Francis' sensitivity to Africa and his concern for issues such as climate change and migration leave a legacy that the continent will not only never forget, but also explains the rise of Christianity across the continent.
Francis Bergoglio, Pope Francis, the first South American Pope and the first Pope from the so-called Global South, an Argentinian who will leave a deep mark for his extreme sensitivity towards the poor and marginalised, has passed away. It is more than significant that at a time when the world is convulsing step by step towards extreme right-wing positions marked by ultra-liberalism, the loss of this Supreme Pontiff is perceived as a small defeat, since he was in some way a kind of moral anchor for the underprivileged of the world. For this Pope's main objective was to serve what the poet Eduardo Galeano called the nadies (the poor and marginalised) in a famous poem. And this was a guiding principle that defined his entire papacy.
Pope Francis introduced several major changes within the powers of the Catholic Church during his leadership. He worked to reform the Vatican and its bureaucracy in response to crises related to corruption (such as fiscal crimes that led to a five-year prison sentence for a Cardinal) and clerical abuse of minors (the church's biggest scandal in decades), implementing processes to increase transparency and accountability.
Under his pontificate, there was an increased presence of the African church and other regions outside Europe (the so-called Asia-Pacific zone, for example) in the College of Cardinals. His appointments reflected the growing importance of Africa, Asia and Latin America within the global Catholic Church.
This change in the composition of the College of Cardinals coincides with the notable increase in the number of faithful Catholics in Africa, which is growing steadily. If today 20% of the world's Catholics are in Africa, by 2050 they are expected to be 40%, with a growth rate of 2.1% per year, especially in countries such as Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.
For Pope Francis is considered by many to be the first pope of the post-colonial era. As the first pontiff from the Global South, he broke with the historic Western hegemony in the leadership of the Catholic Church, a fact that in itself symbolised a decentralisation of ecclesiastical power and a greater focus on regions outside Europe, precisely those most cruelly scarred by colonialism.
In this regard, Pope Francis distinguished himself by his clear and forceful messages against imperialism, colonialism and the exploitation of the African continent. In February 2023, I wrote an article in which I confessed my admiration for how clear and forceful the Pope had been on his trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he left such clear headlines as "stop suffocating Africa". It was during that visit that the post-colonial perspective I am talking about became clearest, when he stated categorically that "Africa is not a mine to be exploited, nor a land to be plundered".
It should be remembered that Francis' was the Papacy that began with the legacy of precedents of a more conservative nature. A Jesuit, a man who had walked the streets of his country extensively, his thinking was influenced by Liberation Theology, which links religious faith with the liberation of people from structures of injustice. In advocating for justice, global equality and giving voice to the marginalised, Francis aligned himself with the aspirations of a continent, Africa, that seeks to overcome the legacies of colonial rule.
His call to respect ancestral traditions and adapt the Church to local cultures also had a deep impact and contributed to the search for a post-colonial African identity within Catholicism.
I am incapable of making predictions about who his successor will be, but I sense that it says something very good about his legacy when there is natural talk that the next pope could be African. Names such as Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana and Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea have been mentioned as 'papables'. The election of an African pontiff would represent a historic milestone and reflect the continent's growing weight within the Catholic Church.
The Pope made five trips to the African continent, visiting a total of 10 countries. And all of them were highly significant for understanding his legacy and the esteem in which he is held on the continent: in 2015, for example, he visited Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic, where he denounced precisely the "new forms of colonialism" in the middle of the slum of Kibera, in Nairobi.
On the same trip, he made a visit to the Central African Republic, and was in Bangui, the capital, at a time of fierce conflict between two groups, the Seleka (Muslims) and the Anti-Balaka (Christians). This was a courageous act in which he denounced the fact that war does not understand religion and promoted inter-religious peace by appearing alongside Muslim and Christian leaders. Inter-religious coexistence was precisely the message he strongly cultivated during his trips to Egypt (2017) and Morocco (2019). He also visited Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius in 2019. The Pope's last African trip, in 2023, was a very special one, to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, where he delivered powerful messages for peace, even kissing the feet of the two South Sudanese leaders in conflict (Riek Machar and Salva Kiir), advocating a peace that lasted but which these days hangs by a thread.
I have also always found Pope Francis' sensitivity to the phenomenon of migration and refugees to be very important and positive, something that has been a constant feature of his pontificate. His first trip outside Rome in 2013 was to the Italian island of Lampedusa to meet with newly arrived migrants, where he denounced the "globalisation of indifference" towards them.
He advocated tirelessly for migrants, many of whom make perilous journeys. Even through an encyclical, Fratelli Tutti (2020), he condemned the inhumane treatment of migrants and defended their inalienable dignity. He even went so far as to call border closure policies and the abandonment of migrants a "grave sin".
Pope Francis demonstrated a deep concern for the issue of climate change, dedicating to it the encyclical "Laudato Si - On Care for the Common Home". In this transcendental text, to which I referred in the proclamation I delivered at the festivities of the Virgen de Candelaria, in the Tenerife municipality of Candelaria, where the Basilica of the Patron Virgin is located, in 2019, the Pontiff made an urgent appeal to the conscience of all humanity to act in the face of environmental catastrophes.
Drawing on the spirit of St Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology, the encyclical sets out the doctrine that one cannot love God without loving nature and the most disadvantaged, who suffer disproportionately from the consequences of climate change. It underlined the need for a change in lifestyles, production and consumption to combat global warming. You know, dear readers, of my constant concern about climate change and its relentless impact on the African continent, as I have highlighted in dozens of articles published in this series in recent years.
Pope Francis' legacy in Africa is indelible. His courage in denouncing injustice, his closeness to the marginalised, his advocacy for peace and his deep concern for the future of the planet resonated deeply in the continent. His sensitivity and actions explain, to a large extent, the dynamism and growth of the Christian faith in Africa, a legacy that will live on in the collective memory and continue to inspire generations to come. I have heard and read, as we all have, much these days about Pope Francis, and I am increasingly convinced that, in time, his message and legacy will grow. Undoubtedly, and as I see it from an African perspective, his legacy is gigantic.