"I will remember the Pope as someone who, in his charismatic and warm-hearted manner, always wanted to be close to the people - especially to the marginalized and forgotten, to refugees and the poor," says Gabriele Gien, who was able to meet Pope Francis at an audience in Rome just last November. The occasion was a conference of the Uniservitate network, a worldwide association of Catholic universities, which pursues the goal of anchoring the service learning method (learning through engagement) on an institutional basis. An eight-member delegation from the KU had the chance to speak with Pope Francis at the time. "It was only a brief encounter, we were able to exchange a few words. He knows the KU from a visit in 1986, when he was still Rector of the Jesuit University in Buenos Aires. The Pope remembered Eichstätt and his experiences there well. I will never forget this meeting with the Holy Father", said Gien.
Commitment to climate protection and people on the margins
![[Translate to English:] Papst Franziskus](/fileadmin/_processed_/5/f/csm_Papst_Franziskus_Christian_Klenk-3_b9ece73b04.webp)
Of the four doctrinal letters that Pope Francis left behind, his environmental encyclical Laudato si' dated 2015 had a particularly strong impact, says Gien. "It was also noticed and intensively discussed outside the Church and was even the subject of many academic publications outside the field of theology, which is rather rare for religious texts." Laudato si' has – probably like no other papal doctrinal letter since the publication of Humanae Vitae in 1968 – stimulated social debate and also influenced international climate policy, at least temporarily, says Prof. Dr. Martin Schneider, social ethicist at the KU's School of Transformation and Sustainability. The environmental encyclical was published shortly before the 2015 World Climate Conference in Paris. "The positive reception of Laudato si' certainly contributed to the fact that more than 190 countries committed to limiting global warming to 1.5 °C back then", Schneider is certain. "The encyclical is the first time that the complex interactions between ecological and social challenges have been comprehensively addressed in a papal doctrinal letter." Following the publication of Laudato si' , the KU, which is committed to the topic of sustainability at all levels, joined forces with the Association of German Scientists in a project to examine key statements in the text in the context of scientific findings.
In times of growing crises, conflicts and inequalities in the world, Pope Francis was a prophetic and deeply human voice who consistently placed the poor at the center, says theology professor Dr. Martin Kirschner. "Francis has also spoken uncomfortable truths and stood up for dialog and peace where others have settled into their positions and the fronts have hardened", says the holder of the Chair of Theology in Transformation Processes of the Present at the KU. The name of Francis of Assisi, which Jorge Mario Bergoglio adopted when he was elected Pope on March 13, 2013, stands for his pontificate: turning to the people and the poor, mercy as the center of faith, criticism of an "economy that kills", his humanity and spontaneity in sermons and liturgy, his connection with the earth and his commitment to ecological conversion. "With Pope Francis, the ever new venture of dialog and the admonition to peace transform the message of Christianity from an abstract doctrine into a style and a way of life in which the Gospel becomes specific and confronts us with decisions." While Pope Benedict warned against a "dictatorship of relativism", Francis confronted the "practical relativism" of a "globalization of indifference", for which share prices count more than the daily deaths on the refugee routes or on the roadsides, according to Kirschner.
"This Pope's first trip was to the refugees on Lampedusa, and his last official act was to visit the prisoners in the Regina Coeli prison in Rome in a wheelchair on Maundy Thursday. It is precisely with the priorities that Francis has set in this way that he has consistently placed Christ at the center, who is encountered in the least of these." The Pope's legacy includes, in particular, the move towards a synodal Church, with which the Catholic Church is growing into a new form and shape of being Church. "The Pope has translated the understanding of the Church as the messianic people of God, as formulated by the Council, into an open and spiritual process of understanding and church-building that will extend beyond his pontificate and also open up new ecumenical opportunities."