He entered the world with the candescence a meteor, blazing new trails and igniting enough light to show that he wanted any lingering swamps and dark alleys of the Church to be cleaned up. He wanted to reposition the Church.
We all remember that day on 13 March 2013. The world was still recovering from the sight of the white smoke and barely catching its breath from the announcement of the famous words heralding a new pope, Habemus Papuam [We have a Pope!]. Millions strained their eyes to behold who the new pope might be and then, presto, there appeared the new pope draped in his white cassock.
The world stood in shock as Pope Francis waved, but no one was prepared for the first words that came out of his mouth when he bowed and asked the world to bless him! If this was shocking, there was more to come from the new pope.
The world expected the new pope to keep up with over centuries of tradition of what has come to define the papacy at least in its modern form. First, rather than travelling in the special papal vehicle to the papal apartments, his new official residence, Pope Fancis decided to drive with his fellow Cardinals in the same bus right to the Domus Sanctae Marthae (House of St. Martha), less than a hundred meters from the Vatican Sacristy at the back of St. Peter’s Basilica. Domus Sanctae Marthae would remain his residence throughout his papacy. By Vatican standards, the facility represents the quintessence of pleasure, a kind of a local Hilton in the Vatican.
Yet, in reality, the comfort is about what you would find in a modest three-star hotel. I have stayed there several times, even having the luxury of staying in the suites. Again, the modesty of the facility will shock you. You can check online because it is open to guests.
The world had barely settled down to these shocks when it was reported that the Pope had personally called his vendor back in Argentina to cancel his subscription of the local newspaper. More and more evidence would emerge that this pope would be like no other, that he would change the way the world saw the Catholic Church and the way the Church saw itself, its role and place in the world. Of course, becoming pope meant he had to drop his real names, Jorge Mario Bergoglio. His decision to choose the name, Francis, after the famous Italian mystic and poet, the man who abandoned wealth and chose a life of poverty was symbolic.
Pope Francis went on to stun the world in the symbolic choices that he made in the course of his papacy. The world would have to get used to looking at wealth, power, weakness and the poor differently.
I had the rare honour of meeting him several times in his short papacy. On two occasions when I stayed at the Domus Sancta Martha, it was not uncommon to bump into him in the dinning room. He would smile back if you smiled at him, he would shake you if you offered him your hand. He personally went to the tables to help himself in the buffet setting. He ate openly with any guests who were around, the only exception being that his table was separated by an existing wall in the facility. Of course, often he would often have some of his staff, visiting prelates or other guests with him. In his presence, you could feel his translucent and vivacious honesty. His smiles were penetrating in their honesty and simplicity. He was vulnerably present to everyone around him, irrespective of status.
In his presence, you could choose to shake, hug or embrace him. He received whatever gift you offered him. I guess his handlers had already known that this was an official policy. I often watched as people walked up and offered him presents, some looking quite strange. From calabashes, ornaments, woven cloths, books, pictures, Pope Francis would take anything from everyone. He stood still for any photographs and was never in a hurry.
He made the world one huge blackboard on which he scripted so much by his thoughts and actions. He often quoted St. Francis who said: “preach the gospel and only if necessary, use words”. He took those words seriously and used his life as the greatest writings on the blackboard. Actions, not words. When he called the world a field hospital, he wanted the world to appreciate the quantum of wreckage created by the unbridled greed of the powerful whose footprints had turned the world into a crime scene.
In 2023, I was lucky to be asked by the President of the Bishops of West Africa to represent our Conferences during the Pope’s visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in February, that year. After the Mass, there were interactions with the holy father. When I told him I had come from Nigeria, his face lit up and even more so when I told him that the Bishops of West Africa had asked me to represent them and to welcome him. “ And you came all the way from Nigeria?”, he asked. When I said “yes”, he looked at me as if I had just scored a goal at injury time as he patted a congratulatory touch and appreciation on my shoulder! Pope Francis spoke during that visit about the threats of the new colonial exploitation in Africa. In Sudan, he lamented the tragedy of the wars and sufferings of our people.
In life, Pope Francis stood with the weak and the poor. He called attention to the threats posed by the environmental exploitation of mother earth. In 2015, he published his earth breaking Encyclical, Laudato Si [On Care of our common home], calling attention to the threats posed by environmental exploitations by the powerful. He was an honest, caring, loving man who placed emphasis on our common humanity.
He called the world’s attention towards the need to raise the bar on friendship, brotherhood, sisterhood and collaboration. He developed a friendship with the Chief Imam of Al-Azhar Mosque which led to the publication in 2020 of his most readable Encyclicals, Fratelli Tutti [All Brothers/Sisters]. He had laid down his pastoral roadmap very early in his papacy with the first encyclical titled, Evangelii Gaudium [The Joy of the Gospel] in 2013.
The world will miss a genuine leader, a very loving and caring man. Pope Francis set Jesus free from the walls erected by those Christians who sought to imprison him in cages of dogma by exploiting the message of liberation. He generated controversies with many of his views and different commentators will focus on the issues that fit their ideological persuasion, but we cannot deny that the world has lost a moral compass.
For the ideological, there are those who will see the death of the holy father as bump on the road for the radicals within the Church. In truth, the real and genuine message of Jesus rises well beyond ideology. The world awaits a new pope, and prayerfully soon.
In 2005, when Pope John Paul 11 died, a British journalist interviewed me in Abuja. He asked me if I thought the world was now ready for an African pope. He was taken aback when I told him that the Catholic Church could not elect an African Pope. But, he said, the world is anxiously waiting and it could be a Nigerian. I still insisted but when he asked why, I told him calmly: An African pope will have to be elected by Africans to govern the African Church. It is true a man of African descent can be elected a pope. He can then be only a pope from Africa, not an African pope! You would have needed to see his reaction when he realised he had framed the issues wrongly.
This idea of an African pope is still popular. However, the Catholic Church does not do, emi lokan. There is no emi lokan in the priesthood, none in the Bishopric or the papacy. The holy spirit has no calendar and no standing Electoral Commission. The holy spirit has always made the choice in faithfulness to the promises Jesus made to Peter: Upon this rock, I will build my Church [Mt. 16:18). It is not our Church, not a human institution. So only God, through the holy spirit will choose who will lead His Church.
Matthew Hassan KUKAH is
Bishop, Catholic Diocese of Sokoto
