“1:15 p.m. Saturday.” The Pope’s Path

Pope Francis is going to Marseille from Friday September 22 to Saturday September 23, 2023 to conclude the Mediterranean Meetings, launched on Saturday September 16e. It has been almost 500 years since a pope visited the Phocaean city. It is also the first trip by a sovereign pontiff to France since Benedict XVI in 2008, with the exception of a brief visit by Francis in 2014 to Strasbourg, to the European Parliament.

In 2023, Pope Francis celebrated ten years of pontificate. Remember, in March 2013, a wind of renewal was blowing over the Vatican. An Argentine pope, the first non-European, close to the people who, to mark their difference, flee the gilding of the Vatican. Instead of settling in the large pontifical apartment in the Apostolic Palace, he chose to live more simply, in the residence which usually accommodates the cardinals.

A pope who does not leave one indifferent

A willingly provocative pope, who loves communication. Initially, he did not only make friends, particularly among the most conservative cardinals. It has aroused concern among some, distrust and sometimes even deep disagreements. But it also generated a surge of enthusiasm, embodied a wind of change, reached peaks of popularity in the first years.

A pontificate sometimes criticized. Not progressive enough for some for a pope who wanted to be a reformer… Ten years later, what was the path accomplished by this Argentine pope with his easy informality and a demonstrated taste for simple things? The teams of “1:15 p.m. on Saturday” (X, #1:15 p.m.) look back on these ten years of pontificate.

A report by Morgane du Liège, David Geoffrion and Eric Chevalier.

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