Pope Francis - Ten Years

As I consider recommitting myself to the Roman Catholic Church - the church I was baptized in, a church I slipped away from but never actually left - I ponder a decade of Pope Francis on the throne of Peter. 

This pope has revitalized the Church in a way unseen since in the 1980s, when Pope John Paul II was in his prime and led the peaceful resistance against Communism that liberated eastern Europe, reunified Germany and instigated the dissolution of the Soviet Union (which was set into motion by the secession ordinance passed by Lithuania, the only Catholic-majority ex-Soviet republic).  Pope Francis has expressed greater concern for the poor than many f his recent predecessors, and he continues to live simply in a guest apartment at the Vatican, spurning the more luxurious penthouse residence.  He has also preached for preserving the environment, recognizing God's hand in the creation of life and the need to preserve all life on the planet.  His work for the poor and for the earth is an extension of the Catholic "culture of life" that not only stands against abortion but urges care for the sick and respects human dignity even for the most wretched among us, standing against the barbarism of capital punishment.   

And even though he has yet to liberalize the Church's teachings that restrict the priesthood to men (and likely won't), he has appointed more women to lay positions than any other pope before them, and he has made it clear that homosexuality is not a crime and non-heterosexual Catholics are not sinners.  "Who am I to judge?"  He has furthered his dialogue with other Christian and also non-Christian faiths and, in an underreported event that would have seemed unthinkable only ten or twenty years ago, the Holy Father received the Living Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Pope Francis received LDS church president Russell Nelson in Rome in March 2019, when Nelson was there to dedicate the LDS church's Rome temple.  Their agreement on the need to promote religious freedom, help the unfortunate and work for peace was the first step in improving relations between two churches that have long viewed each other with suspicion and fear.

That is the Franciscan way - not being judgmental, not being dour, and always look at the brighter and more optimistic vision of the faith that of the living God and the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in all of us.  It's a way of guiding the Roman Catholic Church that will continue to serve Pope Francis for the rest of hid reign.