Why the pope's influence goes far beyond Catholics
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A passer-by walks past a painting of Pope Francis in Villavicencio, Meta, Colombia ahead of his visit in 2017. Photo: Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images
The successor to Pope Francis will take over a Catholic Church with more than 1.4 billion members around the world. But his impact is likely to reach far beyond the church.
Why it matters: Popes today don't just oversee church doctrine and administration — they're global diplomats and influencers who can foster peace agreements, accelerate fights against diseases and impact population growth.
- In his dozen years as pope, Francis' decisions affected millions of non-Catholics worldwide.
- Francis was a prominent voice in calling for countries to treat refugees with dignity, pushing policies to counter climate change, demanding better treatment for marginalized groups such as LGBTQ people, and urging nations to end hostilities.
Zoom in: Cardinal electors from around the world will meet in Vatican City on May 7 to begin an election, called a conclave, to pick a new pope.
- He'll become the leader of the largest single religious organization in the world, appointing bishops, driving the church's agenda and prioritizing its global concerns.
- For Catholics, the pope is seen as the direct spiritual descendant of Peter, the first pope — a living, unbroken link back to Jesus.
- Catholics also call the pope the vicar (or representative) of Christ.
But as Francis and other popes have shown, the pontiff's agenda transcends the interests of the Catholic Church, said Andrew Chesnut, the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan chairman in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
- "So much of this moral agenda that is rooted in Catholic Christian faith has repercussions in secular society," Chesnut told Axios.
Pope John Paul II, an anticommunist, helped to end the Cold War and prevent a nuclear war by urging countries to abolish nuclear weapons, some historians argue.
- Francis pushed Colombia and the FARC rebels to end their decades-long war and also urged the Obama administration and Cuba to open up relations.
Yes, but: Popes also can affect world events by doing nothing, or not enough, in the face of crisis.
- Pope Pius XII was criticized for remaining silent during World War II as Nazi Germany was rounding up Jewish people and putting them in concentration camps.
- In the 1960s, Pope John XXIII tried to downplay allegations of sexual abuse within the church and threatened to excommunicate those who spoke out.
- In the 1980s, Pope John Paul II called for compassion for those suffering from AIDS, but refused to endorse measures such as condoms to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. (In 2010, Pope Benedict wrote that condom use could be justified to prevent HIV from spreading.)
The intrigue: Popes can even influence what happens in local communities, said Allen Sánchez, executive director of the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops.
- A pope appoints bishops, who in some cases have steered the faithful to action on crucial local issues, Sánchez said.
- One example: For years, antipoverty advocates in New Mexico, the nation's poorest state, tried to get a state constitutional amendment to expand early childhood education.
- After Pope Francis arrived, the mood changed in New Mexico, and advocates gained the momentum to pass such a measure. Sánchez said the new pope's focus on poverty persuaded some lawmakers to rethink the issue.
- "The pope is a moral leader for many people," Sánchez said, "not just Catholics."
