The Powerful Legacy of the First Latin American Pope

With the passing of Pope Francis on Easter Monday, his legacy has taken center stage. Undoubtedly, some attention will go to the Argentine’s failure to reverse the sharp decline of Catholicism in Latin America, home to roughly half the world’s Catholics. After all, that was the hope behind his selection to lead the Vatican in 2013. But his legacy nonetheless remains profound as the first Pope to hail from Latin America and the Global South.

Most notably, Francis brought to the Church the ideas of Liberation Theology, a progressive philosophy that married Marxist critiques of capitalism with traditional Catholic concerns for the poor and marginalized. Its origins date to the 1968 Medellin Conference of Bishops. At that gathering, Latin American bishops agreed to prioritize liberalizing people from inequality, poverty, and political oppression, even at the expense of spreading the gospel. It led some Latin American churches to openly confront military regimes for their human rights abuses. This, in turn, exposed many clergy to political persecution, including Óscar Romero, the Salvadoran priest murdered by a right-wing death squad in 1980.

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Francis was an improbable and imperfect ambassador for Liberation Theology. During the 1970s and 1980s, when clergy affiliated with the movement were threatened with excommunication, and, worst yet, enforced disappearance by the military during Argentina’s infamous “Dirty War,” Francis was mostly silent. He favored the more conventional “Theology of the People,” which prioritizes the poor but without the Marxist critique. But by the time he arrived in Rome, Liberation Theology was mainstream in Latin American Catholic thought. Francis himself had already embraced many of the movement’s leaders, including the late Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez, widely regarded as the father of Liberation Theology.

Although Francis never publicly acknowledged his intellectual debt to Liberation Theology, the movement’s influence over his papacy is undeniable. In his first papal pronouncement, Evangelii Gaudium, or “The Joy of the Gospel,” he denounced the twin evils of poverty and inequality. He also called on the rich to share their wealth with those less fortunate. Pointedly echoing Liberation Theology, Francis cited the “idolatry of money” and criticized “unfettered capitalism as a new tyranny.” He also exhorted politicians “to guarantee all citizens dignified work, education, and healthcare.” Unsurprisingly, these comments raised the ire of conservatives, especially in the U.S., where they were seen not only as an attack on capitalism but a veiled criticism of Washington.

A second legacy with close ties to Latin America, which also helped make Francis a polarizing figure on the right, is the environment. Francis unambiguously aligned the Vatican with the fight against climate change. In Laudato Si, or “Praise be to you, my Lord,” he laid out the case for human-caused climate change, noting that human activities are dramatically affecting the climate to the detriment of the world’s poorest people. By singling out humans as a primary cause of climate change, Francis was making a radical shift in the Vatican’s stance on the environment. Historically, the Catholic Church’s stand on climate change has veered toward silence and denialism.

Much of Francis’ concern for the environment reflected his understanding of how deforestation, pollution, and wild swings in weather disproportionately affect the poorest communities in Latin America. Calling attention to this was the purpose of a three-week Vatican synod held in 2019 that focused on the Amazon, the so-called “lungs of the world.” It brought together hundreds of bishops, Indigenous leaders, and environmental activists from nine South American countries.

The third and final legacy is the most surprising: the struggle for LGBTQ rights. Francis’ pontificate coincided with the Vatican’s sharp departure from its fierce opposition to homosexuality. That opposition was prominently displayed by Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, who once wrote that homosexuality is “an intrinsic moral evil.” To be sure, Francis’ record on LGBTQ issues is far from perfect, as a reported fondness for gay slurs makes clear. But throughout his papacy, he sought common ground with the gay community.

In 2013, when asked about homosexuals in the Catholic clergy, Francis replied: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?” A 2020 documentary on Francis’ papacy revealed that he was a supporter of same-sex civil unions. This was followed by statements that priests would be allowed to bless same-sex couples and that transgender people can be baptized, become official godparents, and act as witness for Catholic weddings.

It is worth remembering that Francis arrived in Rome fresh from the epic culture war over same-sex marriage in Argentina, the first country in Latin America to legalize gay marriage, in July 2010. Ironically, Francis’ opposition to gay marriage in Argentina gave hope to many that his pontificate would strengthen the Vatican’s historic opposition to LGBTQ rights. As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis declared gay marriage “the Devil’s work” and mobilized Catholics against it, prompting a backlash from President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. She characterized Francis’ words as “reminiscent of the Dark Ages and the Inquisition.”

The divisiveness of Argentina’s gay marriage campaign pushed Francis in the direction of conciliatory stances toward the gay community. Above all, the framing of the campaign, which stressed the humanity and morality of gay and lesbian couples, left a deep impression on Francis. After the gay marriage law was enacted, he reportedly met with gay rights activists to explain that while he opposed gay marriage, he supported their struggle for dignity and respect.  

Pope Francis may not have saved Catholicism in Latin America. But he certainly transformed Catholicism in the image of Latin America. In the process, he made the Church more progressive at a time when the far-right is ascendant around the globe. Whether that direction continues will be up to the next Pontiff. But one thing is certain: Francis will be a tough act to follow.