March-2021

On March 13, 2013, after his election, Pope Francis appeared for the first time in the "loggia" of St. Peter's Basilica.

EIGHT YEARS OF FRANCIS' PONTIFICATE: A LOOK BACK AT THE MILESTONES

 

On March 13, 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the first Jesuit, South American pope and also the first to bear the name Francis. These eight years of pontificate have been characterized by initiatives and reforms aimed at involving all Christians in a new missionary thrust with the goal of bringing the love of Jesus to all humanity.

Proximity, synodality and missionary impulse: these are the cornerstones of the pontificate of Francis, elected eight years ago to the throne of Peter. The perspective of his pontificate starts from below, from the attention given to the peripheries. Inviting people to rediscover "the original freshness of the Gospel," he asks the faithful for a new fervor and dynamism so that the love of Jesus can reach the whole world. The Church desired by the Argentine Pope is a Church "on the way out," with "open doors," a "field hospital" that is not afraid of the "revolution of tenderness" or the "miracle of kindness."

The first pope to bear the name Francis, the first Jesuit and the first native of Latin America, but also the first pontiff of modern times elected following the resignation of his predecessor, Jorge Mario Bergoglio began his pontificate under the sign of novelty, including the celebration of daily Mass presided over at St. Martha's House, where he decided to reside, which is another novelty. In his short homilies, delivered rigorously in the style of a parish priest, the Pope establishes a direct dialogue with the faithful, urging them to an immediate confrontation with the Word of God.
But 2013 was also marked by the publication of the apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium, a true programmatic manifesto of the new pontificate, in which Francis calls for a new evangelization characterized by joy, as well as for the reform of ecclesial structures and the conversion of the papacy, so that they are more missionary and closer to the meaning intended by Jesus. To this end, also in 2013, he instituted a Council of Cardinals whose task was to study a draft revision of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor bonus of the Roman Curia, dating from 1988.
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