The pope of my childhood

“He’s a Jesuit, that’s weird,” she continued. I just nodded, not sure what those words meant, and I ran back to my sandcastle, more intrigued by my contraption than this ecclesial news. 

Little did I know that moment would forever change and influence my view and relationship with the Catholic Church.

For college students, including myself, Pope Francis was the first pope we have vivid, lived memories of. Seniors in college were in fourth grade during the last conclave. Catholic children and young adults, like me, grew up learning about and reading Pope Francis’s documents in school, and encountering his sound bites through countless social media doom scrolls.

Now that Francis has passed on to his eternal reward, the church will welcome a new pontiff in the coming weeks, and Francis will soon become a figure of history, a back-in-my-day kind of pontiff. 

While church watchers and historians will long debate Francis’s bureaucratic and theological legacy, young people will pay little attention to these debates, bored by the monotonous details. 

But one day, our children and grandchildren will ask us what we remember about Pope Francis. Friends will gather for reunions to talk about their “good ol’ college days,” and ask whether their buddies remember seeing or listening to Pope Francis and that “one” controversy.

Reflecting on my own memories of Pope Francis and conversations I have had with friends and fellow students, there seem to be three identities that college students will associate with Pope Francis in the future.

Pastor 

My Jesuit high school loved Francis. I read his encyclical letter on the environment, Laudato Si, and he was heralded as the people’s pope in theology class. But for me, Pope Francis’s call for leaders to “smell like their sheep” holds the greatest significance. 

Stepping into leadership roles, I have strived to live out this call to live with the people I am leading, encouraged by the examples of priests and leaders who have taken Pope Francis’s call to heart. 

In high school, my friend and I would sit in the back of my pickup truck, drinking coffee after mass. Many days, our associate pastor would walk by, pause, and climb into the back with us, chatting about theology or offering guidance. That’s a shepherd who listened to the pope.

The call to “smell like sheep” resonates and has affected many young people, appealing to their desire to serve and be seen in a human way. Pope Francis called people to step outside of their comfort zones and reach out to those on the margins, a lesson that young people will not forget.

Controversial Figure

While most young Catholics have little concern for Pope Francis’s mixed bureaucratic legacy (another cloud of controversy that hung over his pontificate), they are no stranger to the Holy Father’s engagement with culture war issues. In an era of social media, where clips and quotes can go viral within minutes, the Holy Father’s off-the-cuff statements and decisions spread like wildfire. 

In an already deeply divided political culture, I watched as these statements often pushed young Catholics farther to one side of the political-theological spectrum, causing them to cling to the traditions of conservative Catholicism or the openness of liberal Catholicism. 

Pope Francis’s unpredictable comments seemed to win the applause of one camp and the criticism of the other one day, and vice versa the next. (Might we recall his “Who am I to judge” statement coupled with his choice words concerning Roman seminaries?) These frequent comments and general sense of confusion left young people accustomed to regular debates about what the pope meant, and whether it met the test of orthodoxy.

Grandfather

While critics and controversy seemed to follow Francis around, those criticisms seemed insignificant when I saw the pope in person.  

There I stood in the press pool at World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, covering the event for my diocesan newspaper. We received word that the pope would pass by soon, so I pushed my way to the front, standing along the barriers. 

I watched with eager anticipation as the popemobile approached, rapidly snapping photos. Suddenly, as he rounded the corner, an unexplainable wave of peace overcame me, and I put the camera down, extended a hand, and shouted “Pope Francis, we love you,” as he drove by. 

I felt a sense of peace wash over me, as he seemed to be looking right at me, in a moment that I will never forget. 

Many young people have shared similar sentiments about how they felt drawn to Pope Francis’s grandfatherly presence. From his seat in the popemobile, he greeted the crowds of St. Peter’s Square, World Youth Day, and far-off countries with a tender, genuine smile. 

He took time on these rides to interact with people in the crowd: holding babies, sipping on a traditional Argentinian tea, and praying with countless people. 

WATCHING AN AILING PONTIFF: WHAT COULD COME NEXT FOR THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Visitors to St. Peter’s Square flocked to see him, standing along the gates, reaching out as he drove by, drawn in by his calm, gentle demeanor. He treated every person he encountered as a child of God, leaving a deep impact on bystanders and witnesses who observed these interactions. 

Scholars and Vatican commentators will long debate Pope Francis’s bureaucratic and pontifical legacy. But for the generation of young Catholics such as myself, we will not be concerned with his track record on balancing the books or handling abuse cases. Rather, we will share with our children and future generations the personal memories and impact that he had on our spiritual life and the way that he shaped our childhood church.

Jack Figge is a student at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. He is a freelance journalist whose work has been featured in several Catholic news outlets, including  The Pillar, The National Catholic Register, and Our Sunday Visitor.