Luis Torres, Ph.D.
Posted April 24, 2025
Pope Francis, the Pontiff for some 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, has passed to his next life, in Heaven, on April 21, Rome time, a few hours after his Easter Sunday personal appearance in the Basilica of Saint Peter’s square, as he rode among the crowds in communion with the faithful.
Notably, Pope Francis was the first South American Pope in the 1,300 years of the Papacy in its modern form, and not since “Syrian-born Gregory III died in 741, had there been a non-European Bishop of Rome.” Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1936, the future Pope grew up as a child of immigrants, as “His parents had fled their native Italy to escape the evils of fascism” (BBC, “Francis: Pope from Latin America who changed Catholic Church,” April 21, 2025). They escaped the rise of the Fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who aligned himself with Hitler and the German Nazis with the rise of World War II. It was fitting, therefore, that several years later Jorge Mario Bergoglio would return as Pope to the family’s native land of Italy and Rome, as a prince of peace.
Pope Francis’ Latin American roots might be a singularly endearing trait for U.S. Latinos—as well as for all of Latin American Catholics—as was his multilingual ability: he spoke seven languages—Spanish, Italian, English, Latin, German, French, and some Portuguese. Such linguistic virtuosity is not unusual for modern-day Popes, helping them to communicate more readily with their 1.4 billion Catholic parishioners.
Among Pope Francis’ other “firsts” and source of popularity for Latinos was his Jesuit background, the first such Pope in history. The Jesuits identify themselves as,
“The Society of Jesus was founded in 1540 by Saint Ignatius Loyola and his companions. The Jesuit mission is a mission of reconciliation, working so that women and men can be reconciled with God, with themselves, with each other and with God’s creation (The Jesuits | The Society of Jesus).”
Among their other abiding principles, the Jesuit order defines one of their “Apostolic Preferences” as “Walking With the Excluded,” which they define as “the poor, the outcasts of the world, those whose dignity has been violated, in a mission of reconciliation and justice.” With such a foundational principle, their vow of poverty—a commonly identified trait by which Catholics understand Jesuits—is a necessary expectation. More importantly, Pope Francis’ strong disagreements with President Trump over immigration could be seen as inevitable. For example, in February of this year, the Pope wrote in a letter about deportations,
“I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations…. [T]he act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families….”
As is mentioned above, Pope Francis’ family had firsthand experience with the necessity of immigration for family security, as well as the teachings of and about Jesus Christ, Saint Joseph, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. One of the best-known stories of Jesus’ birth is the account of the Holy Family’s Flight Into Egypt (Matthew: 2:13—15, NIV). When the Magi had gone, “an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’” It would take another visit from “an angel of the Lord” to Saint Joseph in another dream for the Holy Family to return to Israel as returning immigrants, now safe, or safer, with the passing of Herod.
Social and political commentators throughout the world have in the past and today commented that humility was one of Pope Francis’ major characteristics, a product of his Jesuit background. We are reminded that in response to a question about gay priests, Pope Francis responded, “If someone is searching for God with an open heart, who am I to judge?”, an expression which typified his approaches. He has been widely known in this vein, opening the door of the Church to inclusivity. Pope Francis would often say, to the question of for whom he was preaching, in Latin, “totos, totos, totos,” or in Spanish, “todos, todos, todos,” or “everyone, everyone, everyone.”
Today, in the U.S. the words “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” are considered by the Trump administration and by much of the population as curse words, with the letters “D-E-I” seemingly to be excommunicated from the 26-letter English alphabet, which would remain at only 23 letters, losing two of five vowels and one consonant. Such critics’ beliefs would aim to punish the marginalized, fundamental to Jesuits—not “inclusion” for them but “exclusion.” But to Pope Francis, “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion”—“totos, totos, totos”—were vocabularies to preach, and to live by, distinguishing not only his Papacy, but his life.
But in how much alignment are U.S. Latinos with the teachings of Pope Francis and of the Catholic Church that he has left behind? Research statistics about U.S. Latinos paint remarkably dissimilar portraits of their religious affiliations and divergent views of their recent fluctuations, especially notable in statistics a few years apart. For example, according to the Pew Charitable Trust, a well-respected research group focusing on U.S. Latinos, the Catholic Church has been a foundational religious institution for Latinos, but its influence has waned considerably in the last several years. For example, “Catholics remain the largest religious group among Latinos in the United States, even as their share among Latino adults has steadily declined over the past decade,” while their numbers as Protestants, including evangelical Protestants, has remained consistent, as has the “religiously unaffiliated” (“Among U.S. Latinos, Catholicism Continues to Decline but Is Still the Largest Faith,” April 13, 2023). A startling indicator, however, is that it took only 12 years for the percentage of Catholic affiliation among U.S. Latinos to fall from 67% in 2010 to 43% in 2022, with a drop of 3% in only one year, 2021—2022. Notably, Latino immigrants are more likely to affiliate as Catholic than U.S. citizen Latinos.
However, according to the National Catholic Register, “since the COVID lockdowns many Hispanics, especially younger Latinos, are neglecting to participate in basic aspects of the life of the Church such as Mass, confession, and other sacraments,” likely an identifier of non-affiliation. However, Catholic religious and community leaders understand the “need to be part of a living group of faith, whether that be family, parish, diocese, or society…. So liturgical prayer that stresses active participation, particularly in the Eucharist, is very important for people to develop a sense of belonging to something bigger” (“Is Catholicism Dying Out Among U.S. Hispanics? Latino Catholics Weigh In,” July 15, 2024). Following implementation of some of the National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Ministry recommendations from 2023, some dioceses are reporting renewed growth. As one young parishioner from Chicago explained, “‘The more I’m learning about the faith, the more I fall in love with it…. Before I had no idea of what the holy Eucharist was. But after learning about the holy Eucharist, I realized that Jesus is closer to me than I ever thought before.’”
More broadly, the Church that Pope Francis has left us is growing worldwide, contrary to some of the experiences in the U.S. Internationally, such increasing diversity among countries and cultures is substantial. For example, “The global Catholic population increased by 1.15% between 2022 and 2023, rising from approximately 1.39 billion to 1.406 billion, a percentage very similar to that of the previous biennium….
“Africa includes 20% of the Catholics of the entire planet and is characterized by a highly dynamic spread of the Catholic Church. The number of Catholics increased from 272 million in 2022 to 281 million in 2023…. The Democratic Republic of Congo confirms its first-place position for the number of baptized Catholics, with almost 55 million, followed by Nigeria with 35 million; Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya also register significant figures.”
Despite that the U.S. Church has declined recently, nevertheless, throughout the Americas, “With a growth of 0.9% over the biennium, the Americas consolidate their position as the continents to which 47.8% of the world’s Catholics belong.” As yet another example of increase, “The Asian continent records a growth of Catholics of 0.6% over the biennium, and its weight in 2023 is around 11% of the global Catholic population.” (New Church statistics reveal growing Catholic population, fewer pastoral workers – Vatican News, 20 March 2025, 15:29).
During his Papacy, “Pope Francis’s travels—averaging about four journeys a year—took him to 68 different countries, each of them offering him the opportunity to call for justice, peace, inclusion and love for the entire human family,” including to Brazil, Colombia, South Sudan, Iraq, Canada, and Mongolia, among many others (“Pope Francis the pilgrim: Taking the Lord’s closeness to every corner of earth,” Vatican News, 21 April 2025). He did not come to Denver, where I live, but his influence reached here for my family and me, and for other Latinos.
On a personal note, I was able to travel with my younger daughter, Mercedes to Rome on a pilgrimage to the Vatican, including to Saint Peter’s Basilica, and in a separate area of Rome, to Carcere Mamertino (Mamertine Prison), the dungeon where Saint Peter and Saint Paul were held before their martyrdoms. We were able to see Pope Francis during his address, visible in the accompanying photo of Mercedes holding the Rosary, with the Pope across the square as we waited for his blessing (featured in photo). An unbroken chain, from Saint Peter, the first Pope—for whom the Basilica is named—who was confined to the dungeon, to Pope Francis, a world traveler. “Catholic” means “universal,” or “for all,” still working towards “totos, totos, totos.”
Luis Torres, PhD, retired, served as Deputy Provost for Metropolitan State University of Denver for Academic and Student Affairs and professor of Chicana/o Studies. Torres is a noted advocate for equity in education, policy and community efforts. Torres is also a member of The Weekly Issue/El Semanario Advisory Board.
