Pope Francis: The People’s Pope
Pope Francis: The People’s Pope
Interview by Christopher Buck
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis, the most revolutionary and controversial character of our contemporary world; he is noted for his humility, his concern for the poor, and his commitment to interfaith dialogue. He is known for having a humble approach to the papacy, less formal than his predecessors, for instance choosing to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse rather than the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace used by his predecessors. Pope Francis made the battle against global warming, consumerism, and irresponsible development a focus of his papacy with the publication of Laudato si‘. The media considers him a progressive papal reformer, with a less-doctrinal tone of papacy.
Pope Francis is the first Jesuit pope. This was an unexpected appointment, because of the tense relations between the Society of Jesus and the Holy See. He is also the first from the Americas, and the first from the Southern Hemisphere. Many media reported him as being the first non-European pope, but he is actually the 11th. The previous one was Gregory III in 741, 1,272 years earlier. However, although he does not have a European nationality, he has a European ethnicity.
Among many other initiatives, Pope Francis is recognized for his efforts “to further close the nearly 1,000-year estrangement with the Orthodox Churches”.
Interview with Father Michael Collins, Official Biographer of Pope Francis
OMTimes Magazine is absolutely thrilled to part of the roll out of Pope Francis: A Photographic Portrait of the People’s Pope. We gladly share this exciting interview with the Biographer, Father Michael Collins, and Christopher Buck, the Publisher of OMTimes Magazine.
Christopher Buck: Father Collins thank you for speaking with us today. I would like to express my gratitude for the incredible honor to be part of the media rollout for this amazing book, Pope Francis: A Photographic Portrait of the People’s Pope.
To be in your position as the official biographer of Pope Francis, to be personally witnesses the emergence of one of the greatest transformational leaders of our age must be an incredible experience.
