Today, there is no one with comparable moral authority who speaks to real, tangible local and global dilemmas like he does, says Azad Essa.
Pope Francis continues to fascinate me. Since taking over the papacy in 2013, he has spoken out on inequality, on refugees, on climate change and last week, he spoke out for the oppressed Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
At a time of misunderstanding and a perceived clash of civilisations, his is a voice of reason and sanity.
But first let me make this clear: I am not about to produce a hagiography of the man when history is short of chance to judge him.
Those who fawned over Gandhi, Madiba, even Mother Theresa, have had their fill of egg-on-face for their enthusiasm.
His record on the sex-abuse scandals facing the church has been mixed and inconclusive.
He hasn’t changed the approach to abortion and his call for more mercy on the gay and lesbian community hasn’t exactly been revolutionary.
Moreover, as a journalist, I am rather wary of humanity that borders on theatrics. He is on a mission to build a more inclusive church, so he takes selfies. The very public attempt to appear in touch is PR genius.
That said, I also understand there will be a limit to what he can do and say as the pope.
He is the leader of the Catholic Church, not the chairperson of a European Body for Transgender Affairs.
At least we know he is not a politician promising ideals that are beyond his ambit.
But overall, Pope Francis continues to place human dignity at the top of his agenda.
Today, there is no one with comparable moral authority - anywhere on the planet - who speaks to real, tangible local and global dilemmas.
When he spoke out last week about the hardships faced by the Rohingya in Myanmar, he spoke plainly and cut to the point. He said they were being “tortured, killed simply because they wanted to live their culture and their Muslim faith”.
“They have been thrown out of Myanmar, moved from one place to the other because no one wants them. But they are good people, peaceful people. They are not Christian. They are good people. They are our brothers and sisters,” he said.
In the face of rising Islamophobia across many parts of the globe and rising populism that has seen Muslims scapegoated for social and economic failings, the pope’s comments are invaluable.
Whereas his predecessor, Pope Benedict, expressed a fear of Muslims taking over Europe a decade earlier, Pope Francis has called the European identity “a dynamic and multicultural identity”.
In an attempt to quell rising Islamophobia in the US as well, he told Congress that “no religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism” and that we must all beware “the enemy within”.
But who is listening? And how much power does he actually wield?
Those who are atheist or religiously agnostic in Europe or the US have long separated religion from their understanding of social or political affairs.
The pope is still seen as archaic, his values obsolete for his inability to move fully on gay rights, or abortion.
Meanwhile, those on the far right, many of whom are Christian, have rejected the pope’s utterings as left, liberal moonshine, the type of political speak that has accompanied job losses and dried up incomes.
According to a Pew Poll in April 2016, only 11% of Catholics in the US “rely a great deal” on the pope for guidance.
But more importantly, 15% of all Americans (of any religious group) said they turned to a religious leader for guidance. A purported 82% relied on “own research” for making decisions.
Whereas religious leaders have been traditionally perceived as anti-modern, regressive and out of touch, Pope Francis has repeatedly demonstrated that values, even traditional religious values, can bring a semblance of sanity to an increasingly, embittered world.
For instance, in 2013, on the cusp of what was to become the “refugee crisis” in Europe, he said “migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity” and denounced the “globalisation of indifference to migrants”.
By focusing on the failings of the global economic system, including poverty, consumerism and a disdain for the poor as a driving force for refugees and migrants, the pope identified inequality as one of the driving forces of hate today.
That he remains ignored is part of the arrogance of eurocentrism that created much of the mess in the first place.
* Azad Essa is a journalist at Al Jazeera. He is also the co-founder of The Daily Vox.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.