Argentina’s Pope

Molded by values and experiences

I am not Roman Catholic, though I spent several of my formative years in one of the more traditional Catholic societies. In the mid-1960s, Colombia was still questioning why Mass went to the vernacular under Vatican II, the colloquial term for the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican between 1962 and 1965, which set out to create a modern Church more accessible to the evolving flock. Vatican II changed the liturgy by introducing many reforms intended to appeal to younger populations. Colombia's Church was so stubborn that Pope Paul VI's visit to Medellín in late 1968 purportedly was to quell opposition by invoking the Vatican's power over regional churches.

I also spent the first quarter of my career studying Latin America, where the divide within Catholicism unfolded starkly, even within the United States. When I interviewed at the National War College in June 1992, I answered a question about whether I could teach in an institution with a hierarchy, noting, "I taught for six years at a Catholic institution." Indeed, the restrictions on my speech were far greater in a Jesuit urban university than in professional military education.

All of this informs my observations this morning about Pope Francis' passing. The 88-year-old was an Argentine, a Jesuit, and a figure unwilling to shy away from controversy. For those who are not Catholic, those are not the average characteristics of the Bishop of Rome, his formal position within his Church. The Jesuit ethos questions the world, and his native Argentina has suffered political upheaval for nearly a hundred years. He was a man molded by personal values and experiences rather than merely someone operating into a particular system.

No elected government after 1930 finished its term in Buenos Aires before the twenty-first century. The millions of immigrants who arrived in the port of Buenos Aires brought a variety of political, cultural, and religious views to a nation still being formed. The most enduring voice over the country's history was Juan Domingo Perón, a man with conflicting objectives but one able to mold a political movement that still hangs on promises to the poor without willingness to surrender by the rich.

Some Argentines responded to peronismo with repression and a brutal goal of cleaning out society during Francis's tenure as Jesuit provincial superior in the late 1970s. Argentine military officers initiated a "national security project" with a March 1976 golpe d'estado against the newest iteration of societal chaos under Perón's widow. The military intended to remake Argentine society without undesirable cultural, religious, or political opposition. The draconian rule empowered the "disappearances" of thousands of opponents without due process on the grounds they were destabilizing the norms of a traditional Catholic society that never actually existed anywhere but their minds. The fervent anti-communists aimed to remold society into a traditionalist, pre-Vatican II society where top-down decision-making created predictable economic and political conditions. Under similar regimes in neighboring Uruguay, Chile, and Brazil, this trend incorporated violence with purported economic technicalism to win the struggle between anti-communism and the Soviet Union, which reached a crescendo under Ronald Reagan's presidency.

Yet the authoritarianism overplayed its hand. Grandmothers of the "desaparecidos" peacefully demanded accountability for their lost children in the capital. The 1982 Malvinas war proved disastrous when the junta assumed their anti-communist credentials would overcome American support for Britain retaining its remote South Atlantic islands. The economic collapse resulted from the tariffs and attempts to protect national industry trumpeted as necessary for security, forcing an unwelcome presidential election in October 1983. The victor, a human rights attorney who had-like Francis—opposed the abusive regime, took office as the country attempted to return to civilian governance, with the ups and downs of political debate. Recreating a sustainable economic model remains an ongoing project some forty-plus years later.

Father Jorge Mario Bergoglio was a Jesuit, putting him in the regime's crosshairs from the beginning. The Society of Jesus, the formal title for that branch of the Church, has been replete since its Sixteenth Century establishment with priests who question orthodoxy. Indeed, historically, the Vatican, as head of Roman Catholics across the globe, vacillated between restricting and deploying Jesuits as ministers of the word. Unsurprisingly, Jesuits chartered several of the most prestigious research U.S. universities, including Georgetown and Boston College. Genuine inquiry, even if it undermines orthodoxy, is a trait that Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the Order's founder, intended for its members.

Bergoglio thus butted heads with the national security state in the late 1970s and early 1980s, asking about those who did not align with the "norm." An advocate for the dispossessed, Bergoglio pushed against norms even within his Order by the following decade. His rebuttals against the norms coincided with upheavals elsewhere within the Latin American Church as debate swirled over the Theology of Liberation, Peruvian Gustavo Gutiérrez's demand that the Church embrace the poor over its historic oligarchic preferences. As Pope Francis, decades later, this priest continued advocating for the marginalized across society, whether in wealth, gender, or other attributes. By all measures, this lower-level Jesuit ignited a slow burn within traditional Catholicism for his entire career, even as Pope, when conservatives found his tolerance for LGBQ unseemly. While he never allowed the anointed women, his recognition of their less-than-equal status within the hierarchy similarly caused grumbling. Though he held the Chair of St. Peter, Jorge Bergoglio retained a personal aura than recent pontiffs until his final public appearance only yesterday.

Despite his independence, the Papal conclave elected Bergoglio to become Pope Francis in 2013. The workings of the Cardinals are secret, but perhaps they were rebuking themselves for allowing child abuse to permeate so much of the Church in the United States. Tragically, no religion led by humans is immune to the abuse scandals brought to light in the past quarter century. Still, several huge American (and at least one Australian) archdioceses seem plagued by the scourge of child abuse. In Ireland, similar problems of discounting the humanity of unwed mothers and their children ignited popular fury.

Pope Francis immediately made headlines within the Church for his kindness to the dispossessed while frequently casting aspersions on the positions of political leaders whose policies he found inconsistent with the Church's mission. Vlad the Impaler was his target over the horrific, unjust war in Ukraine. He criticized President Trump for building a wall to prevent immigration a decade ago. The Pope continued his condemnation in the second Trump term, meeting only hours before his death with Vice President Vance where the issue likely arise. The Pontiff never reconciled the Vatican with Zhongnanhai's demands for obeisance despite attempts to lure the Church away from recognizing Taiwan. The Pope visited huge swaths of the world where parishioners welcomed him as if an aging Argentine rock star who understood their needs.

He was the head of this global enterprise for twelve years. It was not an easy period, as Catholicism's growth regions of Africa and Asia are more traditional, hierarchical societies than the demanding, unsatisfied Catholics of Latin America, North America, and Europe. Ironically, in a world of instant mass communication, Catholicism appears to this outsider more fragmented than ever rather than united on a single path forward under Rome's guiding hand. Catholics seem as prone in the United States to use the "a la carte menu" for their faith, accepting what they agree with while rejecting dicta on birth control or the role of women, characterizing Protestant faiths as well.

The Catholic Church still confronts long-running condemnation over all-too-common accusations of child abuse. Questions swirl on a traditional versus more inclusive approach for the billion members of the Church across the world as the traditionalists in Africa and Asia seek to eradicate the gay, lesbian, and trans communities in the United States and Latin America, and what remnants of practicing Catholics persist in Europe. More fundamentally, "organized religion" such as Catholicism or Lutheranism confront significant challenges as more modern faiths, such as Mormonism or fundamental Protestantism, continue expanding through regions where the Catholic Church has been central to life for centuries.

In the end, Pope Francis faced the same demise all humans confront. The Catholic Church and the divisions the modern world struggles to address will continue. This man, however, left a significant mark on the world because he asked all of us to address different questions than his predecessors demanded. He wasn't determinative of a new world, but we too often forget that change occurs daily rather than in a cataclysmic moment.

Today, however, I am close by, hoping he rests in peace after years of commitment. I strongly doubt anyone with his background will emerge to lead in the foreseeable future, as he was a revolutionary character in a status quo institution. Yet, he did appear. We shall see what the next Pope brings to the world.

I welcome your thoughts on Pope Francis, the struggles we see around the world, your Easter egg hunt, or your final Seder of Pesach this year. Dialogues require more than one voice so do chime in. I appreciate your time this morning. I am also so thankful to the financial subscribers who make this column possible.

Be well and be safe. FIN

Associated Press, “Pope Frances Reached out to Migrants and the LGBTQ+ Community, but also Drew Unusual Opposition”, U.S. News & World Report.com, 21 April 2025, retrieved at https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-04-21/pope-francis-reached-out-to-migrants-and-the-lgbtq-community-but-also-drew-unusual-opposition

Scott Detrow, “Pope Says Trump ‘Is Not Christian’”, NPR.org, 18 February 2016, retrieved at https://www.npr.org/2016/02/18/467229313/pope-says-trump-is-not-christian

“Documents of the Second Vatican Council”, 1965, retrieved at https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/index.htm

Anna Matranga, “Pope Francis again draws criticism with remarks on Russia as Ukraine war rages”, CBSNews.com, 29 August 2023, retrieved athttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-francis-russia-ukraine-war-russian-imperial-heritage-youth-remarks/

Nicole Winfield, “Pope rebukes Trump administration over immigration deportations and appears to aim directly at Vance“, APNews.com, 12 February 2025, retrieved at https://apnews.com/article/pope-trump-migration-09a89091f8e7dc3270099f0947d04e90