Within weeks of his 2013 election, Pope Francis shocked many by washing the feet of two girls—one of them a Muslim—during the Maundy Thursday liturgy at a juvenile detention center in Rome. This break from liturgical tradition signaled a papacy that would emphasize reform, pastoral openness, and, to some, a controversial departure from established norms.

Francis died on Monday morning after Easter Sunday at the age of 88. From the outset, he made it clear that mercy and compassion would define his papacy. He envisioned the Church as a “field hospital,” a place of healing for the wounded and weary. This metaphor underscores the Church’s role not as a tribunal but as a refuge—a space where people in complex or broken situations can find hope and care.

In 2013, Francis initiated a synodal process on marriage and the family, leading to two global synods in 2014 and 2015. These culminated in the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which emphasized pastoral accompaniment and inclusion. It notably allowed, under certain conditions, divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion—not by changing doctrine, but by deepening pastoral sensitivity.

Amoris Laetitia provoked strong reactions, including a dubia submitted by four cardinals questioning its orthodoxy. But Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna—a Dominican theologian and editor of the Catechism of the Catholic Church—defended the document vigorously. He rejected both rigorism and laxism, advocating discernment instead. For Schönborn, pastoral care must balance truth with mercy, honoring conscience while avoiding blanket moral judgments. He viewed Amoris Laetitia not as a rupture, but as a revival of a moral theology grounded in prudence and compassion.

This approach to discernment was again evident during the Amazon Synod, when conservative Catholics were scandalized by the presence of a Pachamama statue, seen by some as pagan. Schönborn defended the Pope, clarifying that the figure symbolized “Mother Earth” and “Mother of Life”—ideas which, in a Christian context, could be likened to a sacred tree and understood as “pro-life.”

Perhaps the most contentious act of Francis’ papacy is the 2023 declaration Fiducia Supplicans, which allows priests to bless same-sex couples and others in irregular unions—so long as these blessings remain nonliturgical and do not suggest approval of the unions themselves. The declaration redefines blessings as acts of pastoral care and prayer, not doctrinal endorsements. While many welcomed the move as a gesture of inclusion, others, including the Coptic Orthodox Church, suspended dialogue with the Vatican in protest. The episode highlighted the broader tension between pastoral outreach and traditional teaching.

Pope Francis also stirred debate with his statement that “all religions are paths to God,” made during an interreligious dialogue in Singapore. Critics accused him of relativism, arguing that the comment undermined the uniqueness of salvation through Christ. In response, he clarified that while all religions reflect humanity’s search for God, the Church continues to affirm that salvation comes through Christ and the Church. His intent, he explained, was to promote interreligious dialogue without compromising Catholic doctrine.

Francis’ pastoral flexibility follows an era of pronounced doctrinal clarity under his predecessors. Both Pope John Paul II, a philosopher who studied under Dominican Thomist Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, and Pope Benedict XVI, a theologian and peritus of the Second Vatican Council, emphasized orthodoxy and moral absolutes. In contrast, Francis’ approach reflected his Jesuit training and missionary experience, particularly in Latin America—a region with the world’s largest Catholic population but also vast socioeconomic challenges and pastoral complexities.

Notably, Francis is the first pope from a religious order since Gregory XVI in the 19th century. As a Jesuit, Jorge Mario Bergoglio belonged to a tradition shaped by discernment, education, and missionary work. His background exposed him to situations where doctrine alone could not address pastoral dilemmas, compelling him to seek a more compassionate response without abandoning Catholic teaching.

Cardinal Schönborn sees Francis’ papacy as a deepening of, not a deviation from, the pastoral vision of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. He affirms the synodal model that Francis championed, one grounded in listening, shared discernment, and gradual reform. The Church, under Francis, was not abandoning its principles but learning to apply them with greater sensitivity to lived human experience.

For Schönborn, the papacy of Francis reveals the true face of a pastoral Church—one that walks with the wounded, listens with patience, and accompanies souls with mercy rather than judgment. It is a papacy neither rigorist nor laxist, but one that embodies the Gospel’s call to love in truth.

Lito B. Zulueta, professor of journalism at the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Arts and Letters, was the only Philippine print journalist among Vatican-accredited media who covered Pope Francis’ historic apostolic visits to Sri Lanka and the Philippines in 2015.