Early in his pontificate Pope Francis acknowledged that an essential part of his mission as Bishop of Rome is to confirm his brothers and sisters not only in the faith, but also in love and unity.

And one of the more visible and high profile ways he does this is by making pastoral visits to countries around the world, following in the footsteps of his post-Vatican II predecessors.

But Francis’ 32 trips abroad can be distinguished from those of Paul VI (9), John Paul II (104) and Benedict XVI (24) by two words or concepts: dialogue and encounter.

Over the nearly seven years he’s been pope, he has continued to meet people where they are – not just geographically, but culturally, spiritually, socially and, in a word, existentially. He spends a lot of time listening to others of all walks of life.

At home and abroad, Francis does this most often in private settings without the prying eyes – or foreknowledge – of the media.

Some of these personal encounters and the topic of their discussions are occasionally made known, usually by the people who meet the pope. But others remain hidden or are merely the subject of speculation.

Francis made seven pastoral journeys in 2019 and he recalled each of them as a sort of springboard to highlight his concerns for the current state of the world, which he spells out at the beginning of each calendar year in a major address to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See.

A hope that is realistic and calls trouble by its name

“A new year is opening before us; like the cry of a newborn baby, it fills us with joy and hope. I would like that word, ‘hope’, which is an essential virtue for Christians, to inspire our way of approaching the times that lie ahead,” Francis said in this year’s address, which he gave on Thursday at the Vatican.

But the 83-year-old Argentine pope is no Pollyanna.

He’s clear-eyed about the “many troubling issues confronting our world and the challenges lurking on the horizon.” And so he told ambassadors from more than 180 countries “hope has to be realistic,” which “requires that problems be called by their name and the courage be found to resolve them.”

He admitted that there seem to be few “encouraging signs” at the start of a year that’s already scarred by “heightened tensions and acts of violence.” But he said it was “precisely in light of these situations” that the world could not give up hope.

He said this “requires courage… acknowledging that evil, suffering and death will not have the last word, and that even the most complex questions can and must be faced and resolved.”

A message to world leaders and all who will listen

Francis could not have had a more important or influential audience. The men and women who gathered to hear him speak in the ornate Sala Regia are the personal representative of all but a very few of the world’s leaders.

The Holy See currently has full diplomatic relations (at the level of ambassador or apostolic nuncio) with 183 countries and other sovereign entities. It has lower level ties with four others (Brunei, Laos, Somalia e Comoros) where it stations papal delegates.

That means there are only about nine countries in the entire world that have no diplomatic links at all with the Holy See. Unfortunately, they include some heavy hitters on the global stage, such as China and Saudi Arabia. The others are Vietnam, North Korea, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Oman, the Maldives and Tuvalu.

Nonetheless, Francis’ address this year was intended for these nations, too, and for all who have ears to hear.

His reflections on “some of the critical issues of the present time” were structured around the international travels he made in the previous 12 months, beginning with his visit to Panama in January 2019 for the XXXIV World Youth Day.

Young people, education and the climate crisis

Calling young people “the future and the hope of our societies,” the pope again lamented the clergy sex abuse crisis.

He vowed to pursue measures aimed at promoting transparency and prevention.

“Following my meeting in the Vatican last February with representatives of the world’s episcopates, the Holy See has renewed its commitment to bring to light abuses already committed and to ensure the protection of minors through a wide range of norms for dealing with such cases in accordance with canon law and in cooperation with civil authorities on the local and international level,” he said.

Francis, a former high school and university professor, has long been a promoter of initiatives in the field of education. And since becoming pope, at a time when the world has witnessed heightened polarization throughout society, he has been outspoken about the need to educate young people in ways that foster encounter and dialogue.

He said this is why he’s called a “worldwide event” next May at the Vatican to promote a “more open and inclusive education, including patient listening, constructive dialogue and better mutual understanding… to form mature individuals capable of overcoming division and antagonism, and to restore the fabric of relationships for the sake of a more fraternal humanity.”

But Francis told the diplomats that young people also have a lot to teach their elders – especially politicians and governmental officials – when it comes to urgent issues like the need to take better care for the natural environment.

“Sadly, the urgency of this ecological conversion seems not to have been grasped by international politics, where the response to the problems raised by global issues such as climate change remains very weak and a source of grave concern,” he said.

The pope went as far as to question the “will of the international community to confront with wisdom and effectiveness the phenomenon of global warming”, saying “care for our common home ought to be a concern of everyone and not the object of ideological conflict between different views of reality or, much less, between generations.”

Divisive politics, poverty and populism in the Americas

“Another cause for concern is the proliferation of political crises in a growing number of countries of the American continent,” Francis said, particularly lamenting the ongoing crisis in Venezuela.

“Generally speaking, the conflicts of the American region, despite their different roots, are linked by profound forms of inequality, injustice and endemic corruption, as well as by various kinds of poverty,” he said.

The pope called for a new class of politicians to build “a culture of dialogue” that could “reinforce democratic institutions and promote respect for the rule of law, as a means of countering anti-democratic, populist and extremist tendencies.”

The first visit of a Successor of Peter to the Arabian Peninsula

Pope Francis then touched on his landmark visit last February to United Arab Emirates when he and one of the world’s leading Muslim authorities issued the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.

Though some Church traditionalists found it controversial, the pope said it was “an important text, aimed at fostering mutual understanding between Christians and Muslims, and peaceful coexistence in increasingly multiethnic and multicultural societies.”

A good example is Jerusalem, a place of spiritual importance to – and often contention between – Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Francis noted that during a visit to Morocco last March, he and the country’s Muslim king made a joint appeal that Jerusalem be protected as an international city of peace and interreligious coexistence.

Middle East

“A more steadfast and effective engagement on the part of the international community is most urgent in other parts of the Mediterranean area and in the Middle East,” Pope Francis told the ambassadors.

He expressed concern about “the pall of silence that risks falling over the war” in Syria and “factors of economic and political uncertainty in Lebanon and in other states” that are “further endangering the fragile stability of the Middle East.”

Francis said that the “heightening of tensions between Iran and the United States” were “particularly troubling.”

He warned that they could torpedo the “gradual process of rebuilding in Iraq” and set the “groundwork for a vaster conflict that all of us would want to avert.” The pope called on all sides to “avoid an escalation of the conflict” by choosing the path of “dialogue and self-restraint” and adhering fully to international law.

Migrants

Pope Francis has been the world’s most consistent and vocal champion for the rights of migrants, immigrants and refugees.

He gave new voice to those concerns to the diplomats, reminding them and their governments that “many thousands of persons in our world present legitimate requests for asylum, and have verifiable humanitarian needs and a need for protection that are not adequately identified.”

The pope told the envoys that it is “increasingly urgent that all states accept responsibility for finding lasting solutions” to these issues, a message that must have sounded like a scolding to some of them.

Notre-Dame, the Wall and European values

Francis also repeated the Holy See’s support of the “European project” based on “the ideal of an inclusive process of growth inspired by a spirit of participation and solidarity.”

He called on Europe not to lose its historic “sense of solidarity” rooted in “the Roman pietas and the Christian caritas that have shaped the spirit of the European peoples.”

He pointed to the fire that nearly destroyed Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the 30^thanniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – both which occurred last year – as symbolic moments for the future of Europe.

The fire, he said, prompted serious reflection on “Europe’s historical and cultural values, and its deeper roots.” He said the legacy of the Berlin Wall, on the other hand, stands as a warning against division, extremism and violence.

“We see this more and more in the hate speech widespread on the internet and in the social communications media. Rather than walls of hatred, we prefer bridges of reconciliation and solidarity; rather than what alienates, we prefer what draws people closer together,” Francis said.

War, poverty and displaced persons in Africa

The pope used his visit last year to Mozambique and Madagascar as a prompt to offer his grave concerns about other countries on the vast African continent.

“It is painful to witness, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria, continuing episodes of violence against innocent people, including many Christians,” he said.

“I urge the international community to support the efforts made by these countries to eliminate the scourge of terrorism that is causing more and more bloodshed in whole parts of Africa, as in other parts of the world,” he pleaded.

Francis noted that armed conflicts, climate change, extreme poverty and humanitarian crises have created a wave of internally displaced persons in many countries in Africa.

“Sadly, there does not yet exist a consistent international response to help address the phenomenon of internal displacement,” he said. He called for “concrete plans and projects” to correct this, lamenting that “displaced persons do not always receive the protection they deserve.”

“My thoughts turn also to South Sudan, which I hope to be able to visit in the course of this year,” Francis said, referring to a trip he has been hoping to make with Dr. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Reverend John Chalmers, former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

“I am confident that, with the help of the international community, all those charged with political responsibilities will pursue dialogue in order to implement the agreements reached,” the pope said.

Asia and the lessons of the Bomb

Pope Francis’ final journey of 2019 was to Thailand and Japan in East Asia.

“In Japan, I tangibly experienced the pain and horror that we human beings are capable of inflicting on one another,” he recalled, referring to his meeting with survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

“It became clear to me that true peace cannot be built on the threat of a possible total annihilation of humanity by nuclear weapons,” the pope declared.

“These weapons do not only foster a climate of fear, suspicion and hostility; they also destroy hope,” he said, adding emphatically: “Their use is immoral.”

The essence of Francis’ message on the issue of nuclear weapons was clear: Ban the Bomb.

A reformed United Nations

In his address to the ambassadors the pope again voiced his support for the work of the United Nations Organization, saying its efforts “in these past 75 years have been largely successful, particularly by preventing another world war.”

And, yet, Francis has said many times that, in fact, we are already in “a piecemeal World War III.”

He did not repeat that view on Thursday. But it surely was one of the reasons why he is deeply concerned that the foundational principals of the United Nations –”the desire for peace, the pursuit of justice, respect for the dignity of the human person, humanitarian cooperation and assistance” – should continue to be promoted and be “the basis of international relations.”

However, he said this requires a couple of major changes. First, it is necessary to halt “the indirect approach employed in the language and acts of international bodies, which seeks to link fundamental rights to contingent situations.”

And second, “there is a clear need to move once again towards an overall reform of the multilateral system, beginning with the UN system, which would make it more effective, taking into due account the present geopolitical context.”

And last, but not least… Women

Pope Francis recalled that 2020 marks 25 years since the UN-sponsored Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. And he offered this thought for the anniversary:

“It is my hope that the invaluable role of women in society may be increasingly acknowledged worldwide and that all forms of injustice, discrimination and violence against women come to an end.”

This, again, is a sentiment that the Argentine pope has expressed many times, dating back to the beginning of his pontificate. But, unfortunately, his track record as a champion of the advancement of women and as a crusader against the unjust treatment of them is sketchy at best.

Like most great leaders, the foundation of Francis’ credibility is his rock solid consistency – his actions almost always match his words. And when they have not, as was the case early on in his dealing with clergy sex abuse, he has worked to better align them.

Perhaps this is the year that the pope will truly find concrete ways to acknowledge the invaluable role of women in the society of the Church and bring an end to injustice, discrimination and every sort of violence against them.

But his thoughts on this day and in this forum were on world peace. He ended his “state of the world” address with these words:

“May we feel encouraged, then, to work diligently, through the diplomacy that is our own imperfect yet always valuable human contribution, to hasten the fulfillment of this longing for peace, in the knowledge that the goal can be attained.”

That is Francis’ hope for 2020 – a hope surely tempered with a healthy dose of realism.

By Robert Mickens

Published on the La Croix International website