GUEST COLUMN: How Pope Francis Taught Me to Believe in Leadership Again

The following guest column by Helio Fred Garcia was originally published on CommPro.biz on April 22, 2025.

Today I reflect on Pope Francis. With sadness at his passing; with gratitude for the example he set for other religious leaders and for all of us. 

He modeled for all types of leaders the power of humility, which makes possible both empathy and inclusion. 

He modeled for all types of leaders how to be of service beyond their own communities, in ways that bring to life the values of their own community. 

He was an inspiration to me, as well as to millions of others around the world. But I was a tough nut to crack.

Leaving the Church

I have had a difficult relationship with the Roman Catholic church my whole life. 

Initially I was in deep -- altar boy during the Latin Mass, serving every early morning weekday mass and several Sunday masses for years; seven years of Catholic elementary school and two years of Catholic high school. 

Catholic school was a mixed bag. I was an immigrant who initially spoke English poorly – I found the Latin Mass welcoming, because the Latin was so close to my native Portuguese. But at Catholic school I was frequently beaten with a long wooden ruler by the nuns. They were frustrated by my slow progress and interpreted my misunderstanding as misbehavior. 

I was later beaten by the boys for being different – the only foreigner in the school. More than 50 years later I carry scars around my eyes where I was kicked with a heavy boot. Now that I no longer have hair, many other scars are noticeable, especially on the top and back of my head, where I was hit with sticks, with rocks, and in at least one instance, with a brick. I also have scars on my soul.

But later a different nun took me aside for a year. She equipped me to be confident speaking English. She put me on a path to academic achievement. I owe my adult success to her. 

In Catholic high school I was recruited to join the priesthood. But at the weekend recruiting retreat I felt unsafe. I was afraid of the other boys. So left after one night. And I never went back.

I formally left the Church 51 years ago. Initially I defined myself in opposition to the Church: a lapsed Catholic. In graduate school I read the Gospels in the original Greek and was angered by how different the original meaning was from what I had been taught. I proudly declared myself to be an atheist and declared religion to be a fraud. 

But I mellowed as the years went by. In my 30s the senior minister of the Unitarian Church of All Souls in Manhattan, Rev. Dr. Forrest Church, helped me understand that my quarrel was not with religion, but with the trappings of religion; not with the teachings of Jesus, but with the teachings about Jesus or with doctrine unrelated to his teaching. 

As important, my pastor emphasized that the faith traditions have a common moral core: welcome the stranger; do unto others as you wish they do unto you, etc.

So I began to direct my energy into that common moral core: focused on being of service to multi-religious communities. I spent 14 years on the board (and 3 years as chair) of Interfaith Alliance, which works to preserve and protect America’s religious pluralism. 

I spent 20 years advising, and 10 years on the Board of International Trustees at Religions for Peace, which leads multi-religious responses to the world’s pressing needs, including conflict transformation, sustainable development, and protecting the planet. 

I spent 10 years on the board of Disaster Chaplaincy Services, which responds to mass casualty events in New York City. 

I spent 7 years teaching religious leadership, 6 years on the board and 4 years as board chair at Starr King School for the Ministry, which prepares people for, among other things, progressive religious leadership in society. 

And in each of those endeavors, I found Roman Catholic priests, nuns, and lay leaders doing important work together with leaders of other faith traditions, and with those of no faith tradition. 

But I still had a problem with popes. 

My Problem with Popes

For my whole conscious life, I have had issues with - and sometimes anger at – popes. 

After the 2002 discovery in Boston of systemic sexual abuse of children I was particularly angry at Pope John Paul II, on whose watch this was discovered. I worried that he wasn’t taking harm to children seriously enough or acting urgently enough.

I was very angry at Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI. As the Vatican Number 2, he had slow-walked the investigations into abuse. As pope he had characterized Islam in ways that caused great offence to many Muslims and others.  When he passed in 2022 the news site The Conversation characterized him as a man “at odds with the modern world” who left a legacy of “intellectual brilliance and controversy.”

A Surge of Hope

But when Pope Francis succeeded Pope Benedict in 2013, I had a surge of hope. He seemed different: more humble; more kind; more of the people. 

Soon after becoming Pope he rattled many by saying, “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?"

He actively welcomed the stranger. Early in his term, he advocated to protect migrants: “It's hypocrisy to call yourself a Christian and chase away a refugee or someone seeking help, someone who is hungry or thirsty, toss out someone who is in need of my help."

In Donald Trump’s first term, Pope Francis called the separation of children from migrant parents “cruelty of the highest form.”

In his final public statement, in writing and released on this past Easter Sunday, Pope Francis said, “How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants! On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas!”

And, in a passage that stirred my multi-religious justice yearnings: "There can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and respect for the views of others."

Meeting His Holiness

In 2017 the Religions for Peace board and leadership assembled in Rome. His Holiness invited us to meet with him at the start of our session. We came from all corners of the world and dozens of faith traditions. Christian. Jewish. Muslim. Hindu. Sikh. Buddhist. Indigenous. And many others. And in my case, agnostic humanist. 

Pope Francis didn't disappoint. He was humble. Kind. Gracious. Welcoming. Inclusive. He went out of his way to speak personally with each of us; not only religious leaders, but also family and staff. He was fully present to each of us.

I came away from that meeting moved. Touched. Welcomed. Cared for. Inspired. 

Lessons for Leaders 

Pope Francis’ example is one all leaders can learn from. 

It is common for some leaders to see humility as weakness; as wimpiness. They adopt an approach such as “It’s my way or the highway.” They adopt a rigid, insular, and ultimately unsustainable focus on dogma: “we do these things because we have always done these things.” They feel the need to be the smartest person in every room at every meeting. They carry themselves as if they are – what’s the word? – infallible. 

Pope Francis shows another way. Effective leaders have at least a dollop of humility.  More effective leaders have even more humility.

As Pope Francis himself said in a Ted Talk, “The more powerful you are, the more your actions will have an impact on people, the more responsible you are to act humbly. If you don’t, your power will ruin you, and you will ruin the other.”

Thank you, Pope Francis, for modeling humility, empathy, caring, and servant leadership...