The Francis Connection: How a Name Shaped a Pontificate When Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio stepped onto the balcony of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica in 2013, he introduced himself to the world not only as a new Pope, but under a new name. By choosing \u201cFrancis,\u201d he offered an early and unmistakable clue to the spiritual compass of his pontificate\u2014a compass pointing toward poverty, peace, creation, and dialogue. Why the Name Francis Mattered From the very beginning, Pope Francis made clear that his chosen name was not incidental. It was not inspired by Francis Xavier, the great missionary, but by Francis of Assisi, the saint of poverty, peace, and care for creation. Pope Francis himself would later explain the heart of that choice, saying simply, \u201cFor me, he is the man of poverty, the man of peace, the man who loves and protects creation.\u201d For Cardinal Sean O\u2019Malley of Boston, a member of Pope Francis\u2019 Council of Cardinals, the significance of the name was immediately evident. He recalls that \u201cthe name for Francis was very very significant and he made it very clear from the beginning that it wasn’t Francis Xavier it was Francis of Assisi and for we Franciscans, we were delighted.\u201d That choice, O\u2019Malley explains, was not symbolic alone. \u201cMany things are Franciscan about Pope Francis,\u201d he says, pointing to \u201chis love for a simple lifestyle, for living that Evangelical poverty that indicates how we depend upon God for everything and our great trust in God’s Providence.\u201d That same Franciscan spirit, he adds, drives \u201chis desire to be connected to the little people, to people who are suffering, to the immigrants, the hungry, the homeless, and to try to show the merciful face of the Father.\u201d Rebuilding the Church The influence of St. Francis can be traced throughout Pope Francis\u2019 pontificate. As EWTN contributor Alan Holdren notes, St. Francis of Assisi famously heard God\u2019s call to rebuild the Church. Pope Francis, though in a vastly different role, felt a similar summons and set about his own form of Church reform. That reform took concrete shape through a renewed emphasis on synodality in decision-making and through the completion of a new apostolic constitution to guide the work of the Vatican. Cardinal O\u2019Malley, one of the nine cardinals chosen from around the world to advise the Pope through the so-called C9 Council, sees this as a deeply Franciscan response. He explains that \u201cthe Holy Father has responded to a call to rebuild the church as Francis did,\u201d noting that \u201ccertainly all of his work around safeguarding has been such an important step forward in the Church.\u201d Speaking from his personal experience, O\u2019Malley adds that \u201cbeing part of his commission for the protection of minors I see how he has become so personally involved in this mission of healing.\u201d That same commitment extends to governance and resources, reflecting \u201chis desire to assure people that the church wants to be transparent and faithful in the use of our temporal goods and transparency and with the financial resources of the reforms of the whole financial system.\u201d Care for Creation and Human Fraternity The Franciscan imprint also shaped Pope Francis\u2019 major teachings. In 2015, he issued the encyclical Laudato si\u2019, its title drawn directly from St. Francis\u2019 Canticle of the Creatures, followed in 2023 by Laudate Deum, an exhortation addressing the climate crisis. In 2020, he gave a further Franciscan mark to his teaching on human fraternity and social friendship by signing Fratelli Tutti\u2014\u201cBrothers All\u201d\u2014in Assisi itself. These were not abstract gestures. They reflected a broader effort to reshape the daily life of the Church. From small choices\u2014such as selecting a simple vehicle or personally calling people on the phone\u2014to structural reforms, Pope Francis, as Franciscan spokesman Father Enzo Fortunato puts it, \u201cFranciscanized\u201d the Vatican and the Roman Curia. Making the Poor Feel at Home Father Fortunato points to concrete examples that embody this shift, inviting people to \u201cthink about the barbers for the homeless, let\u2019s think about the showers, the bathrooms, the beds for people who have nowhere to go, who have no destination.\u201d These choices, he explains, marked a turning point. \u201cHis choices truly began to make the poor at home in the Church, not in separate facilities.\u201d While for many years the Church had relied on structures such as Caritas centers and institutions for the vulnerable, Fortunato says that Francis did something different. \u201cInstead, Francis, we could say, wanted them with him at home.\u201d A Franciscan Imprint on the Church Over the years, Pope Francis returned to Assisi more often than any other place outside Rome. That resemblance between the saint and the Pope has also been noted within Franciscan communities themselves. At the Santa Chiara convent in Rome, Mother Elena Francesca Beccaria reflects on what Francis\u2019 actions have left behind. \u201cMainly, what I believe this will leave me with is a sense of respect for the other,\u201d she says, understood \u201cin the broadest sense: the Other with a capital \u2018O,\u2019 of course, but also the other as my brother, the other as creation itself.\u201d What remains most strongly, she adds, is \u201cthis attentiveness, this care for others and for the created world.\u201d Crossing Frontiers for the Gospel At the Rome headquarters of the Franciscan Friars Minor, the Order\u2019s minister general, Fra Marco Fusarelli\u2014the 121st successor of St. Francis\u2014also sees a clear continuity. He recalls that \u201cSt. Francis was an evangelizer and sent us to preach the gospel,\u201d and that \u201cthis anxiety is felt in the pope.\u201d What stands out most, Fusarelli explains, is \u201cthis very great universality that stands out in the Petrine service of Pope Francis,\u201d echoing how St. Francis himself crossed frontiers in his time. That same spirit is visible, Fusarelli says, in \u201cthis stubborn search for encounter with the Muslim world that the pope promotes.\u201d Some critics, even within the Church, call this approach na\u00efve, asking whether genuine dialogue is possible. But Fusarelli believes otherwise, noting that \u201cthe pope sees further, he understands the value of signs.\u201d Dialogue, Peace, and Courage During his pontificate, Pope Francis visited more than a dozen Muslim-majority nations, consistently promoting what he calls human fraternity and peaceful coexistence. He forged a close relationship with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, echoing the journey St. Francis himself made centuries earlier to meet a Muslim sultan in Egypt. That courage, according to Sheikh Omar Abboud, a longtime Muslim friend of Francis from Buenos Aires, places the Pope firmly within the Franciscan tradition. Abboud explains that \u201cit gives St. Francis a particular kind of courage in history,\u201d and that \u201cthat same courage is also the courage that Pope Francis has today.\u201d This courage, he says, is not limited to calling for peace or rejecting war. \u201cWe are at the gates of perhaps one of the most important voices in reference to the geopolitical vision that exists in the modern world, the third world war in pieces.\u201d Francis\u2019 warning, Abboud insists, \u201cis not a slogan, it is a reality.\u201d In such a context, Abboud explains, \u201cto encourage to talk, to approach, to exchange, is not the whole solution to the conflict, but it is surely a part of the solution.\u201d A Thread Running Through a Pontificate Messenger of peace, advocate for the poor, reformer, and bridge-builder\u2014the connections between the 13th-century saint and the 21st-century Pope are many. Looking back, what began with the simple choice of a name can now be seen as the unifying thread of Pope Francis\u2019 pontificate: a life and mission shaped by the enduring legacy of St. Francis of Assisi. Receive the most important news from EWTN Vatican via WhatsApp. It has become increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channel today EWTN Vatican on WhatsApp EWTN Would you like to receive the latest updates on the Pope and the Vatican Receive articles and updates from our EWTN Newsletter. More news related to this article Rupnik superior: \u2018From an ecclesial point of view it\u2019s illegal\u2019 for priest to own business Cardinal commemorates martyrdom, persecution of Eastern Catholics faithful to pope Pope Francis Leaves the Hospital 8 Days After Abdominal Surgery Italy\u2019s Mafia-fighting \u2018street priest\u2019 Archbishop Domenico Battaglia to become a cardinal Saint John Henry Newman and The Oratory Pope Leo XIV praises Italian society for works done in spirit of St. Francis of Assisi<\/p>\n