"Couldn't Leonardo Steiner, a Franciscan, be the great surprise, named Pope Francis II?" Leonardo Boff, former priest writes

 "Francis is not just a name but a project for the Church: poor and especially for the poor."

"Couldn't Leonardo Steiner, a Franciscan, be the great surprise, named Pope Francis II?"

"Pope Francis emerges as the inaugurator of a new genealogy of Popes who come from outside of old European Christianity."

"An ecclesiogenesis is emerging here, that is, the genesis of another type of Church."

(Cathcon:  One can only be amazed at the heresy in plain sight!)

 

"Francis of Rome, imitating the man of Assisi, is not going to live in the papal palaces. He chooses a guest house, Santa Marta."

Pope Francis chose the right day to go and meet the Lord: Easter, which is the beginning of the new and a small anticipation of the good end of history.

I am reproducing in part an article I wrote on February 1, 2020, "Pope Francis, a new genealogy of popes?" I believe it expresses the desire of many Latin American Christians. Our perspective is that Pope Francis emerges as the inaugurator of a new genealogy of popes who come from outside the old European Christianity.

Only 25% of Catholics live in the European Church. In the Americas, it's 65%, and the rest live on various continents. European Christianity is in agony. Some churches are closed because no faithful attend them. In the Americas, a Christianity that is a source and no longer a mirror of Europe is consolidating. After more than 500 years of Christian presence, new faces of the Church have emerged: the Church at the base of the faithful, dispossessed bishops no longer living in palaces but among the people, priests living in the peripheries, a vast array of lay movements assuming their autonomy, and many religious women living in the Amazonian interior.

We rightly say that an ecclesiogenesis is emerging here, that is, the genesis of another type of church. Logically, much of the old Roman style of Church still persists. But this is not what leads to the future; it does not characterize any style of Church other than the strictly traditional one.

I see the following characteristics of the papacy of Francis of Rome. First of all, Francis is not just a name but a project for the Church: poor and especially for the poor, a Church that proclaims peace against all kinds of wars that exist in the world, denouncing an economic system that kills, for it practices two injustices: destroying nature and oppressing the majority of humanity, a Church that cares for creation as our Common Home.

He wrote two beautiful encyclicals: Laudato si' on the care of our Common Home (2020) and Fratelli tutti (2025). In the latter, especially, he presents an alternative to the paradigm of modernity founded on power/domination and on the human being above and outside of nature. He presents as an alternative universal brotherhood and social love, the human being within nature and brother and sister to all other beings, especially their fellow human beings. In this, he sees a possible salvation for life on Earth, "for we are all in the same boat; either we are all saved or no one is saved."

Francis of Rome, imitating the Pope of Assisi, does not go to live in the papal palaces. He chooses a guesthouse, Santa Marta, living in a single room and another room to receive people. He is closer to the grotto of Bethlehem than to Herod's palace. He is a man among other men. He says that he is first and foremost the Bishop of Rome and then the Pope, that he wants to lead the Church with love and not with canon law. He asks the bishops, something unprecedented, for a pastoral ministry of tenderness and unrestricted acceptance.

Francis

Pope Francis "comes from the end of the world," from Argentina, with a different image of the Church, distinct from that of his predecessors, a Church that is not a castle, turned inward with its orthodoxy and discipline, and surrounded by enemies, the culture of modernity, but rather a "Church that goes out" toward those on the margins, who suffer and feel marginalized. He says he wants "a Church as a field hospital" that welcomes all the wounded without questioning their religion or morality; it's enough that they are human and in need.

Francis is not a Pope focused on orthodoxy, nor on the vigilance of dogmas and proper discipline. He respects this, but he openly says that these things do not reach the human heart. We must approach with kindness, with a sense of compassion and tenderness. It's not about converting others but about seducing them with the humanitarian message of Jesus. He repeated many times: Christ came to teach us to live unconditional love, solidarity, compassion, and forgiveness—values ​​that comprise his project for the Kingdom of God.

Pope Francis is part of the Argentine-style liberation theology: liberating the silenced culture and the oppressed people. From a young student, he embraced this theology, linked to a promise he made to himself: to visit, alone, a shantytown every week, enter the homes, converse with the people, encourage them, and bring them the truth that God especially loves the poor, for God is alive and prefers those who are least alive.

He warmly welcomed the founder of liberation theology, Gustavo Gutiérrez, John Sobrino, and Pepe Castillo, and he also very much wanted to see me. Importantly, he interrupted the synod to commemorate the death of Gustavo Gutiérrez, aged 96, a great servant of the poor. We had agreed to meet several times, but due to internal problems within the Vatican, it was not possible. But I have affectionate letters from him and a photograph together, from when we were in Buenos Aires in 1972 giving lectures.

Once a cardinal, he lived alone in a small apartment, cooked his own meals, and dispensed with the palace and the car. He walked or traveled by subway or bus, and went out to buy his newspaper.

The central theme of his preaching is the infinite mercy of God. He says that damnation is only for this world, for God cannot lose any son or daughter He created out of love, for no one can impose limits on His mercy, which goes beyond justice. He insists: do not preach the Gospel with fear and the threat of hell. Christ rightly said in the Gospel of John: "If anyone comes to me, I will not tell him to leave." He welcomes everyone regardless of their sexual orientation. A child who reveals himself to the Pope as homosexual hears this response: "God wanted you this way. God loves you, and I love you back." He effectively transforms the Christian message into a liberating reality that humanizes and makes life joyful, not a nightmare filled with fear of hellfire.

I dare to think that, since the majority of Catholics live outside the European galaxy, the Popes, after Pope Francis, will be elected from the new Churches, capable of dialogue with other religions and of living the new situation of humanity, inhabiting the one Common Home.

Steiner

Who knows if the only bishop of the Amazon, Cardinal Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, a Franciscan, might not be the great surprise, named Pope Francis II? In any case, along with other spiritual paths, he will help keep the inner flame of natural spirituality burning, nourish it, cultivate it, and prevent the most sacred aspect of human beings from succumbing along with their Common Home.

*Leonardo Boff has written Francis of Assisi and Francis of Rome: A New Spring in the Church, Madrid, Trotta 2013.

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