The pontificate of Francis was full of special moments, which have become symbols and messages of teaching in the last ten years, among which the place designated for his first journey stands out, the Italian island of Lampedusa, considered the gateway for migrants to Europe. historic meeting in 2016 at the Havana airport with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill.
Here are the top ten highlights:
1.- Washing feet in prisons; The pontiff is seen kneeling to wash the feet of the children of the inmates on Saturday during the Lord’s Supper, March 28, 2013, between two women, a Serbian and a Muslim and an Italian Catholic, in the chapel of the Casal del Marmo penitentiary center for minors in Rome. Pope Francis made the first gesture in a different style.
2.- LAMPEDUSA journey: Pope Francis chose an unexpected place for his first trip: the island of Lampedusa, in Sicily, close to the coast of Africa, which he considered to be the gateway to Europe for migrants. It was from there on July 8, 2013 his message about the “globalization of indifference” that would lead him over the years to repeatedly denounce the indifference towards those who come from far away.
Pope Francis talks with several migrants who arrived in Lampedusa in 2013. Alessandra Tarantino / Pool / REUTERS
3.- ENCYCLICAL LETTER PRAISED SI’: On May 24, 2015, the pontiff published his second and new encyclical: ‘Era Laudato si’, the care of the common house’, where for the first time the pope spoke more broadly and as a theme to be treated by the Church. for the defense of the environment and climate change, it has become an ecological manifesto for the world.
4. HISTORICAL COMMENTARY WITH CYRILLO: On February 12, 2016, Pope Francis made a stopover in Cuba before his visit to Mexico to meet the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill at the Havana airport. It was the first meeting of the leaders of the two Churches after the schism of 1054 and after it, and with the war in Ukraine it remained only a memory and an attempt, some failed, to get closer.
5.- CHILE route: The visit of the Supreme Pontiff to Chile in January 2018 was a real division in the pontificate of Francis and his fight against the abuse of minors by members of the Church. In Chile, the true rejection of the visit by most of the inhabitants was abused due to scandals, and the position of the Pope in defense of the Chilean Bishop Johannes Barros, accused of cover-up, hardened the opinions even more.
On his return, he undertook a historical investigation and in April 2018 the Pope acknowledged “serious errors of assessment” in the case of Barros, when he met with the priest Fernando Karadima of the victims of pedophiles and called on all the Chilean bishops to help. his station.
6.- Expulsion of McCarrick: On February 18, 2019, and after an investigation, the former US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was condemned to resign from the clerical state for corruption and abuse, accusations that Pope Francis spilled after Carlo Maria Viganò, the former apostolic envoy to the United States, told him. the accused covered Vigano became the leader of the conservative wing of the Church against Francis.
7.- KISSING AT THE FEET OF THE LEADERS OF THE SUDAN; In another diplomatic gesture by Francis, on April 12, 2019, to strengthen the peace process, the pope bent his knees and kissed the feet of the warring leaders in South Sudan whom he had met in Vatican City.
8.- THE PRAYER OF VANI S. PEDRO QUADRAGESIMA AT THE HEIGHT OF THE PANDEMIC: On March 28, 2020, the pope came alone in St. Peter’s Square to the empty Forum under the torrential rain to pray for the world against the covid-19 pandemic and to ensure that it would only come out of it if everyone rowed together.
Pope Francis leads the Way of the Cross in complete solitude, due to the coronavirus.REUTERS
9.- Among the ruins of Mosul; In March 2021, Pope Francis traveled to Iraq and a picture of him praying among the ruins of the city of Mosul, a few meters from the Al Nuri Mosque in Mosul, a symbol of the rise and fall of the Islamic State, went around the world.
10.- ON THE HANDS OF BENEDICT XVI. The powerful image of Francis placing his hand in the pocket of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, ceased after the funeral of the two Popes and a new period of pontificate began.
