I woke up this morning to the news that Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, has died. His passing was announced by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo. Bells tolled in church towers across Rome after the announcement.
The pope survived a thirty-eight-day stay in Gemelli hospital for a respiratory crisis, emerging yesterday to bless thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square for Easter Sunday. He then surprised them by riding in the popemobile through the piazza. Earlier in the day, he met briefly with US Vice President JD Vance.
The passing of a pope is a monumental event for a church numbering 1.4 billion across the world. Francis’ pontificate was especially historic and often controversial. Journalists and historians will be discussing and debating his leadership for many days. His statements and actions with regard to women, LGBTQ people, clergy sexual abuse, migrants, Vatican reform, and the priesthood were applauded by many and opposed by many others.
Of all that could be said about Pope Francis this morning, however, I want to focus on his humility.
His first act as pope
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Argentina on December 17, 1936. A rising star in the Catholic church, he was appointed head of all Jesuits in Argentina and Uruguay at the age of thirty-six, but what he later called “my authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions” led to deep divisions in the Jesuit community. As a result, he was exiled for two years in Argentina, a period Bergoglio later called “a time of great interior crisis.”
The priest who emerged was more humble, servant-hearted, and people-centered. He learned that caring for hurting souls is the Church’s primary responsibility, and leaders must lead with humility and compassion. He began concluding every conversation by asking the other person to pray for him (a practice he continued as pope). Even when he became archbishop of Argentina, he chose to live in simple quarters, ride public transportation, and cook his own meals.
When Cardinal Bergoglio was chosen as pope in 2013, his first act was to receive his fellow cardinals as their peer, standing on their level. For his first public appearance, he wore a white cassock, the ordinary papal dress, rather than the more formal red, ermine-trimmed mozzetta used by previous popes.
He chose to wear the same iron pectoral cross he had worn as archbishop of Buenos Aires, rather than the gold one used by his papal predecessors. In his first public act as pope, before he blessed the pilgrims standing en masse in St. Peter’s Square, he asked them to pray for his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, and for himself.
He then chose to remain in the Vatican guesthouse rather than moving to the official papal residence in the Apostolic Palace. He was the first pope since Pius X (who died in 1914) not to live in the spacious papal apartments. He wore his old orthotic shoes rather than the red loafers of the papacy and rode in compact cars.
Washing the feet of juvenile offenders
On his first Holy Thursday following his election, Francis participated in the traditional Maundy Thursday foot-washing service, choosing twelve people (symbolizing the twelve disciples). However, the twelve he chose were not wealthy or notable people of significance in the church—they were juvenile offenders from Rome’s Casal del Marmo detention facility.
After he washed and kissed their feet, he said to them, “Washing your feet means I am at your service.” Two of the twelve were female, making Francis the first pope ever to wash the feet of a woman. In addition, two of the juvenile offenders were Muslim.
His first trip as pope was to the island of Lampedusa, then central to Europe’s migrant crisis. He consistently visited poor countries where Christians were persecuted minorities.
Camerlengo Farrell said of Pope Francis at his death this morning: “He taught us to live the values of the gospel with faithfulness, courage, and universal love, especially for the poorest and most marginalized.”
What Spurgeon, Moody, and Billy Graham had in common
Humility—the decision to place the Lord and others before ourselves—is not just an important principle for Christians who wish to be used by God: it is the foundation of all the others.
Jesus began his Sermon on the Mount with the proclamation, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). “Poor” translates ptochos, which means to be so impoverished as to beg for food from others. The beatitude can be rendered, “Blessed are those who know their desperate need of God, for they make him their king and advance his kingdom.” All that follows in Jesus’ sermon and the Christian life is based on this.
- The commission of the church to preach the gospel to “the end of the earth” can be fulfilled only in the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8), and that power can be given only to those who are yielded to the Lord (cf. Acts 1:14; 2:4).
- The courage of the church in fulfilling its commission is fueled by the Spirit when we are surrendered to him and “filled” by him (Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 13:9).
- The character of the church as exemplified by the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22–23) can be manifested by the Spirit only in those who are humbled and submitted before him (Ephesians 5:18).
- The compassion of the church for the least, the last, and the lost—a commitment so exemplified by Pope Francis—is fueled by the compassion of Christ (Matthew 9:36; 14:14; Luke 7:13) when we humble ourselves before his Spirit.
If you were to ask evangelicals to identify the three greatest preachers of recent generations, many would include Charles Spurgeon, Dwight Moody, and Billy Graham. What did they have in common?
Spurgeon said of himself: “Without the Spirit of God I feel I am utterly unable to speak to you. I have not those gifts and talents which qualify me to speak; I need an afflatus from on high; otherwise, I stand like other men, and have naught to say. May that be given to me, for without it I am dumb!” And God used him to preach to ten million people across his ministry.
- L. Moody was the son of an alcoholic who died when Moody was four years old. He completed seven grades of school. He said of himself: “I know that other men can preach better than I can. All I can say is that when I preach, God uses me.” And God did—more than a million came to Christ through Moody’s ministry.
Billy Graham said of himself: “I have often said that the first thing I am going to do when I get to heaven is to ask, ‘Why me, Lord? Why did you choose a farm boy from North Carolina to preach to so many people, to have such a wonderful team of associates, and to have a part in what you were doing in the latter half of the twentieth century?’ I have thought about that question a great deal, but I know also that only God knows the answer.” And he preached to more people than anyone in Christian history.
Why did God use them? Because they submitted themselves to the Lord in humility.
Who will be next?
Quote for the day:
“It is the possession of a joyful and genuine humility that alone enables us to receive grace.” —Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153)
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