“Start a revolution, shake things up. The world is deaf; you have to open its ears.” Pope Francis to French civil society activists, 2021.
Pope Francis, an apostle of nonviolence, called us to listen and to see.
When we listen, what happens? We hear the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth. Hearing these cries, we feel moved to end poverty and heal the earth.
When we see, what happens? Becoming aware of the dignity and soul of every human being, we feel moved to protect the most vulnerable among us, especially those who are struggling to survive amidst poverty, war, dislocation, expulsion, and migration, to renounce war, and eliminate violence in all forms.
Yesterday, Pope Francis’s 2025 Easter message was read to the worshippers at St. Peter’s Basilica, just hours before his death. As always, Francis called for peace – a positive peace based on securing human rights for all people. Like Isaiah, Francis called on world leaders to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks – especially at a moment when intensified pressures are being exerted to build up arsenals of war.
There can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and respect for the views of others. Nor is peace possible without true disarmament! The requirement that every people provide for its own defence must not turn into a race to rearmament. The light of Easter impels us to break down the barriers that create division and are fraught with grave political and economic consequences. It impels us to care for one another, to increase our mutual solidarity, and to work for the integral development of each human person…
I appeal to all those in positions of political responsibility in our world not to yield to the logic of fear which only leads to isolation from others, but rather to use the resources available to help the needy, to fight hunger and to encourage initiatives that promote development. These are the “weapons” of peace: weapons that build the future, instead of sowing seeds of death.
On March 25, 1968, ten days before he was assassinated, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed the Rabbinical Assembly of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Introducing King, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, said “The whole future of America will depend on the impact and influence of Dr. King.” In 2025, nearly sixty years later, Rabbi’s Heschel’s prophetic words resonate with fierce urgency. Heschel’s words echoed in my mind this morning because I believe that the whole future of the world will depend on the impact and influence of Pope Francis.
I say this as a Jew. From my perspective, the importance of Pope Francis is unrelated to his achievements and failures related to the Catholic Church as an institution, the continued legacy of sexual abuse among priests and the corruption of church officials in covering up massive crimes, or the bitter internal divisions within the Church on a wide array of doctrinal issues. I have no standing to weigh in on any of these issues, nor do I wish to do so. As I read the obituaries, I am concerned that these institutional problems, theological debates and related political divisions distract from understanding and appreciating Francis’s role as a moral voice on the world stage of greater stature, prescience and vision than any other political, religious or civil society leader since Dr. King.
To appreciate the power of Francis’s moral witness, and the urgency of his call to action, I encourage people of all faith traditions, as well as atheists and agnostics, to Pope Francis’s teachings as set out in several key pontifical publications:
I believe that Laudato Si’ (“On Care for Our Common Home”, 2015) is the most important text published in the 21st century, and the most powerful moral statement published since Dr. King’s 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. Laudato Si’ is the most comprehensive instruction manual for a revolution in moral values to end poverty, respond to climate chaos, heal the earth, and cure humanity from the epidemic of violence that threatens our existence.
Francis ceaselessly advocated for nonviolence and peace, opposing all forms of violence. Each January 1 during his papacy, Francis gave an address to honor the “World Day of Peace.” I encourage everyone to read Francis’s message of January 1, 2017 (“Nonviolence: a Style of Politics for Peace”): “I pledge the assistance of the Church in every effort to build peace through active and creative nonviolence.” To institutionalize this commitment, Francis established a Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development dedicated to support “migrants, those in need, the sick, the excluded and marginalized, the imprisoned and the unemployed, as well as victims of armed conflict, natural disasters, and all forms of slavery and torture”, to help ‘to build a world free of violence.”
I also encourage everyone to read Querida Amazonia (2020), Pope Francis’s call to end the exploitation of indigenous peoples, and the despoliation of their lands and habitats, to defend their dignity, security and human rights, and to thus to “ensure a globalization in solidarity, a globalization without marginalization,” and
Fratelli Tutti (“On Fraternity and Social Friendship”, 2020), that asks us to take seriously the vision of Francis of Assisi that all human beings are our brothers and sisters, and that our world is transformed when we treat each other accordingly.
In closing, here is a an excerpt from a prayer Pope Francis offers at the conclusion of Laudato Si’
God of love, show us our place in this world
as channels of your love
for all the creatures of this earth,
for not one of them is forgotten in your sight.
Enlighten those who possess power and money
that they may avoid the sin of indifference,
that they may love the common good, advance the weak,
and care for this world in which we live.
The poor and the earth are crying out.
O Lord, seize us with your power and light,
help us to protect all life,
to prepare for a better future,
for the coming of your Kingdom
of justice, peace, love and beauty.
Jonathan D. Greenberg
April 21, 2025
