect on some interesting ways his Pontificate made a contribution to the culture of the Church.
1. Francis created a new category of saint: The Oblate, one who has made an oblatio vitae (gift of life), offering oneself in a heroic way outside of martyrdom. Although canonized before this distinction was made, we could think of St. Gianna Molla as a great example of this kind of sacrifice.
2. Francis created the first non-Catholic doctor of the Church, St. Gregory of Narek, who was a monk of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which was not in communion with the Holy See during his life.
3. Certain Orthodox saints have found their way into the Roman martyrology through their celebration by the Eastern Catholic Churches. Francis broke ground, however, in directly accepting the 21 Coptic martyrs into the Catholic liturgical calendar.
4. Francis continued to break ground by visiting new places. The most significant, by far in my mind, was his visit to Iraq, a place of central importance for biblical history and the development of the Church in the East. His courage in making this trip moved me more than anything else during his Pontificate, with his blessing of the world during the Covid lockdown coming in second.
5. He encouraged seminaries to teach more literature. As someone committed to the importance of poetic knowledge in education, I welcome the contribution, so long as it is not used to relativize doctrine.
6. He established the ministry of catechist. It is an historical fact that many lay people served in this capacity in the early Church. It remains to be seen how this will impact catechetical teaching in the future. He also called for the establishment of a marriage catechumenate, which is desperately needed, but will be hard to enact.
7. He added the name of Joseph to other Eucharistic prayers beyond the Roman Canon (which Pope John XXIII) had done, and created the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church on the day after Pentecost.
8. Even though he opposed the widespread celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, he did insist on enforcing the decision of the Syro-Malabar Church on celebrating the Liturgy of Eucharist ad orientem.
These are some initial thoughts, but I will keep updating this as more ideas come to mind.
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