Pope Francis – ‘True Original’ says Rabbi A. James Rudin

by Rabbi James Rudin

Header image: Rabbi A. James Rudin speaks after receiving the Papal Knighthood of the Order of St. Gregory for his work in interfaith relations in November 2022 at Saint Leo University. | Courtesy Photo.

Image: Bishop Mark O’Connell, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston, presented Rabbi A. James Rudin with the Papal Knighthood of the Order of St. Gregory on behalf of Pope Francis.

Let me count the ways Pope Francis is a true original:

• Born in 1936 and a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was the first pontiff from either North or South America. His Italian-born father fled Italy in 1929 to escape Benito Mussolini’s brutal fascist regime.

• There have been 266 popes throughout the centuries, but at 88, Francis was the oldest active pope in history.

• Chosen by his fellow cardinals in 2013, Pope Francis was the first member of the Jesuit order of priests to serve as the global spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church, whose members number more than 1 billion people.

In a unique chapter of papal history, Pope Benedict XVI, Francis’ predecessor, retired that year and lived within the Vatican grounds until his death in 2022.

• Francis eschewed many of the usual elaborate trappings of an “Imperial Pontificate.” Unlike popes before him, he did not live in the lush Apostolic Palace. Instead, his apartment was inside the Domus Sanctae Marthae (Saint Martha’s House), which opened in 1996.

On a personal note, my wife, Marcia, and I, along with Dr. Philip Cunningham, a professor at Philadelphia’s Saint Joseph University, and his wife, Julia, were among the first overnight guests at Saint Martha’s nearly 30 years ago.

• One of the hallmarks of Francis’ pontificate was his robust public support for the human and civil rights of the world’s huge migrant population. In addition, Francis was a strong opponent of the death penalty, and he publicly apologized for the harsh negative treatment carried out in the past by the Church toward indigenous peoples.

• He constantly made clear the dangers of unchecked and unbridled capitalism, and as pope, he has acknowledged the horrific Catholic clergy sexual scandals.

• Francis believed destructive climate change is a clear threat to humanity, and in 2015 he issued a very personal encyclical Laudato si’ that urged “care of our common home: the planet Earth.” The encyclical also criticized unchecked consumerism.

• In 2020. Francis opened for scholarly study the vast Vatican Archives on the Holocaust/World War II period when Pius XII was pope. Francis, keenly aware of the controversy surrounding the Church’s policies and actions during that era, declared the Catholic Church “isn’t afraid of history.”

• When asked about the place of the LGBTQIA+ community within the Catholic Church, Francis delivered a widely quoted response that quickly became a lasting and memorable part of his historical legacy: “Who am I to judge?”

• In a unique “Francis moment,” the pope has washed the feet of jailed prisoners in Rome during Christianity’s Holy Week. The pope also turned a small 1984 Renault car into the so-called “Popemobile.”

• As a Catholic leader in Argentina, then-Cardinal Bergoglio, the future pope, developed a close personal relationship with Abraham Skorka, an Argentinian rabbi. They co-authored a book, and that personal bond has enabled Francis, despite some significant “bumps in the road” — namely, any long-lasting human relationship that has never experienced “bumps” — Catholic-Jewish relations have continued to intensify and grow stronger and more mature. “From enemies and strangers, we have become friends and brothers,” said Francis, who, as an archbishop in his native Argentina, fostered close relationships with the Jewish community.

• Francis’ relationship with Judaism, the Jewish people, and the State of Israel has been one of building sturdy bridges of mutual understanding, including visiting the Jewish State in 2014 and two years later, the Great Synagogue [Tempio Maggiore] in Rome. At the same time, Francis has been the center of public controversary when critics — both Catholic and Jewish —asserted Francis has unfairly criticized Israel’s military response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023, brutal terror attack that killed 1,200 innocent Israeli civilians and the obscene kidnapping of men, women, children, and infants as hostages. It is a controversy still unfolding.

But, of course, Pope Francis has his critics both inside and outside the Church. And despite being a “Catholic-friendly” rabbi, I cannot, of course, enter into internal Church issues that include the question of clerical celibacy, the intense criticism directed by some Catholics against Pope Francis, and the number of disillusioned families who are “voting with their feet” as they leave the Church. Those issues and others like them must be addressed, but they can only be resolved by Catholics themselves.

Despite his critics and their animus, I believe history will judge Pope Francis kindly, and I personally hope no future pope takes that name. He needs no Roman number to be warmly remembered.