After Pope Francis, who will carry his legacy?

As Pope Francis was laid to rest in Rome this week, and the Vatican prepares for a historic conclave to elect a new pope, the world is left to ponder what it means to have lost such a committed champion for the poor, an advocate for displaced migrants, and a voice of compassion in a world that feels increasingly cruel. 

Here on the Island, Catholics and faith leaders of different denominations remembered the extraordinary role that Pope Francis has played, particularly his support for immigrants around the world, including our own Brazilian community, which watches with vigilance and anxiety as the Trump administration continues a mean-spirited crackdown on immigrant families.

Mass deportations looming under the Trump administration, coupled with the freezing of federal grants that fund many of the nonprofits that help both documented and undocumented migrants, and the ongoing rhetoric portraying immigrants as dangerous, have created a climate diametrically opposed to the teachings of the Bible: “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt,” reads a passage of the book of Leviticus. 

Notice how the Bible doesn’t ask if foreigners have papers as a condition to love them. After all, Jesus and the Holy Family were internally displaced refugees forced to Bethlehem by an occupier and then forced to flee into Egypt to escape threats of violence.

The pope, whose health had been failing for some time, has been openly critical of the Trump administration, including Vice President J.D. Vance, a convert to Catholicism in 2019, who was the last official to visit before the pontiff passed away on April 21, Easter Monday. Francis had watched the rise of autocrats in the U.S. and around the world with trepidation. As his voice of compassion and in favor of what he would call a “pastoral” approach became weaker, he found himself standing more and more alone on the issues that mattered to most to him, particularly protecting immigrants and framing the consequences of climate change as a moral issue. With his passing, the next conclave will be a critical juncture for the church and for the world. Sadly, it does not seem there is anyone in the wings who can take up the progressive mantle within the church and fight off the conservative Catholic forces that have been gnashing their teeth and snarling about Pope Francis since he became known as “the people’s pope.” 

Hailing from Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was the first Latin American to be elected pontiff, and during his papacy he transformed the Vatican, steering it away from conservative doctrine and serving the dispossessed everywhere. 

When he was elected in 2013, Pope Francis said he adopted the name Francis in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th century Italian friar who renounced his wealth to become “a man of peace, a man of poverty, a man who loved and protected creation,” according to the National Catholic Reporter. Francis’ funeral was carried out, according to his wishes, with his signature humility and simplicity. He was not buried alongside previous popes in the grottoes beneath the Vatican, but in the more humble fifth century Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore.

The conclave that will begin its deliberations on Wednesday in Rome to elect a new pope will have to decide if they want to continue with Francis’ reforms and emphasis on social justice, or to revert to a more dogmatic and conservative stance. Their decision will have big consequences, not only for the church, but for those it serves, and even for millions of non-Catholics. 

With 1.4 billion people who identify as Roman Catholic, the Catholic Church is widely considered to be the largest charitable organization in the world. Through a vast, global network of parishes, religious orders, and charities, the church provides extensive social services on a local and global level, including healthcare, education, and social welfare, impacting tens of millions of people worldwide. On the Island, it is estimated there are about 650 families registered in the Good Shepherd Parish, which is made up of the three Island Catholic churches, St. Augustine’s in Vineyard Haven, Our Lady Star of the Sea in Oak Bluffs, and St. Elizabeth’s in Edgartown. At the weekly Mass held in Portuguese at St. Augustine’s, the pews were full with heads bowed in prayers for the pope and for the hierarchy of the church, which will now turn its attention to the process of electing a new pope.

There will be 135 cardinals who are under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to be among those selected to cast ballots, and 108, a clear majority, were appointed by Pope Francis. So the hope is that the process will elevate a new pope who will share Francis’ liberal leanings and his commitment to helping immigrants in particular. But that hope is far from certain, and those who work with the poorest and most displaced people in the world will be holding their breath over the next weeks. 

The world will wait for the white puff of smoke from a chimney above the Sistine Chapel that signifies the burning of the secret ballots, and that a new pope has been selected. Beyond the work on behalf of the poor, the newly elected pope will also face extraordinary challenges in trying to chart a path toward peace in Ukraine, Gaza, and more than 50 other countries in conflict, which are tracked by the Council on Foreign Relations. 

The road to Emmaus

It is laden with meaning that Pope Francis’ death fell on this Monday after Easter Sunday, with its redemptive and restorative message. Easter Monday on the liturgical calendar is when the reading in the New Testament tells of two of the disciples heading out on the road to Emmaus, fleeing fears of persecution after Jesus’ crucifixion, and the mystery of faith that is the empty tomb. They come across a man in a shroud who walks with them for a while, and they don’t recognize him. When they break bread, they realize they are in the true presence of Jesus, but by the time they see that, he is gone. 

This ancient path from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus still exists in the West Bank. In researching my book, “The Body and the Blood: The Middle East’s Vanishing Christians and the Possibility for Peace,” published in 2001, I walked the ancient Roman paving stones on the path referenced in the New Testament. The path leads to a Palestinian village in the West Bank called El-Qubeibeh, where there was still a small but steadily disappearing community of Palestinian Christians who lived around a 14th century Franciscan church named for St. Cleophas. In the book I documented the disappearance of indigenous Christians in the land where the faith began, a steady decline that continues to this day. Like the disciples described in scripture after the death and Resurrection of Jesus, it is hard to see the physical presence of Jesus on this path in this time of violent upheaval, when the peace process is left in the rubble of Gaza. But Francis’ teaching would encourage us to ponder the idea that Jesus’ presence can still be felt there. And it was revealed at the end of his life just how closely Pope Francis had held the plight of the Holy Land in his heart.

Over the past 18 months of his life, Pope Francis had an evening ritual of calling the lone Catholic church in the Gaza Strip to see how people huddled inside were coping with a devastating war.

In his last public appearance, Francis called for a cease-fire between Israel and the militant Hamas group. A fervent advocate of interfaith relations, he also urged Hamas to release the dozens of Israeli hostages it is holding, and condemned growing global anti-Semitism.

Dying on Easter Monday, the pope’s emotional engagement with the Holy Land invited a theological question: What does the story of Emmaus on Easter Monday tell us about the diminishing presence of Christianity in the Middle East, and the role the global Catholic Church can play in calling for — and achieving — justice and peace between Israelis and Palestinians and the followers of the three Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, who together share the Holy Land? 

Charles Sennott is the publisher of GroundTruth on Substack. You can subscribe to the free, weekly newsletter at charlessennott.substack.com.