After Pope Francis’ death, on April 21, much of the world’s attention has focused on his personality, his humility, humour and practical management style. It all goes to the grave. Meanwhile, the Argentine Pope’s contribution to Vatican diplomacy will be a lasting legacy. Francis created diplomatic courses independent of the western capital, showing the rise of Catholic leaders in the country that were not part of the governance of the church, honing practical and ambitious diplomatic methods.
Through these efforts, Francis has deteriorated under his predecessor, repairing the relationship that left a reinforced diplomatic network accessible worldwide. His successor must use the vast goodwill that emerged under Francis to advance the priorities of compassion, justice and peace of mind of the Church. Tools to implement meaningful and widespread Pope diplomacy are ready. The question is whether the next Pope has the skill to make the most of his strong hands.
Looking outside
Francis’ longest trip as Pope, a 12-day trip through Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Rest and Singapore last September, exemplified many of his diplomatic priorities. One was to improve relations between the Catholic Church and the Muslim world, particularly with Sunni Muslim followers. These relationships were in low decline under Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. In 2006, Benedict gave a speech saying that he perceived many Muslims as humiliating the prophet Muhammad. And in 2011, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar Ahmed Al Teyeb, one of the world’s highest Sunni authorities, cut ties with the Vatican with Benedict’s comments created after the attacks of terrorists in Egypt. Francis was able to repair the fence at Tave, and ultimately formed a productive friendship. The two leaders appeared together in Abu Dhabi in 2019 and signed a Landmark Joint Agreement against religious extremism on an already historic trip. It was the first time the Pope had visited the Arabian Peninsula.
Francis’ visit to Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, reaffirmed his commitment to inter-fiction collaboration. He attended a meeting with other religious leaders at Istiklal Mosque in Jakarta, the largest mosque in Southeast Asia, and expressed his praise for Indonesia’s sound approach to religious coexistence. Istiqlal Mosque, which symbolizes these connections, is connected to the Catholic cathedral across the street by an underground tunnel.
Francis also urged the Catholic Church to be less institutional or introverted, and more missionary, turning his attention to the periphery of a global society. He stocked Cardinal of University to choose his successor, along with men from the country who previously had little or no representation in church leadership. Among his appointees were cardinals from 25 countries, including Papua New Guinea, Singapore and Timor Rest. All Popes use Cardinals as envoys, but none of them have planted them in many places.
This new network of leaders served Francis’ goal of making the church less euro-centric and focusing on a country where Catholicism is prevalent. He visited 13 countries in Asia and nine countries in Africa during the Pope. This is a noticeable increase from Benedict’s three African visits and zero trips to Asia. Timor Reste, the country with the highest proportion of Catholics in the world, offers a prime example of the growing influence of the church. When Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 (as it was known before independence), about 20% of its residents were Catholic. Ten years later, that figure was 95%. During the Indonesian military occupation that continued until 1999, the churches persecuted persecution and published records of atrocities such as genocide, forced loss of death, extrajudicial executions, starvation and rape. When Francis visited, despite the extreme heat, almost half of the 1.3 million people attended the masses he provided. Speaks on the ground where Indonesian army buried Timor’s freedom fighters, Francis opposed the invasion of Western liberal values that promote materialism and selfishness.
Multipolar vision
Francis often described his view on the globalized world as a metaphor, not as a sphere, but as a polyhedron, saying, “It expresses how unity arises while maintaining the identity of people, people and cultures.” For example, I appreciated Singapore’s determination to outperform geopolitical competition and embrace multipolarity. And during Francis’ Pope, the Vatican itself made a tough effort to traverse geopolitical divisions, giving certain diplomatic attention to China. Before Francis, mutual doubt overwhelmed efforts to resolve the long-standing rift between Beijing and Rome. However, when China chose a new leader on Francis’ first day in office, the Pope wrote a personal congratulatory letter to Xi Jinping. Xi responded with sincerely the surprises of the Vatican staff.
Francis had a lifelong love for China. He was selected as Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, the cardinal who led Vatican negotiations with Beijing between 2005 and 2009 (and now one of the leading candidates to replace Francis). A year after his tenure, Francis told Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera that the Vatican was “close to China” and that diplomats remained ties on both sides. These relationships were essential to resolve the pivotal differences of opinion over the appointment of the bishop. For decades, Beijing had insisted on choosing the Chinese bishop itself and rejecting the Catholic religious doctrine that granted this authority to the Pope. After four years of quiet negotiations, in 2018 the Vatican and the Chinese government reached a temporary agreement to jointly appointed the bishop. The agreement was updated three times, with 11 new bishops approved under that provision.
The two Popes before Francis attempted to find a way to sweep Beijing, but failed. Francis was particularly persistent, instructing the diplomats to continue talking to their Chinese counterparts. In previous negotiations, the unilateral decision in Beijing broke the debate. But under Francis, the Vatican was unhindered and ultimately became a breakthrough.
Francis has once again been linked to Catholic diplomacy.
The settlement between the Vatican and China was exhibited at a conference held in Rome last year, when the Cardinal Pope’s Envoy, Celso Costantini, called an official meeting of mainland Chinese church leaders, leading to the appointment of six indigenous bishops. Foreign missionaries led the Catholic Church in China before the 1924 synod rejected the practice. Among the participants at last year’s Rome Conference was Joseph Shen Bin, a bishop of Shanghai. He explains that he doesn’t want to change Catholic beliefs in Beijing, but he hopes that Chinese Catholics will protect Indigenous culture and values. In particular, Shen Bin had been moved from another parish to Shanghai by the Chinese government without the consent of the Vatican. The move may have taken a fatal blow to the 2018 agreement, but Francis has instead accepted it and has decided to welcome Shen Bin to a high-level policy debate in Rome.
Francis’ diplomacy in China faced widespread criticism, especially from the first Trump administration. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote an essay in 2020 denounced the Vatican for his contract with Beijing. (In response, the Vatican rejected Pompeo’s request to meet the Pope a few weeks later.) However, it appeared to oppose Washington’s boosting the Vatican’s reputation for geopolitical independence. For example, after he returned from a trip to Asia last September, he told thousands of loyal people in Rome and his weekly audience, “We’re still too Eurocentric, or as they say ‘West’. But in reality, the church is much larger, much larger than Rome or Europe! ”
In addition to his approach to China, Francis split from the West in his response to war in Ukraine. He opposes sanctions against Russia and, following the church’s longstanding position, says that sanctions should not be used as diplomatic weapons as they would harm the well-being of ordinary people. Francis also prioritized his relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church. The Pope, who had been serving from 1958 to 1963, had pursued a Catholic and Orthodox reconciliation, strengthening the relationship between the Vatican and the Moscow patriarchy. Francis has developed close friendships with the Eastern Orthodox leaders of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Constantinople, expanding Benedict’s outreach to the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2016, at the airport in Havana, Cuba, he became the first pope to meet the Russian patriarch in person. However, his signature on a joint agreement with Patriarch Cyrill made some uneasy among Ukrainian Catholics.
As conflict escalated in Ukraine, Francis rejected the Russian demon. Instead, he spoke about the tragedy of “murder” between Christian brothers. He often accused arms dealers of promoting war. He even dared to suggest that the expansion of NATO, which he described as “the barking of NATO at the Russian door,” responded to the Russian decision to invade. Certainly, he condemned the war, and even from his hospital bed, offered public prayers to the “martised Ukrainian people”, but he never leveled out his personal accusations against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Next diplomat
Francis has reinforced Catholic diplomacy, even if some of his positions are controversial. He empowered the Vatican diplomatic devices and added a new section to the state’s office to support diplomatic staff. He strengthened his peace efforts by naming cardiacs in conflict zones, including Syria and Jerusalem. The latter is a jurisdiction covering the territory of Cyprus, Jordan, Israel and Palestinian, led by Cardinal Piabattista Pizzabara, who is now a candidate to become Francis’ heir. Francis also strengthened the small Catholic community by planting first cardiacs in mostly Muslim Bangladesh, Iran, Pakistan, and mostly Buddhist Mongolia, Myanmar and Singapore. To lead the department focused on inter-religious dialogue, Francis appointed Cardinal of Indian diplomat George Kubakad.
The values and strategies that Francis brings to international engagement are rooted in the gospel. They are not unique to him. Furthermore, his diplomatic style is taught by the Vatican priestly diplomats at the Church Academy, the oldest diplomatic school in the world. Parolyn, Secretary of State and Francis’ foreign policy architect, attended school. If he is elected to replace Francis, he will continue the work he began under Francis 12 years ago. However, Francis also lifted many other talented leaders with potential diplomatic gifts. His evangelical campaign could continue if his successor was chosen from the Global South. The 135 cardinals who elect the next Pope may choose this route. Considering that 108 of them have been promoted by Francis, they are often referred to as surprise Popes, but Conclave could also surprise the world.