Francis legacy will last far into future, say European bishops

‘The fruits of his pontificate are a gift that has yet to be fully discovered’

Church leaders in Europe said the legacy of the first pope from outside the continent in more than a millennium would last far into the future.

The bells of the restored Notre-Dame de Paris tolled 88 times to mark his death on Monday, at the instruction of Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris, and then the bells of all churches in the capital.

Archbishop Ulrich said the Pope, by his words and deeds, recalled that “the role of the Church and of every baptised person is to be the reflection, at the heart of this world, of the loving and merciful face of God for each man and each woman”.

“The fruits of his pontificate are a gift that has yet to be fully discovered,” he said.

Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort of Reims, head of the French bishops’ conference, looked at the past and the future of the Francis pontificate.

“Tirelessly, Pope Francis worked to make the Church more synodal, free of all clericalism, moving toward the peripheries, the peripheries of the Church and those of our societies, bearing the joy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” he said.

“The fruits of this pontificate will be revealed in the years to come. He has undoubtedly left his mark on the pastoral practice of the Church with his simple, encouraging style, his constant reference to God’s mercy, his desire that the sacraments be accessible to all who request them, and his persevering reminder of the cross of Christ Jesus, without which the Church would be just another NGO.”

“Thank you, Pope Francis!” said Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille, “for having inspired in our diocese and throughout the Church, in the Mediterranean and throughout the world, a new surge of faith, hope, and charity!”

The cardinal, who is among those considered papabile, said his diocese “particularly cherishes the wonderful memory of Pope Francis’ visit to Marseille in 2023 during the Mediterranean Meetings”.

In a long statement, Bishop Georg Bätzing, the president of the German bishops’ conference, said the choice of the name Francis showed the Pope’s priorities.

“In this way, connected with the holy founder of the order, his humility before God and man was expressed,” he said. Bätzing also remembered that the Pope never forgot to ask people to pray for him. He praised Francis as a pope of synodality and said: “His legacy and mandate remain alive in our hearts.”

“His legacy will remain and continue to challenge us,” said Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, a close advisor to Francis early in his pontificate, responding to the announcement of his death on Monday.

“We were always able to speak with great openness. His ideas, his clear perspective, and his warm frankness will be missed, and not only by me … It was moving that he once again bestowed the Urbi et Orbi blessing yesterday. This Pope was a great gift to the Church and the world. We can look back on his pontificate with gratitude.”

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A statement from the Belgian bishops said his pontificate “was marked by simplicity, closeness to the poor and a powerful call for mercy and social justice … The strong pastoral guidance he provided for a more synodal and inclusive Church is part of Pope Francis’ legacy.”

In the Netherlands, Cardinal Willem Eijk – a conservative whom some consider a possible papal successor – called the late pontiff “a pope of encouragement”.

He recalled two meetings at the Vatican between Pope Francis and the Dutch bishops. “As is often the case, he put aside the prepared speech on those occasions and really entered into dialogue with us. On both occasions, he made a powerful appeal to persevere and not to give up courage. Not to look back in nostalgia, but to look to the future.”

The Archbishop of Gdansk Tadeusz Wojda SAC, the president of the Polish bishops’ conference, said Pope Francis followed “the example of the poor man of Assisi in his Petrine ministry”.

“Throughout the years of his pontificate, he left us with the task of going to the peripheries with the truth of the Gospel,” Archbishop Wojda said. “He taught us about holiness from the neighbourhood, and to achieve this we had to ‘get off our couches’. He taught us to be grateful for the gift of creation, for we are all brothers. He wanted us to remember that the light of faith is meant to illuminate our lives, for after all, God loved us and the Heart of Jesus was pierced for us on the Cross.”

Cardinal Audrys Juozas Bačkis, the former Archbishop of Vilnius, told The Tablet that Pope Francis “clarified the meaning of evangelisation.

“He said from the very first days: the Church must go out of itself and reach out to the people. And he has been faithful to this throughout his pontificate. The Church must go out of itself: this means not only adhering to its rules, to the purity of its doctrine, but going out and preaching the Gospel to people who are far away, who do not know it, who are of other faiths. Going where people suffer – to the outskirts, to be a ‘field hospital’ as he himself said, and he certainly showed this from the first to the last day, even before his death, when he went to prison, already being sick.”

Recalling Francis election, he continued: “In his first speech, he said that the Church is sometimes in danger of closing itself off, looking only at itself, therefore, he said: let Christ come out of the church and go to people, meet people. On the one hand, for the sake of the Church, he was not afraid to purify it as much as possible, to lead it along the path of such liberation, so it does not become self- referential.

“And what particularly impressed me was his attention to every person, no matter who he or she was, whether a sinner, distant from the Church, or of completely different views and beliefs. He did not reject anyone, but found a dialogue with everyone and went together, as much as possible, to look for common points of touch.

“He was a man who loved every person, who called the Church to go to people and wash their feet, and not just to look at herself, but to the whole world.”

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