Pope Francis Shepherded His Flock With Love and Grace

on Apr 22, 2025

SAN DIEGO -- Jacqueline Kennedy really had a good bead on the Catholic Church.

"The Church may have flaws," she once observed. "But she sure comes through at birth and death."

On Saturday, people from around the world will get to see the Church of Rome "come through" when Pope Francis (aka Jorge Mario Bergoglio) is laid to rest -- according to his wishes -- at Santa Maria Maggiore (also known as Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major).

Jacqueline Kennedy was baptized Catholic, raised in a Catholic household and became the nation's first Catholic first lady. Yet she struggled with her faith.

Me, too. But there's a difference.

For Jackie, her faith was tested at the difficult moments in her life. She was well acquainted with tragedy. Her first baby was stillborn, and her husband, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in front of her.

For me, my faith sustains me in tough times. I recall the words of the Prophet Paul (McCartney): "When I find myself in times of trouble/Mother Mary comes to me/Speaking words of wisdom/Let it be." In my hours of darkness, I feel Mother Mary standing right beside me.

At this point in my life, I've never felt closer to God -- or further from the Catholic Church.

As a father of three, I'm holding a grudge. For many years, the Catholic Church acted like a criminal syndicate that covered up child abuse by pedophile priests.

Francis didn't heal that wound. I'm not sure anyone can.

Even so, since his passing, the "people's pope" has been deservedly eulogized as kind, inclusive, humble and compassionate.

Francis was the pope of firsts -- the first from the Americas, the first Latino, the first Jesuit, the first to speak to the U.S. Congress, the first to take the name of "Francis" to honor St. Francis of Assisi, the first in more than 600 years to meet his predecessor (Pope Benedict XVI).

He was also the pope of "lasts." The last cared for, the last thought of, the last to get their reward. If you were poor, marginalized or picked on, this pope had your back. Like his namesake from Assisi, the Argentinian born to Italian immigrant parents fought for the underdog.

He was totally uninterested in the elite trappings that normally serve as perks of the job. One of the reasons that he was adored by millions was that he wanted nothing to do with fancy. He had no interest in fancy food, fancy clothes or fancy dwellings. He often seemed to be on a personal mission to close the enormous gap that normally separates popes from parishioners. He lived modestly, and initially refused even to ride in the "popemobile," which he likened to a "sardine can" from which he found it very difficult to be accessible to his followers.

Francis tirelessly defended immigrants and the disadvantaged, and he refused to judge Catholics who were part of the LGBTQ+ community.

During the 12 years he served as the head of the Catholic Church, he constantly advocated for the powerless, the downtrodden, the mistreated and the marginalized. He was fearless in holding to account governments all around the globe. He did not suffer fools lightly. And, Lord knows, given that he met with so many foreign leaders and heads of state, he had more than his share of exposure to fools.

That reminds me. One of Francis' final meetings at the Vatican was with U.S. Vice President JD Vance. Having converted to Catholicism in 2019, Vance tried to defend the Trump administration's ham-handed crackdown on immigrants by invoking a concept from medieval Catholic theology that is known in Latin as "ordo amoris." The general idea is that human beings should take care of their families and neighbors first before giving charity to immigrants.

I missed that day of catechism. Because this doesn't sound like the Bible I'm familiar with, with is filled with admonitions to care for "the least of these" and welcome "the stranger."

Not surprisingly, the Yale-educated hillbilly got schooled by the pope.

"Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extends to other persons and groups," Francis wrote in a Feb. 10 letter to U.S. Bishops. "The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the 'Good Samaritan,' that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception."

Preach, shepherd. Thank you for showing us the path. May God give us the wisdom and strength to follow it.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.