Imagination, outreach part of pope's 'precious legacy,' cardinal says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis brought "a breath of the Spirit to the church, truly leading it to go out" into the world with the Gospel, said Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

Pope Francis died April 21 at the age of 88.

Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça had spoken to Catholic News Service in Rome about the pope and his legacy Feb. 14, the day the pope was hospitalized with bronchitis and breathing difficulties.

The cardinal recounted how Pope Francis asked him, then a simple priest, to lead a Lenten retreat for himself and officials of the Roman Curia in 2018. As retreat master, the Portuguese priest had a small office where he would meet privately with any of the retreatants who requested to do so.

One of them was the pope.

"The Holy Father came and sat in the humblest chair, there in front of me, and he opened his heart," he said. "At that moment, seeing the successor of Peter sitting on a normal wooden chair in front of me with that frankness was a moment of enormous faith for me, enormous, because you understand how much the church has a divine dimension, truly. And it is divine because it is made of people, of women, of men, who live the truth as if it were true. They do not live the truth as if it were possible. No, they live the truth as their reality. Pope Francis lived like that."

The cardinal, an award-winning poet, said Pope Francis "always struck me by the way he integrated imagination" into his ministry.

"Think of the iconic images of his pontificate; for example, opening the first Holy Door outside the Vatican in Bangui (in the Central African Republic for the 2015-16 Year of Mercy) or the empty St. Peter's Square" where he prayed alone during the strictest part of the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, the cardinal said.

"Using his imagination gave him great freedom of spirit," he said.

Another part of what the cardinal called Pope Francis' "precious legacy" is "the fact that his moral authority is seen inside, but also widely outside the church; that people recognize in Pope Francis a unique moral and human authority says just how much good he has done for the church."

The Portuguese cardinal also said he was impressed and touched by Pope Francis' "focus on what is essential."

"He graphically purified himself, let's say, of ornaments and excesses, and has remained more evangelical," the cardinal said. "Admittedly, some of that was very personal, his own, and the next pope will also have his own style, because everyone must be himself. But the way Pope Francis was himself, being a pope, is very enlightening, even in spiritual terms, in a cultural and human perspective, his was a personality that questions and illuminates the humanity of everyone."

Once Pope Francis brought him to the Vatican as archivist in 2018, the two would meet regularly.

"Two things always struck me. First, his respectful listening. He always starts by listening. Even when he knows more, has more elements, he always wants to listen to the person respectfully," the cardinal said. "That has always impressed me."

"The other thing that has impressed me is his great spiritual intelligence, because, in everything I have presented to him, he has told me something crucial. In fact, it was he who was governing. I felt like I was serving his vision. Because sometimes, in just a few words, he would say, 'I want this' or 'You have to pay attention to this,' 'Go in this direction,' 'I agree,' 'Maybe it's better to wait.' He said it as one who spiritually faced the practical, concrete governance of the church. And for a pastor, it is a huge lesson to see a father with the wisdom that Pope Francis had."