My personal experience of Pope Francis is always a new world.
Pope Francis once spoke to me on the phone. When I picked up, I was frozen with awe. But he gently said, “Eduardo, bring quickly the list of the vacant dioceses in your conference”. It was a moment of divine surprise and deep responsibility.
Another time, I met him at his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae (St. Martha’s Guesthouse). He took a walk with me through the gardens. During that quiet walk, he spoke passionately about the needy in the world. He turned to me and said with conviction: “Make your bishopric one for the poor!”—words that pierced my heart and reshaped my pastoral vision.
I have always learnt personal lessons from Pope Francis—his simplicity, his courage to listen, and his love for the margins. He reminds me constantly that the Church is not a fortress but a field hospital and that our hearts must be open to every person, especially the least among us.
One of his most striking teachings that stays with me is from Fratelli Tutti:
“Only by cultivating this way of relating to one another will we make possible a social friendship that excludes no one and a fraternity that is open to all.” And again, from Evangelii Gaudium:
“The poor are not just people to whom we can give something. They have much to offer, and if we allow ourselves to be evangelized by them, we can grow in solidarity, in simplicity, and in joy.”
These words and encounters have helped me shape a vision of Church that walks with people, especially the forgotten—where fraternity is not an ideal but a lived mission.
I can share with you my personal sentiments or perception of Pope Francis in these words: Pope Francis came to us in South Sudan not as a politician or diplomat but as a father full of mercy, love, and truth. His legacy for us is a call to continue being peacemakers! He told the political leaders of South Sudan that ‘enough of destruction! It is time to build peace.
