A University of Notre Dame expert says Pope Francis sometimes frustrated media commentators looking to label him as progressive or conservative.
In the Catholic church’s time-honored tension between upholding its traditions and serving a rapidly changing world, David Lantigua says Pope Francis didn’t fit neatly into an ideological box.
"But on the other hand he's been extremely accessible, extremely understandable, because of how much emphasis he's placed on the importance of the Gospel message of mercy and reaching out to the poor, and encountering God in your midst among the most vulnerable," Lantigua said.
Lantigua is director of Notre Dame’s Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, and he’s writing a book on Pope Francis. He says Francis sought reform, but reform in the sense of urging Catholics to focus again on Jesus Christ’s core teachings.
"He's someone who represented humility and poverty in a way that I think is characteristic of the way Jesus talked about the life of service and the life of the Apostles."
At 9 a.m. Monday, the university tolled the bells in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart to mourn the pope’s death, and a photo of Pope Francis has been placed in the sanctuary for masses each day over the next nine days of mourning.
