GREG BECKER: Pope Francis gave more meaning to the simple act of feet washing

As the leader of the Catholic Church and its 1.4-billion followers, Pope Francis was well known to many. Secular media understandably avoids potentially contentious religious coverage, but this has meant many have had limited opportunities to interact with his message. Good news doesn’t sell.

Francis was a new kind of pope in many ways: he was the first from South America, the first Jesuit and the first to ask others to pray for him when he was presented to the crowds in St Peter’s Square while the white smoke was still settling. He already knew the job would be tough, and he had the humility and presence of mind to ask for help and assistance — not as a sign of weakness but as a way to gather strength.

On Holy Thursday — the day before Good Friday and preceding Easter Sunday — a Catholic service is held where the priest re-enacts Jesus’ washing of the feet of 12 disciples. All priests, bishops, cardinals and the pope participate: servant leadership exemplified. The first Holy Thursday of his pontificate came after two weeks and Pope Francis went to Casal del Marmo Juvenile Prison in Rome and washed the feet of 12 young inmates, including two women and two Muslims, reflecting Jesus’ call to serve the marginalised.

The following year, Pope Francis went to the Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi, where he washed the feet of 12 disabled and elderly individuals of varying ages, ethnicities and religious backgrounds, including a 16-year-old boy paralysed in a diving accident, a 19-year-old man, a 39-year-old woman with cerebral palsy, and two 86-year-olds with mobility issues.

Over the following years he washed the feet of 12 prison inmates, 12 migrants/asylum seekers, 12 prison inmates, 12 more prison inmates... The diverse groups exemplified his focus on serving society’s most vulnerable, regardless of faith or status.

The pope, as the bishop of Rome, gives an annual message on Easter Sunday: Urbi et orbi “for the city (of Rome) and for the world”. The day before Pope Francis died he drew global attention to all conflicts and the need for more concerted efforts to strive for peace. In this past Sunday’s message, he called for peace, specifically mentioning Democratic Republic of Congo, the Great Lakes, the Horn of Africa, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Palestine, the Sahel, the South Caucasus, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, the West Balkans and Yemen. If you didn’t know of all these conflicts, remember, bad news only sometimes sells.

For all of Pope Francis’ advocacy for peace and disarmament he also showed a deeper understanding of the bigger picture, informed by life experience, such as he had with the Argentinian Military Junta. Shortly before his death the pope spoke of persecuted Christians, of Gaza, of the hostages and the rise of anti-Semitism in the same paragraph.

Soon after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris in 2015 he noted that while people should have the right to freedom of expression, it was also wrong to provoke others by insulting their religion. He said if someone cursed his mother they could expect a punch: “It’s normal — you cannot provoke, you cannot insult the faith of others.”

The pope’s travels took him to conflict zones: to Israel and Palestine early on in his pontificate, to Myanmar and South Sudan. He symbolically visited Cuba and the US on the same trip. He visited many African countries, including the Central African Republic, the DRC, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, South Sudan and Uganda, his travels reflect the global reach of the Catholic Church.

The pope appoints cardinals, and the cardinals who are younger than 80 elect the successor.

Pope Francis took steps to ensure that church leadership better reflects his global flock. Almost half of the current electors come from Africa, Asia and South America. They include the recently appointed Cardinal Stephen Brislin, archbishop of Johannesburg, who will participate in the conclave to elect the next pope.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio chose Francis as his papal name after Saint Francis of Assisi, focusing on interfaith dialogue and concern for the poor. After seeing harm caused by unbridled capitalism, the downsides of globalisation and the rise of consumerism, and noting that the current system concentrates the fruits of capitalism in the hands of a few, he set up Economia Franceso. This body has made a concerted effort to draw attention to the needs of the downtrodden, and ways to ensure that the economic system is more inclusive with the benefits more fairly shared.

Pope Francis argued for economic transformation, but in a way that doesn’t have to stifle the current system with regulations. He seemed to deplore box ticking and virtue signalling: he wanted those who could to hire those seeking employment; wages to be fair, not the market price that employers could get away with; and for those with skills to help uplift the unskilled. Pope Francis saw value in everyone — in inmates, the disabled, the old — and the dignity that follows when people are helped to fulfil their potential. If we can, we all have some feet to wash.

• Becker, a retired actuary and recently qualified maths teacher, is founder of MyTutor.chat.