Room for everyone

 

It was as if a light had suddenly gone out in the world on Monday 21 October 2025, as we heard of the unexpected death of Pope Francis. But Francis has lit a flame and has handed it on as a sacred trust to his Church.

​

Any idea that Pope Francis was a “progressive” must be treated with caution. That he might have been a divisive figure on one side of a progressive-conservative fracture is countered by the world-wide outpouring – from world leaders and ordinary people – that this was a prophetic voice for our Church and our time. Francis set out to make room for all the voices in the Church, widening the tent to accommodate the great and the small, the privileged and the marginalised – the whole pilgrim people on its journey of faith towards the unseen God.

​

Pope Francis’ “synodality” was his way of embedding this pastoral approach, inviting all the baptised to sit together, to stop, to reflect, to pray and to listen. In that process, he showed us how to both hold on to the faith handed down by generations of praying believers and to the voice of the Spirit speaking in the contemporary world. He invited us not only to talk amongst ourselves but to listen to the voices outside – Christian, non-Christian and those of no faith – to all in search of what is right, good and beautiful. Synodality may be a slower process for achieving change than hierarchical decision making, but it should lead to change that is more appropriate and more lasting for particular communities.

​

Francis’s vision of synodality is now preserved in a new project for an Ecclesial Assembly to be held in 2028, where this respectful dialogue can continue – a way of being church (not, in fact, entirely new) where the voices of the laity, men and women, can be heard together with our clerical leaders.

​

We pray that the new Pope holds this torch high and that God’s people rally to the project of renewal. May our Church leaders prepare for the Ecclesial Assembly with the generosity, and the spirit of listening and humble service, of Pope Francis. 

​

Focus on God’s mercy

​

Pope Francis wanted us to be a church that was much more aware of God's mercy. He reminded us to be inclusive and especially aware of the marginalised. He reached out beyond church people as shown by the admiration of so many in the world for his humility and his sense of urgency about actions to protect ‘our common home – the earth’, as spelt out in Laudato Si.

 

Francis modelled simple living by not residing in the grand papal apartment but choosing instead  much more humble accommodation. He travelled to over 60 countries, favouring the poorer countries. He also chose cardinals from non-traditional locations such as small countries. This change is illustrated by the recent selection of Australia's new cardinal from the Ukrainian Catholic Church, at a young age. 

 

Love in action

 

Pope Francis showed the world Jesus’ love in action. He acted not from a sense of duty but from an inner spring of God's love that he had spent time coming to know throughout his life. He met people with a sense of joy that we experience when we meet a friend. I asked Sister Angela Ryan, who had taught me at secondary school, where is the hope for the Church. She answered, "In being someone's friend and building that relationship, just by ringing and talking about daily life, concerns and interests. In ringing the Catholic parish priest in Gaza each night, Francis did that. I think he demonstrated that simply reaching out when someone is struggling is nothing much, but also everything."

​

Continuing Francis’ efforts to reform the Church​

 

To Francis, being synodal was not only about listening to the other, especially the laity. It was also for Francis about a call for the renewal of how the Church manages its affairs. This included management at the centre, with much greater accountability and transparency about its financial affairs. His initiation of successive structural changes resulted in the constitution Praedicate Evangelium (June 2022). A key focus of this constitution is for a ‘healthy decentralisation’ to foster a less pyramidal church centred on the Roman Curia.

​

Francis set up an epoch-breaking consultation process for the Catholic Church through the Synod of Bishops 2021–24. This process involved both identifying and confirming the reforms sought by the Church at large. The beginnings of this reform program are spelt out in the final document of the Universal Synod of Bishops (For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission). This document was ratified by Francis as part of the Church’s teaching, and is a fundamental element of his legacy in terms of its formulation process and outcomes. Our challenge as Church members is to work together to ensure that the proposed changes are further defined and are implemented in our parishes and dioceses, in Catholic education, health and social services and by the national episcopal conference.

​

The Sense of the Faithful group is committed to working with the People of God in Australia to implement the key thrusts of For a Synodal Church. This will require developing specific programs to give effect to these findings in the conditions of the Australian Church, and sharing these programs with the universal Church in the Ecclesial Assembly in 2028.

​

Sense of the Faithful Editorial Committee

24 April 2025