Committed to the poor, migrants and the environment, Pope Francis devoted his pontificate to the most disadvantaged. But was it really progressive?
The Argentinian pontiff, who died on Monday of Easter at the age of 88, devoted his first visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa on July 8, 2013. On this occasion, he paid tribute to the migrants who died in the Mediterranean and denounced “the globalization of indifference” to their fate.
“He was a man of peace, a man for human dignity, and he always talked when people were mistreated and when migrants were scapegoats and demonized by forces that are no less present in this parliament”Evin Incir, a Social Democratic Swedish deputy (S&D), told Euronews.
Nicknamed the “pope of the poor”, Francis had multiplied his actions in favor of people in need, inviting the homeless to dinner to the Vatican and to institute a world day of the poor.
Very interested in economic problems, the church chief also denounced the “excess of globalization”, finance who “spins people under their feet” and “the new idolatry of money”.
Ecology was at the heart of his pontificate, to which he devoted his encyclical letter Laudato yes, Posted in 2015.
Human rights
In the area of minority and women's rights, the situation has not changed much.
While the church chief opened the blessing of marriage with homosexual couples, the Religious Marriage Porte remains closed.
The sexual and reproductive rights of women have been largely absent from its pontificate.
During a visit to Belgium, the Pope described the doctors of abortion as “hired killers” and compared abortion to homicide.
“He did not see that the restrictions on the sexual and reproductive rights of women will not end the abortions. This will only make abortions dangerous and not accessible to all women”, “ said Lina Gálvez, Spanish MP (S&D).
“He was therefore a man who fought against a lot of inequalities, but it seems that these inequalities between the sexes and this gap in the rights of women were not in his mind”, “ She adds.
Although he presented women to the Vatican, they are still excluded from the priesthood. The deputy of the deputy Lina Gálvez does not hesitate to speak of a “missed opportunity”.
The question remains: was he incapable or did he not want to reform the Church in depth?
