Feature

In interviews focused on the 10th anniversary of his election, Pope Francis insisted it is not his task to make an accounting of what he has or has not accomplished since March 13, 2013.

In documents issued his first 10 years in office, Pope Francis covered topics as diverse as strengthening one’s faith, evangelization, caring for creation, accompanying families and young people, and respecting indigenous peoples.

When Pope Francis greeted the thousands of faithful gathered in a rain-soaked St. Peter’s Square March 13, 2013, he quipped that his brother cardinals looked almost to “the ends of the earth” to find a new bishop of Rome.

For a decade, even when discussing the internal workings of the Vatican, Pope Francis has insisted the church is not the church of Christ if it does not reach out, sharing the “joy of the Gospel” and placing the poor at the center of its attention.

Right from the start, upon his election, Pope Francis presented a whole new style of being pontiff.