The legacy of Pope Francis will be remembered differently by different people. Maybe most commonly will be the way he personally witnessed to his call for the Church to be a field hospital, at the peripheries and engaged with the most vulnerable of our society. His actions were taken in partnership with words, with renewed teaching on evangelisation, global sustainability (environmentally and economically), and much more. Some may speak of his final synod, on synodality, as a legacy that will be unpacked for decades to come. However, it was his first two synods on the family and young people which not only paved the way for his final synod, but reminded the Church to accompany its people, and he returned to these synods time and time again.

The General Synod on the Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and in the Contemporary World, 2015, exhorted in Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love); and the General Synod on Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment, 2018, exhorted in Christus Vivit (Christ is Alive), examined the reality, contexts and experience of those who are central to the Church’s evangelising mission in the world, transforming it through witness, word, holiness, mercy and life (cf. Evangelii Nuntiandi nn.66-73). The value of these witnesses was so highly regarded by Pope Francis that at each synod he invited married couples and families and then young people to be part of the synod gathering itself, adding their voices directly into the final discernment moments.

Throughout his papacy Pope Francis continuously returned to young people, family, and the elderly, encouraging connection, listening and partnership, and empowering them to witness in their lives and with their charisms. He established a world day for children and another for grandparents, adding to the Church’s existing recognition of families and young people. In his messages to young people during World Youth Days (WYD) he would often encourage them to seek out and listen to the wisdom of grandparents to guide the enthusiasm and zeal of their youth. When he spoke on nearly all topics and issues, whether to large crowds or small audiences, he would almost always highlight ways in which children, young people, families and the elderly could live out their faith.

As St Pope John Paul II, who established the World Youth Days, spoke directly to generations of young people, Pope Francis also knew it was essential to ensure the sanctity and evangelising mission of children, young people, family and the elderly. Who else would share the heart of Jesus in new ways, care for our environment, or create economies and governments which serve social teaching?

Particularly regarding young people, Pope Francis has given a gift like no other before. The love and legacy of Pope St John Paul II gave us World Youth Days, regular gatherings and ways of communicating directly to young people for more than three decades. Pope Francis has captured this experience and much more through the synod on young people and gifted ‘the entire people of God’, the exhortation, Christus Vivit. Often incorrectly viewed as being only for young people (particularly through Australian publications), Christus Vivit is an exhortation to young people AND ‘the entire people of God’.

Christus Vivit identifies young people as the ‘NOW’ of God, as great interpreters of the signs of the times for our Church. Pope Francis relates their lives to that of Jesus and shares with them the great message of Jesus’ love. He then speaks of pathways of life, faith and vocation which are grounded in family, relationships with the elderly and faith communities, and encourages taking risks together. Pope Francis also speaks of accompanying young people in pastoral care, action, justice, education, vocation and discernment, calling for ongoing listening and synodality with young people.

Where Christus Vivit holds to light the value and potential of young people, Amoris Laetitia embraces family as the lifelong home of faith, from childhood into marriage and as grandparents. Both these exhortations highlight the value and necessity of the Church, the people of God, to accompany each other through life.

If we embrace these synods and their exhortations with the significance they deserve, the foundations of an evangelising Church are built. This legacy of a People of God as an evangelising Church, although not new, is a legacy of great significance from Pope Francis. And, if we continue to listen and accompany each other, synodally, in fulfilling our evangelising mission, we will not only serve the teaching of Pope Francis, but any given by Pope Leo XIV and that of the future Church.

Image: ACBC

Words: Malcolm Hart