Pope Francis, the Prophet
Guest editorial by Michael Shackleton
It is only since Vatican II that the popes have become travellers. Pope Paul VI led the way in 1964 when he visited the Holy Land. After that, he kept on the move to the extent that he became known as the “Pilgrim Pope”.

Pope Francis holds the Book of the Gospels as he celebrates Mass and the canonization of Junipero Serra outside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
In 1965 he addressed the United Nations general assembly, exhorting governments to stop wars and cooperate towards peace.
He concluded with an appeal to man’s moral conscience. Man is in danger, he said, not from progress or science but from man himself.
Pope Paul’s successors have maintained this principle, urging governments, commercial forces and industrial powers to have a conscience and treat all citizens and workers with the respect and dignity that belongs to the human person.
Now we have had Pope Francis celebrating Mass in Revolution Square in Havana, Cuba, and appearing on the lawns of the White House in Washington, effectively repeating the call to conscience.
By mixing among homeless and disadvantaged people in Washington and elsewhere, he demonstrates, more forcibly than in words, his insistent lesson that there are countless opportunities to serve the underprivileged.
He has worked personally and diplomatically to thaw the long-standing icy stance between the United States and Cuba — and has succeeded. President Barack Obama paid special tribute to the pope’s mediation in this. Pope Francis and Cuba’s communist President Raul Castro, both Spanish-speaking Latin Americans, have established a cordial relationship.
In the US there has been criticism, even from Catholics in Congress, that issues such as climate change and economic systems have nothing to do with the Church, and the pope should stay out of the heated debate about these. Right-wingers have branded Francis an ultra-radical whose views on the world economy are “unrealistic”.
Pope Francis has not been fazed by any of this and is determined to get his message across to the secular and religious spheres of life.
He wants Christ’s voice to be heard, a voice that assured the disciples that his peace is not the same kind as the world gives.
It is founded on the love of God and the love and caring we must have for one another and our planet that nurtures our lives.
From this flows Francis’ emphasis on divine mercy and human mercy and compassion towards one another.
When Paul VI spoke to the United Nations in 1965 he envisioned a world at peace with no wars. Pope Francis has the same hope and prayer, but right now it appears that there are more victims of wars and social upheavals than before.
There is a lamentable lack of moral leadership on earth at this time. With Pope Francis’ sudden rise to the prominence of a charismatic Christian leader in his brief term of office so far, he has assumed a prophetic role.
When he speaks, he is accepted as sincere and honest in his desire to better the lot of the poor and marginalised. He wants the rich and strong to examine their consciences and see that they have a moral obligation to their less fortunately placed fellows.
He is poised to be the modern prophet of morality universally. He highlights the harm done to life, families, economies and Mother Earth by the selfish and the unconscionable.
A glance at the pope’s heavy schedule during his Cuban and American trip is startling.
While in his heavy schedule of travelling in Cuba and the US — packed with liturgies, ceremonies and meetings — the pope had hardly a few minutes to relax, his Vatican desk meanwhile piled up with matters for his exclusive attention.
It is no wonder that he hinted a while back that he might imitate his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, and resign before exhaustion overtakes him.
Yet the papal input in today’s complicated international confusion may now be the way for the papacy to go. As St Peter’s successor, the pope must feed the lambs and sheep of Christ’s flock.
Catholic journalist John Allen Jr has been quoted as saying that Pope Francis has become “the new Nelson Mandela”, the new source of moral authority in the world.
We must pray for Pope Francis, and that future popes will take it on themselves to follow his example.
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