Archbishop William E. Lori said that Pope Francis could be readily described as a “pastoral pope,” a sense of service that he brought from his years as an archbishop in Argentina who was close to his priests and people.
“I think he brought that pastoral spirit to the papacy. This is not to say his predecessors were not pastoral. But Pope Francis brings a certain realism and earthiness to his papacy,” the archbishop said.
Pope Francis died April 21 at the age of 88.
The archbishop said when Pope Francis prayed at the beginning of his pontificate about how he should shepherd the church, “I think the answer he got was that he should be himself, not to try to be a predecessor, not try to meet everybody’s expectations. And I think we’ve seen that play out over these years.”
He said the pope’s pastoral approach “has been very helpful to me and to my coworkers in carrying forward the various ministries in the archdiocese, chief of which is evangelization. My pastoral letters, “A Light Brightly Visible,” are very much shaped by what the Holy Father has written about pastoral ministry, about parish life, especially in the joy of the Gospel, but many other writings as well.”
The archbishop said that Pope Francis’ love for immigrants has helped shape how he has written about the immigrant community in Maryland and how the Archdiocese of Baltimore responds in and among that community. His pastoral accompaniment for the LGBT community, “Like Every Disciple,” was also “very much shaped by Pope Francis’ pastoral approach,” he said.
Another hallmark of his papacy was synodality – that we are walking together on a journey of faith. “We have strived very hard to not only do the preliminaries, but to make synodality not a program and not a means to an end, but what the pope said it ought to be: the ordinary way we relate to one another and operate within the church. So, I would say that he has had a massive influence on the Church of Baltimore and on and on its current shepherd,” Archbishop Lori said.
The archbishop has had occasion to meet with Pope Francis a number of times through his role as Supreme Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus, as part of the leadership of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and at an ad limina visit where bishops of certain regions visit the pope and Vatican departments about every seven years.
“The Holy Father was very involved. He listened actively, he would interject, he would ask questions. And he manifested in the middle of all of that a really nice sense of humor. And so, it was really enjoyable to speak with Pope Francis. I’ve enjoyed every one of those encounters,” the archbishop said.
He said when the bishops of two regions of the U.S. met with the pope in December 2019, the group of about 35 people met in the library at the Vatican. The pope, seated at the front of the room with an interpreter, first handled some housekeeping details himself, telling the bishops where they could find bottled water and the bathrooms.
Then, rather than read a prepared speech, the pope simply opened the floor to questions for about an hour and a half. “He wanted to know what was on our mind and bishops felt free to, very forthrightly, to describe often the pastoral challenges that they are facing, some of the obstacles they encounter. And the Holy Father was engaged the whole time,” Archbishop Lori said.
He found it remarkable that Pope Francis opened himself up like that. “I did feel sorry for his interpreter because when the hour and a half was over, the pope was going strong, but his interpreter was really tired,” he said.
At that event, the archbishop introduced to Pope Francis the archdiocese’s seminarians studying in Rome and presented a customized Baltimore Raven’s jersey to the pope. “He didn’t wear it, but he really liked it and commented on it as I was leaving the room.”
Another important encounter with the pope came in March 2016, about a year after the riots and unrest in Baltimore City after the death of Freddie Gray Jr. in police custody. The archbishop brought a small group of interfaith leaders to meet Poe Francis and ask for his prayers for the fractured city and its people.
In a brief but “beautiful” encounter after the Wednesday general audience, “The Holy Father was very encouraging,” Archbishop Lori said. “He encouraged us, first of all, to stand together to bear a united witness in this very challenging situation, not just the temporary unrest that resulted from Freddie Gray, but the ongoing challenges within the city of Baltimore and its environs, and he certainly also encouraged us to love and serve the poor,” which the archbishop noted was one of the pope’s signature priorities.
“And he also encouraged us to really work for justice for harm done by gun violence, to fight drugs and to help families attain their dignity.”
Archbishop Lori started a grief ministry for those affected by the homicide of a family member, a ministry that grew out of an emphasis on care for those in the community. “I think that the church, in order to be credible, has to be present. And being present means more than being there; being present means engaging with those in need and in their actual situations,” he said.
The archbishop said one of the most endearing things about Pope Francis is “closeness – his closeness to the poor, his willingness to go out and take risks for the poor and to remind us not to forget those who are in need, those who are newly arrived, those who are victims of war. I think that is a beautiful quality for which he will be long remembered.”
Archbishop Lori will celebrate a Mass April 21 at 5:30 p.m. in memory of Pope Francis at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland.
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