“We must prepare for a new age of political audacity for the Holy See,” said Marco Impagliazzo, president of the Rome-based Community of Sant’ Egidio during an interview in 2014. Some believe that Pope Francis is more important politically than even John Paul II who worked with U.S. President Ronald Reagan to engineer the collapse of European Communism. Francis, being the first pope from the developing world, has a grasp of every major issue facing the world today, poverty, immigration, environment and war. And he is using his bully pulpit and geopolitical influence to do something about them.
For instance, Francis’ assisted the United States and Cuba with rapprochement, by writing personal and private letters to President Obama and dictator Raul Castro. The two nations are now on track toward full diplomatic relations.
When the United States was trying to develop support for war against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad for using sarin gas on his own people in 2013, the Vatican could see, through contacts with the Catholic leadership and leaders of other denominations in the Middle East, that removing Assad would have ushered in something far worse for Catholic and Christian communities living in Syria. The rise of the radical ISIS and its targeting of Christian communities in its declared “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria demonstrated the very thing the churchmen were concerned about.
On September 7, 2013, Francis presided over a five-hour prayer vigil for Syria. The Vatican estimated that hundreds of millions of people around the world watched the prayer vigil on television. After that, western nations stopped promoting war on Assad. Later when he visited Jordan, Syrian refugees brandished signs thanking the pontiff for “saving our country.”
Pope Francis is bringing back the Vatican’s geopolitical swagger after a dysfunctional and scandal ridden papacy of Benedict XVI.
Then in June of 2014 Pope Francis took the audacious step of inviting the presidents of Israel and Palestine to the Vatican, “my house” as he called it, to pray for peace. Shimon Perez and Mahmoud Abbas both accepted the invitation and the prayer meeting happened on June 8. The meeting opened a new backchannel of diplomacy “under the cover of religious piety,” while also legitimizing prayer as a means of communicating with and between other religions, especially those in conflict. Managing perceptions carefully, the pope had also invited Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople in an ecumenical gesture to show that this was not just a Vatican project, but also a project of the wider Christian community. It would also show that the Vatican is trying to build ecumenical partnerships behind diplomatic peace initiatives.
Francis wants to be seen as the “peace pope,” but his actions are very good politics. Since many conflicts have underlying religious issues, the pope can engage them in a fashion that no other secular leader or diplomat can. And Francis is very personal about it. His personal charisma helps him “handcraft” peace initiatives unique to each situation based on his personal ties.
The pope and the Vatican use the peace process to develop strong support for the church and its geopolitical influence. As papal influence rises dramatically under the papacy of Francis, watch for more dramatic moves that will make all the kings of the earth seek his counsel, support and collaboration.
“And by peace he shall destroy many.” Daniel 8:25
This article is based on part of a new book, The Francis Miracle: Inside the Transformation of the Pope and the Church, by John L. Allen Jr., published by Time Books.
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