Pope Francis died on Sunday, April 21, leading many to reflect on his time in the pontificate and the statements he made while holding the position. He was considered quite controversial as he took a stand on climate change and spoke about LGBTQI+ people as human beings with rights, regardless of anyone’s definitions of sin, on more than one occasion. 

He made it a point to write and speak about the interconnectedness of humanity and the need for people to care about one another, and to do so without prejudice. 

In doing so, he encouraged solidarity, reminding people of the ways we all must rely on one another for survival.

Importantly, Pope Francis highlighted the plight of people in situations of vulnerability, acknowledging that inequality affects the way we experience various crises. 

He said: “Too often we participate in the globalisation of indifference. May we strive instead to live global solidarity.” 

He also called solidarity a “moral virtue” that stems from the individual’s learning and ability to apply it to life and relationships. 

He made education central to many of his statements on global issues, and he connected education with obligation to take action for change.

Pope Francis asked: “How do we help our young people not to see a university degree as synonymous with higher status, with more money or social prestige?” 

He suggested that a university degree does not automatically lead to elevated socioeconomic positioning. Instead, he provoked thought with another question. “How can we help make their education a mark of greater responsibility in the face of today’s problems, the needs of the poor, concern for the environment?” 

The theme of solidarity is present in these questions that prompt people to truly consider how they will turn their knowledge into something meaningful that extends beyond benefits to their households.

“Education,” Pope Francis said, “is not about knowing things or taking lessons but about being able to use three lingos: those of the head, the heart, and the hands...  learning so that you can think about what you feel and do, can feel what you think and do, and can do what you feel and think. Unity within a person.”

Education is often framed as a selfish endeavour. We encourage one another to get degree, complete certification, and take courses to become more marketable, to use as leverage to make more money, and to equip ourselves with more knowledge and tools. It is rare that education is presented as a means through which we can become better, more active citizens. It is hardly ever said that our learning should inspire feelings, much less that we should embrace and interrogate those feelings, then determine what they call on us to do for the greater good of humanity, centering those with the least.

Pope Francis went in depth on the issue of climate change. His were not cursory comments, but delved into the human side of the science and what it means for the planet, humanity, and our shared and intertwined future.

In paragraph 13 of, the encyclical letter titled “Laudato Si,” Pope Francis said, “The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home. Here I want to recognise, encourage and thank all those striving in countless ways to guarantee the protection of the home which we share. Particular appreciation is owed to those who tirelessly seek to resolve the tragic effects of environmental degradation on the lives of the world’s poorest. Young people demand change. They wonder how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded.”

Pope Francis wrote about “rapidification” in which the forced increase in productivity is at odds with the pace of nature, causing distress and destruction to the planet while prioritising profit-making. He also drew attention to the pollution that is generated by our daily practices, from household waste to technological waste. He criticized the existing “throwaway culture” and lamented that “we have not yet managed to adopt a circular model of production capable of preserving resources for present and future generations, while limiting as much as possible the use of non-renewable resources, moderating their consumption, maximising their efficient use, reusing and recycling them.” He came close to bringing critique of capitalism and the kind of “development” that prioritises the maintenance and growth of the wealth of the few while willingly, intentionally sacrificing the wellbeing of many people and the planet we all inhabit.

Nothing that climate is a common good, Pope Francis called on people to “recognise the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it.” He called out the wealthy for their part in accelerating climate change, saying, “Many of those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms[…]” This is recognition of the imbalance of power between classes as well as a difference in concern, and not necessarily awareness, of the consequences of climate change and its disproportionate affects on people in situations of vulnerability, including those experiencing poverty and those living in “developing” countries.

Laudato Si included commentary on water and the scarcity affecting billions of people, loss of biodiversity and the exploitation of resources, and the ever-decreasing quality of life for human beings (which is often glossed over when the impact of climate change and the need for action is communicated).

Inequality seemed to be a reality that Pope Francis did not want to ignore. Instead, he pointed to it, calling on people to pay attention to it and be moved to do something about it. He said, “There is little in the way of clear awareness of problems which especially affect the excluded. Yet they are the majority of the planet’s population, billions of people. These days, they are mentioned in international political and economic discussions, but one often has the impression that their problems are brought up as an afterthought, a question which gets added almost out of duty or in a tangential way, if not treated merely as collateral damage.” He noted that decision makers are generally not in this group of oppressed and disadvantaged people. Not only do they live different lives, but they do not bother to engage with affected people to gain different perspectives to strengthen analysis and planning.

People in positions of power, as we know, live in fear of losing their power. Sometimes that power is in the form of money, sometimes that power is in the form of position, and in most cases it is both as one leads to another, usually through corruption. We see it happen over and over again on the global stage and at the national level. 

Politicians are driven by the singular desire to be re-elected or re-appointed and the fear that they may lose. The current administration refuses criminalise marital rape. It did not even have the fortitude, nor the resolve, to pass the Gender-Based Violence bill. It cowers in the face of anti-rights groups dressed up as religious leaders. It deliberately misleads and outright lies when reporting to international human rights bodies. It, even knowing the right action to take, chooses to do nothing or to act in the worst interest of the people and our future, afraid that the right move is unpopular and would cost it its power. This, inevitably, leads to significant harm to women, girls, LGBTQI+ people, people with disabilities, migrant people, people experiencing poverty, people who are/have been institutionalised, and people who are/have been othered.

This message from Pope Francis is fitting for those who would have us believe that they are brave, that they are Christian, and that they care about the country and/or the world: “Having doubts and fears is not a sin... The sin is to allow these fears to determine our responses, to limit our choices, to compromise respect and generosity, to feed hostility and rejection... The sin is to refuse to encounter the other, the different, the neighbour, when this is in fact a privileged opportunity to encounter the Lord ... to overcome our fears so as to encounter the other, to welcome, to know and to acknowledge him or her.”