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March 12, 2024

The Francis Factor at 11 Years

The Synod, Lay Leadership, and the Social Mission of the Church

Event Series: Francis Factor Dialogues

Showing the The Francis Factor at 11 Years Video

Eleven years ago Pope Francis stepped out on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica with words of welcome and gestures of humility. He has spent the following years emphasizing that we are called to be a “poor Church for the poor” committed to the most vulnerable among us. Pope Francis prefers “a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security,” and has lived that mission through his powerful words, his global travels, and his actions to renew the Catholic Church.

One of Pope Francis’ most hopeful efforts is Synod 2021-2024, an unprecedented multiyear global process seeking to listen and learn, strengthen communion, broaden participation, and renew the Gospel mission of service to those left “lying wounded by the roadside.” As theologian Anna Rowlands says, one goal of the Synod is “an outward-facing Church that is healthy from the inside.” This past October Catholic lay leaders and bishops gathered in Rome for the first of two Synodal Assemblies to listen and learn and discern paths forward. After another year of consultation and discernment, the second assembly will take place in October 2024.

This Dahlgren Dialogue focused on Pope Francis’ mission and message and this extraordinary effort to build a Church that listens and lives out the Gospel. This dialogue particularly focused on two major Synod themes: promoting lay leadership in ecclesial and public life and strengthening our response to Catholic social thought, answering the Gospel call to “bring glad tidings to the poor… to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.” (Luke 4:18)

John J. DeGioia, president of Georgetown University, opened this Francis Factor Dahlgren Dialogue. Kim Daniels, director of the Initiative and member of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication and the Synod Communications Commission, moderated the dialogue. 

Georgetown University’s Dahlgren Dialogues, co-sponsored by the Office of Mission & Ministry and the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, are a series of substantive conversations with experienced leaders in the context of prayerful reflection on current topics at the intersection of faith and public life.​

Photo © Vatican Media

Resources

Participants

Dr. Cynthia Bailey Manns

Dr. Cynthia Bailey Manns

Dr. Cynthia Bailey Manns is the director of adult learning at Saint Joan of Arc Catholic Community in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was one of four U.S. lay participants at the Synod on Synodality in October 2023.

Sr. Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ

Sr. Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ

Sr. Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ, is undersecretary for the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, the first woman to hold this position, and has been a global leader in the Synod 2021-2024 process.

Bishop Daniel Flores

Bishop Daniel Flores

Bishop Daniel Flores is the leader of the U.S. bishops’ synod process, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, and the bishop of the diocese of Brownsville, Texas. He was a delegate at the Synod on Synodality in October 2023.

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy is the executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network and has more than 25 years of experience working in national level, faith-based policy advocacy organizations in the United States.

Chris White

Chris White

Chris White is the Vatican correspondent for National Catholic Reporter and a Vatican analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. He has consistently covered Synod 2021-2024, including the first General Assembly in October 2023.