Ten years since the election of Pope Francis

March 13, 2023

Today marks ten years since the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as head of the worldwide Catholic Church

There has been a lot of commentary about Pope Francis this week, focusing on his impact so far and his legacy. As some have commented, he did not expect to be Pope but he has done a great deal to move the church forward since his election in 2013.

As the first and only Jesuit to be elected Pope, Francis has put the Jesuit charism of discernment at the heart of his papacy, which has allowed him to reinvigorate the church and the synod process.

We have shared details of two programmes which look at Francis' time in office and which include a contribution from a Jesuit priest and a parishioner from a Jesuit-run church:

The first is a news briefing hosted by the Religion Media Centre, which covered a range of issues and which includes a contribution from the head of the Jesuits in Britain, Fr Damian Howard SJ (see YouTube video).

The second is BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme, which was presented live from Rome last Sunday and features a contribution from Janet Obeney-Williams, a member of the Jesuit parish of Farm Street who has been closely involved in the Synod on Synodality. You can listen to that programme here (Janet's contribution is 24 mins in).

Photo by Nacho Arteaga on Unsplash

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