“During his 12-year tenure, Francis embodied the Jesuit way of proceeding as he moved the Church in the direction of its people, loving the Church enough to improve it. With his trademark humility, he urged the global Church to become the dream of the Gospels, one in which a justice rooted in love prevails, one that listens to its people. He reminded us that we are ‘fratelli tutti‘—brothers and sisters all,” said Tania Tetlow, president of Fordham.

“As we mourn his passing, take some time today to read his profound writings and sit with his messages. Nothing can honor him more,” President Tetlow said. “Let us answer his call to care for the most vulnerable, to build bridges rather than barriers, and to live our faith with courage, mercy, and love.”

Armando Nuñez, chair of the Fordham University Board of Trustees, said “the long-lasting impact of the first Jesuit pope on Fordham and all Jesuit institutions is profound.”

“Fordham joins the world in mourning his passing,” he said, “and pauses to give gratitude for his life of simplicity and encouragement to love God, our common home, and one another.”

‘Who Am I to Judge?’

It signaled change to the world when the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., was elected pope on March 13, 2013, soon after Pope Benedict XVI resigned from the papacy. Francis became not only the first pope from the Society of Jesus but also the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern hemisphere, and the first from outside Europe since the eighth century.

He chose to be called Francis after St. Francis of Assisi, known for his devotion to the poor, and he set a tone of openness and conciliation on social issues and human sexuality, even as he held fast to Church doctrines. In 2013 he famously responded “Who am I to judge?” when asked about gay people serving as priests, and he elevated women to senior roles in the Vatican.

He evinced humility throughout his papacy: While celebrating Holy Thursday Mass at a prison in Rome last year, he washed and kissed the feet of 12 women inmates—moving them to tears, reportedly—even though he was confined to a wheelchair at the time.

This year he also appeared in a wheelchair to bless the crowds gathered at St. Peter’s Square on April 20, Easter Sunday, just one day before he died.

Doubling Down on Ignatian Discernment

Francis’ influence was felt in many corners of the University, either through his message or his initiatives. The pope “really gave us the impetus to … double down on our employment of Ignatian discernment” and promote listening, engagement, and dialogue among all members of the Fordham community, said John Cecero, S.J., vice president for mission integration and ministry at Fordham.

He also noted the importance of two encyclicals from Francis: Fratelli Tutti, in 2020, focused on inclusion and our common humanity, and for Fordham, drove home the importance of “educating in community” and embracing the neighborhoods beyond campus, Father Cecero said.

And Laudato Si’, in 2015, focusing on environmental justice, prompted the creation of Fordham’s council to carry out the seven-year effort toward greater sustainability that Francis called on all Catholic universities to pursue, he said.

“Those are three really significant ways in which he as a Jesuit and he as who he was, and the values that he stood for, really influenced who we are,” Father Cecero said.

In Sync with Fordham

Pope Francis “was Jesuit through and through,” said David Gibson, director of Fordham’s Center on Religion and Culture, who covered the Vatican as a journalist earlier in his career. The issues that the pope emphasized—like addressing climate change and welcoming migrants—“are so much in sync with what Fordham does and what Fordham is,” he said.

Under Francis’ leadership, the Church’s periodic synods, formerly limited to bishops, “have been astonishing in their openness and in their universality,” with attendance by lay people, nuns, and students—including delegations of Fordham students who attended two of them, he said. “He wanted to make them real listening sessions, real dialogues with everyone in the Church.” 

“In many ways, he was taking the entire Church on an Ignatian retreat, and it was about looking at ourselves, discerning the right way forward, so this global 1.3 billion-member Church has kind of been on this journey together,” he said.

A Passion for Education

Francis’ passion for education shined through at the World Congress of Catholic Education, hosted by Fordham in 2019. Giving a video address to a culminating session held at the United Nations, Francis “challenged educators to create a more just and humane world through transformative education,” said Gerald Cattaro, Ed.D., education professor and executive director of Fordham’s Center for Catholic School Leadership and Faith-Based Education.

Pope Francis conveyed that “true education must go beyond textbooks; it must touch the heart, engage the hands, and sharpen the mind,” Cattaro said. For Francis, he said, “education was not just about what we learn but how we live it, shaping individuals committed to service, justice, and the common good.”

A Focus on Poverty

Students in the International Political Economy and Development program established the Pope Francis Global Poverty Index after hearing him speak in 2015 at the United Nations, said the head of the program, Henry Schwalbenberg, Ph.D. Speaking about the need to address global poverty, Francis went beyond material needs to emphasize the dignity and humanity of the poor, inspiring the students.

Students present the report every year at the U.N. on the World Day of the Poor, established by Francis in 2017, said Schwalbenberg, who has traveled to Rome to personally present the findings to the pope. “I always tell him this is the work of the students,” he said, and during his most recent visit, the pope’s response was more animated and happy than usual—“maybe he got a kick out of how bad my Spanish was,” Schwalbenberg joked.

But the Vatican’s follow-up communications make the message clear: “They’re so appreciative of the students continuing the work of the pope in this area of trying to combat global poverty.”

During his visits, Schwalbenberg said, he saw that enthusiasm for Francis was running just as strong as when he assumed the papacy—even as he switched from walking into the room to using a wheelchair.

“The room just erupted” when Francis entered, he said. “It always erupted. And when he left, the room erupted again.”

Nuñez, Fordham’s board chairman, recalled meeting Francis as part of a delegation of trustees and others who traveled to Rome last year “to embrace our Ignatian mission and identity.” 

“We spoke in Spanish, and I had the honor of introducing our Argentinian pope to President Tetlow and the Fordham delegation,” he said. “Although our encounter with Papa Francesco at the Vatican was brief…meeting the Holy Father is something I will remember for the rest of my life.”