Pope Francis was a true pastor, says leading African cardinal

Cardinal Ambongo: I remember it very well. It was Easter Monday. In my archdiocese of Kinshasa, we were organizing a classical music concert that day, and we were getting ready for a joyful event. That morning, the news broke that the Pope had passed away. It caused widespread sadness throughout Kinshasa.

He had just made an apostolic visit to my archdiocese in 2023, so his image was still very fresh in our collective memory. We experienced it as the loss of a truly great man. It felt a bit like, as an old African saying goes, a great baobab tree had been cut down.

Pope Francis was the first non-European pope in modern history, and the first pope from the Americas. Did his pontificate signal the Church's turning outward, away from Europe?

Cardinal Ambongo: That's undeniable. I believe that with Pope Francis, there's a before and an after. Because of him, things will never be the same. I say this because he was very aware of it himself. He was convinced that he had been chosen to carry out reforms in the Church. And that conviction marked his entire pontificate.

I remember during our Council of Cardinals meetings, he would tell us, "Pray for me. Pray that everything I'm undertaking will reach the point of no return, and then I'll be able to leave." I truly believe Pope Francis' reforms have reached that point of no return.

Through his actions, he strengthened the universal dimension of the Church, which has always been Catholic and therefore universal. However, we saw a shift in the Church's center of gravity away from the West, meaning Europe, and toward the Global South. I believe that shift is perhaps the most significant event of Francis' papacy.

Francis placed a lot of emphasis on the Church's pastoral dimension, ensuring it could accompany the entire People of God. What kind of pastor was he as pope?

Cardinal Ambongo: Francis was a true pastor, in the sense that he knew being a pastor means standing alongside God's people. Regardless of a person's status, or their political, religious, or moral convictions, you have to be right there beside them. Everyone — men and women, children, young people, adults — is created in the image of God. They all need to experience God's mercy. That message was absolutely central to his pontificate.

You worked closely with him, as you mentioned earlier, as a member of the Council of Cardinals. What was he like as a person?

Cardinal Ambongo: First and foremost, he was a man who listened. Many people have asked me about the meetings we held at the Vatican. There's no secret to it. We were there as the Pope's advisors. He would invite us, present the topic he wanted to work on, and then listen to our different points of view. He rarely intervened. We didn't make decisions during the meetings; that always happened later.

But I was always struck by his ability to listen. He would sometimes let us talk for an entire afternoon. He also had a great sense of humor and knew exactly how to lighten the mood. When we were discussing serious matters, he could tell a story that would make everyone laugh. It was a truly exceptional quality of his.

Whenever he met someone, he always had something specific to say to them — something that mattered to them personally, made them feel seen as an individual, and valued them. He didn't view people as a faceless crowd, but as specific individuals known and loved by God.

During his pontificate, Francis stood out for his powerful gestures. For example, during his trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he met with victims of mutilation. Which of Pope Francis' gestures left the biggest impression on you?

Cardinal Ambongo: Probably the first major gesture he made at the very start of his pontificate. He didn't go visit the world's powerful leaders; instead, he went to visit migrants in Lampedusa, an Italian island in the Mediterranean. That was a clear message right away: "Look at the direction I'm taking."

When it comes to Africa, I remember him as a pope who humbled himself to kiss the feet of South Sudan's two warring leaders in 2019. After his visit to Kinshasa in 2023, he traveled to South Sudan, and I accompanied him on the plane. In South Sudan, both of those leaders were there. It broke my heart to see that his powerful gesture hadn't borne the hoped-for fruit.

That reality has always been hard to swallow. How can the human heart be so hardened that it prevents statesmen from grasping the significance of a gesture like that? How could they not seize the opportunity to build peace, to secure a calm and harmonious future for an entire people who continue to suffer to this day?

What is his legacy in Africa?

Cardinal Ambongo: Pope Francis, as we know, didn't make as many trips to our continent as Pope John Paul II did. His papacy was shorter, and he experienced health issues early on, especially with his knee. But even though he didn't visit Africa constantly, he always had exactly the right words to say about what was happening here during his Sunday Angelus prayers.

Coming from a country like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has seen so much misery, I noticed how often my country and other African nations appeared in his appeals for peace and his prayers for a better world. I believe Africa was always very close to his heart and present in his prayers. He truly carried this continent throughout his pontificate.

Following Francis' passing, you participated in the conclave that elected a new pope who also hails from the Americas, Pope Leo XIV. Would you say Leo XIV is a true heir to Francis's pontificate?

Cardinal Ambongo: He's an heir in the fullest sense of the word. That's the major difference between the Church and politics. When a politician comes to power, he immediately starts rolling out his own policy. A newly elected pope is the successor of the previous one — in this case, Pope Francis. But in reality, he is the successor of Peter.

In other words, the mission a pope must carry out is first and foremost the mandate Jesus Christ gave to Peter and his successors. In that sense, Pope Leo XIV is fully the successor of both Francis and Peter.

Every pope does this according to his own character, temperament, and personal methods. We can already see today that while he is continuing the path Francis laid out, the new pope is making his own methodological mark. And so far, he hasn't made a single misstep. We are very proud of him.