Wednesday, March 19, 2025
6:00 p.m. - 7:15 p.m. EDT
Location: Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart and Livestreamed
March 19, 2025
The Francis Factor: The Leadership of the World’s Pastor
Event Series: Francis Factor Dialogues
At a time when Pope Francis faces serious health challenges, this annual dialogue on the “Francis Factor” examines the leadership and impact of Pope Francis over the last 12 years and going forward. The day after he was elected pope in 2013, he explained that he chose the name Francis in honor of St. Francis because St. Francis was a man for the poor, for peace, and for creation. Pope Francis has been a pope for the poor, a pope for peace, and a pope for God’s creation. He is the world’s pastor.
Five respected leaders will come together in Dahlgren Chapel at Georgetown University to look at what Pope Francis brings to the papacy, how he is changing it, and how it is changing him. They will examine the major events, themes, and priorities of his time as our Holy Father, including its humble beginnings, his love of migrants and the poor, his journey to the United States, his witness in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and his teachings on the Joy of the Gospel, care for our common home, and “a better kind of politics.”
This Dahlgren Dialogue will also examine the resistance to Pope Francis’ leadership and priorities, along with the continuing impact of Pope Francis in our own lives and in the Catholic Church, nation, and world.
Rev. Mark Bosco, S.J., vice president for Mission & Ministry, will open this Dahlgren Dialogue. Kim Daniels, director of the Initiative, member of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, and an expert participant in the Synod on Synodality, will moderate 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 by Franco Origlia/Getty Images
Recording
The dialogue starting at 6:00 p.m. EDT will be recorded and posted online for later viewing.
Participants
Blain Beyene (C’25)
Blain Beyene (C’25) is a student at Georgetown University studying government with minors in French as well as religion, ethics, and world affairs, and is a student leader in Catholic ministry at Georgetown.
Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap.
Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap., is the archbishop emeritus of Boston, a close advisor to Pope Francis, and a leader on issues of immigration and clergy sexual abuse.
Anna Rowlands
Anna Rowlands is the St. Hilda Chair in Catholic Social Thought and Practice at Durham University with particular expertise on politics and theology, synodality, and migration. She provided support to the Office of the Synod of Bishops and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development during the Synod on Synodality.
Inés San Martín
Inés San Martín is an Argentine Catholic journalist, the vice president of communications for The Pontifical Mission Societies, and the former co-editor and Rome bureau chief for Crux.
Chris White
Chris White is the Vatican correspondent for National Catholic Reporter and a Vatican analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.
Accessibility
All accommodation requests should be sent to cathsocialthought@georgetown.edu by March 17. A good-faith effort will be made to fulfill requests.