Having mercy, he called him*
Pope Francis has died aged 88.
As tributes to the late pontiff pour in from world leaders, his legacy is being appraised, with the consensus seeming to be that he was a humble and compassionate pope, not radical in his outlook but deeply committed to the welfare of the marginalised and oppressed and concerned about world peace and the climate emergency.
His death coincides with news that Christian church attendance by Gen Z youngsters (13-28 year-olds), predominantly male, has increased noticeably in the UK and globally in all denominations but particularly in the Catholic communion. While, prima facie, this may seem good news for the church and wider community, boding well for the ethical development of a troubled generation, there is a concern that all may not be as it seems.
It has been suggested in some quarters that the reason Catholicism is the go-to Christian congregation for boys and young men is its perceived social conservatism. Social media platforms peddling so-called 'toxic masculinity' to this demographic emphasise misogyny, homophobia and antisemitism and the Catholic church under Pope Francis' papacy has been criticised for not doing enough to counter those same troubling tendencies.
It will be a sad reflection on the Catholic church if more is not done to challenge these pernicious attitudes among the young but, with Francis' sudden death, everything hinges on the temperament of his successor. Francis made a great effort to recruit more cardinals from Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa to redress the Eurocentric tendencies of his church but those are precisely the regions of the world that tend to favour conservative, even ultra-conservative, religious values.
Anyone who has seen the film, Conclave, will have some inkling of how the College of Cardinals goes about choosing a new pope, albeit in a fictionalised and dramatised version. The exact process is shrouded in mystery but it is safe to assume that it is a highly politicised one. All sorts of factional and doctrinal machinations will be in play until the puff of white smoke finally emerges from the Sistine Chapel chimney to signify the successful conclusion of deliberations and the Latin announcement "Habemus Papam" (we have a pope) echoes around the globe.
He (and it can, of course, only be a male) will set the tone for the direction the Catholic church takes during his reign. And if that turns out to be a younger man in good health, his outlook is likely to hold sway in the Vatican for decades to come. At a moment when the future for the world is looking more uncertain than at possibly any other period in its long history, with existential crises proliferating on all sides, not least environmentally, the new pope will play a crucial role in determining how his 1.41billion followers respond going forward. That is a huge responsibility for any man to bear. He will, almost literally, carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.
We can only hope, or pray, that he has the physical and moral strength to bear the load.