Pope Francis’ Life Lessons in Humility, Compassion and Love

Takeaways from the Late Pope’s Impact

There are occasions when people of different faiths can and should learn from one another. Pope Francis was a religious leader who dedicated his life to Christ and taught the world valuable life lessons in compassion and love. Theological differences aside, he showed us how to be the Christians Jesus taught us to be.

Have we learned any lasting life lessons from Pope Francis?

It’s doubtful for the simple reason that Pope Francis was Catholic and many Protestants reject everything related Catholicism and the papacy. There’s also the reality that society is more interested in following hedonistic celebrities who party hard and die young than an elderly man who dedicated his life to God.

A Progressive Christian and the Pope

My perspective is that of a progressive Protestant. I’m not well-versed in Catholics’ beliefs, but I’m learning more as I continue to write articles for my Patheos blog, Woman to Woman.

I want to better understand Catholic beliefs, as well as those of other major religions, because each faith tradition may have something valuable to teach me.

The Pope and A Little Boy

One of the late pope’s lessons in compassion and love came several years ago when a young boy wanted to ask the pope an important question. The little boy’s moment finally came, but he froze and began to cry.

“Come, come to me, Emanuele,” the pope urged him. “Come and whisper in my ear.” Emanuele did so, and as the pope wrapped his arms around him, the boy quietly spoke, and the pope responded.

With the boy’s permission, Pope Francis shared their conversation with the public. Emanuele said that his father, who had died sometime earlier, was a good man. He was not a believer, but he had had his children baptized.  The youngster wanted to know whether his father was in heaven.

Pope Francis had the perfect answer. He did not condemn the father’s lack of faith or say the man was burning in hell, as some religious extremists – i.e., the haters — might have done.

Rather, he said, “God is the one who says who goes heaven…. God has a dad’s heart. And with a dad who was not a believer, but who baptized his children and gave them that bravura, do you think God would be able to leave him far from himself?”

Pope Francis did not destroy the already distressed eight-year-old by saying his father was burning in hell, nor did he say Emanuele’s father was in heaven. He did not presume to speak for God but gave the little boy an answer filled with love and compassion.

The truth is we do not know much about the afterlife, and God himself remains a mystery to us. But Christians should know it isn’t our place to judge.

The Pope’s Influence

Pope Francis was an example worth emulating in another way. He was surrounded by the Catholic Church’s vast wealth, and he could have let power and money become his gods. But he didn’t.

Rather than build up treasures on earth, he followed the example of a poor first-century immigrant named Jesus, who fled with his mother and stepfather to Egypt.

When the future pope entered the priesthood, he signed his worldly goods over to the religious order he joined and took a vow of poverty. As pope, he donated his salary to charities and declined many of the luxuries most popes enjoy, including the papal apartment at the Vatican. His preference was a very simple suite in Casa Santa Marta, a guesthouse inside Vatican City.

Why the Pope Matters

Why am I even talking about Pope Francis? I’m not Catholic, and he’s no longer the pope. My reasons include the fact that the late pope was important. He made a difference in the world.

As the Vatican’s head of state, he worked with international organizations and other heads of state, and his diplomatic efforts affected international political and social issues such as immigration.

His teachings also influenced the way many people looked at moral, religious and social issues. He was, after all, the spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.

A pope matters, and Pope Francis mattered in a positive way.

Lessons in Humility, Compassion and Love

Brian Paulson, president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, has said that Pope Francis embraced the role of “social warrior who tirelessly advocated for refugees, the poor, people with disabilities and the LGBTQ+ community” – the very people who are currently under attack by the U.S. government.

The late pope was well-aware of where unchecked hatred can lead, and he stood against it.

A Faith-fueled Hope

When we look at the people Pope Francis championed, we see the poor who have lost everything or never had anything. They live on the fringes of society as refugees, immigrants and victims of war. Others are persecuted because they don’t fit the white heterosexual majority’s requirements for acceptable living.

We should remember the words, “There but for the grace of God go I,” but we don’t. Instead, many of us ignore people on the fringe and reward the very people who exploit them.

“Pope Francis was a pope for the poor, the downtrodden, and the forgotten,” Great Britan’s prime minister Keir Starmer said following Pope Francis’ death.

“He was close to the realities of human fragility, meeting Christians around the world facing war, famine, persecution and poverty. Yet he never lost the faith-fueled hope of a better world,” said Starmer, who is an atheist.

“That hope was (at) the heart of his papacy. His determination to visibly live out his faith inspired people across the world to see afresh the church’s teachings of mercy and charity.”

Pope Francis is gone, but those of us who are left have a choice. We can sit idly by and let hatred win, or we can find ways – even small ways – to stand against it. This may our best and last chance to do so in many parts of the world.