Pope Francis has brought a fresh perspective to established Catholic teaching, panelists said March 13 at an event hosted by Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life to mark the pontiff’s 10th anniversary.

For the biographer of Pope Francis, 10 years into the current papacy, “the church is in a very different place,” with “less anger and defensiveness.” Commentators add that Pope Francis is a pope “who is not afraid to spark controversy” and are certain he’s a “daring” pope “full of surprises.”

Before he was known for anything else, Pope Francis was known as “the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years.”

Many of the 40 international trips Pope Francis has made over the past 10 years have been to countries where Christians are a minority or where he can draw close to people on the fringes of the world’s attention.

Marking the 10th anniversary of his election, Pope Francis concelebrated Mass with cardinals resident in Rome in the chapel of his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

Pope Francis focused his papacy on the poor and needy.

As he congratulated Pope Francis on his 10th anniversary as spiritual leader of the Catholic Church, Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly of the Knights of Columbus invited Catholics to participate in a novena to St. Joseph for the pontiff.

As Pope Francis marks the 10th anniversary of his pontificate, Catholic Review Editor Christopher Gunty talks with Jesuit Father Gregory Chisholm, provincial superior, about the Jesuit pope’s roots and legacy.

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.

The pope reflected on the day’s reading from the Gospel of John (4:5-42), in which Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman at the well at midday.