The Mission of Pope Francis

Pope Francis is an interesting character.  He’s not a normal Pope.  The Pope is the spiritual head of the Catholic Church but Pope Francis seems to assume another role.  It took me a while to figure this out but I think I’ve finally found out where he’s coming from.

In 2014 and 2015 Pope Francis held two synods on the family which dealt with a number of family issues.  In 2019 he had the Amazon synod where bishops and clergy discussed what to do with the priest shortage in the Amazon region as well as other issues.  However when it came to the death penalty, he didn’t even hold a synod.  He just legislated.  You think on something like that he would have held a synod.  I think we can conclude that he’ll only let the bishops debate things if it’s not that important to him.

I want everyone reading this to look at how Papal Encyclicals are written.  They’re addressed to a certain group of people in a certain way.

Here’s the address of Pascendi Dominici Gregis by Pope Pius X:

To the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops
and other Local Ordinaries in Peace
and Communion with the Apostolic See.

Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction.

These types of addresses didn’t stop with the Second Vatican Council either.  Here’s the introduction to Pope Benedict’s encyclical Spe Salvi:

TO THE BISHOPS
PRIESTS AND DEACONS
MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS
AND ALL THE LAY FAITHFUL
ON CHRISTIAN HOPE

Pope Francis has written three encyclicals.  They are Lumen Fidei, Laudato Si, and Fratelli Tutti.  Lumen Fidei has a pretty traditional introduction.  It reads like this:

TO THE BISHOPS PRIESTS AND DEACONS
CONSECRATED PERSONS
AND THE LAY FAITHFUL
ON FAITH

A pretty traditional introduction, wouldn’t you say?  However we need to look at the timing.  This encyclical came out in June 2013.  Francis only became Pope in March of that year so this encyclical mainly belonged to his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI.  Francis just finished it off and published it.  This often happens in the history of the Church.

However, Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti belong to Pope Francis and only Pope Francis.  Neither of these documents have any introduction.  Who is Fratelli Tutti addressed to?  You have to read very carefully but it’s in the document.  Pope Francis writes:

Although this Letter is addressed to all people of good will, regardless of their religious convictions…

– Fratelli Tutti, 56

All people of good will regardless of what they believe.  It’s not addressed specifically to the Catholic faithful.  I think this tells us who Francis thinks he is.  He thinks that he’s some spiritual leader of the world.  This is not the role of the Pope.  The Pope is to guide Christ’s Church to evangelize the world.  Pope Francis needs to stick to that role.