ROME (CNS) -- Pope Francis was committed to trying to discern and follow God’s will, and he knew that his actions and decisions would not make everyone happy, said Jesuit Father Arturo Sosa, superior general of the Jesuits.
“The important thing was to listen to one another, to dialogue with the complexity of reality, to scrutinize the signs of times, and in prayer, in familiarity with his Lord, to discern what is most appropriate at any given moment,” he told reporters at the Jesuit’s headquarters in Rome April 24.
The Venezuelan Jesuit spoke at an event hosted by the Society of Jesus, the religious order of the late pope, to remember their confrere, his “historic papacy, his spiritual leadership and his unique impact on the church as the first Jesuit pope,” the order said in a press release.
“Once he chose to be a disciple of Jesus, his deep motivation in life was to put God’s will into practice, that is, to contribute to the transformation of humanity to make this world a worthy home for all human beings,” Father Sosa said in his brief introductory remarks.
Pope Francis did “not seek to please everyone or measure his performances by some popularity index,” he said. He drew from the Gospel of Jesus and the lives of the saints and prophets, and “he knew that his actions and decisions would not be to everyone’s liking,” he said.
Some of those decisions led to strong criticisms and controversies that have not been “resolved,” one reporter said.
Father Sosa responded, “I think the problems were not put there by the pope; the problems were (already) there.”
What the pope did was help put all the different positions “on the table and not play games behind people’s backs, to really face the problems and the differences,” he said.
The pope did more than just tolerate different opinions, the priest said. He engaged in dialogue with those who thought differently to make their input part of his discernment, and he lent legitimacy to discussion and debate within the church so everyone could contribute. There will always be differences in a church, he said. But a synodal church lets those differences emerge in a healthy, “normal way,” by recognizing opposing opinions are “opinions that are worth hearing and discerning.”
A church that dialogues is “much more interesting than a church where things fall from up high,” he said.
When asked about the pope’s missteps in dealing with priests and bishops accused of abuse or cover-ups, Father Sosa said the pope “never failed to recognize his limits and his mistakes and his slowness in some cases.”
“It is not about salvaging what he did or did not do,” but to try to fix whatever is wrong, he said. “The issue is not whether we have to give Francis a medal or a score, but rather to learn from eventual criticisms, from eventual mistakes.”
Father Sosa was asked what legacy and priorities of Pope Francis the church must not leave behind.
His ministry of “going out” to find people, to listen to them, help them and learn from them, “to be in contact with the reality of people” really must continue, he said.
Also, “to recognize that we are fragile, and the church is fragile and that we need to recognize that we need support” from each other and to trust in God, he said.
The next pope, he said, is the successor of Peter, not the successor of Francis; he will be chosen by his fellow cardinals to wear “the fisherman’s sandals.”
The next leader of the universal church should continue to cultivate a “universal point of view” that understands “differences are not barriers, they are possibilities for encounter and enrichment.”
Precisely because the diversity and universal character of the world are at risk, he said, the church needs to carry out its mission of bringing the merciful face of the Lord to everyone in their own language and culture.
When asked if the Society of Jesus was going to begin a cause of sainthood for Pope Francis, he said the church has a wise tradition of waiting at least five to 10 years before it decides.
“I think that what we have to learn from Francis’ life is his constant invitation that we be saints,” he said.
