Honoring Pope Francis: Four images from the pontiffs teachings that should define his legacy

Etched into the ceiling of St.Peter’s Basilica in Rome are the words Jesus Christ spoke to the apostle Peter the night before he died.

“I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail,” Jesus said, commanding Peter to “strengthen your brethren.”The verse serves as a job description for each man chosen to occupy the office of St.Peter’s successor — most recently for Pope Francis, who died Monday morning at age 88.The papacy is a humble office, despite the pomp that often surrounds it.

The pope is the custodian of a faith that’s already been definitively revealed by Christ, prohibited by divine law from ever teaching anything different.When he does teach, it’s to emphasize and clarify aspects of the faith that he thinks the Church and world need to hear.Pope Francis, in his 12 years in office, has done this in an inimitable style.His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, was a careful and soft-spoken theologian.

Francis, whose ministry was shaped in the barrios of Buenos Aires, had a genius for the punchy and memorable turn of phrase.Popes aren’t infallible about everything, so we need to wait on history’s judgment — and, ultimately, God’s — to determine Francis’ legacy.But for now, here are four images from his teaching that have “strengthened” me greatly, which I hope he’ll be remembered by.Speaking to a group of priests mere weeks after his election (I was there as a young seminarian), Francis employed the Biblical metaphor of a priest as a shepherd, encouraging us to be so close to our people that we take on “the smell of the sheep.”But not just any sheep-smell.

Francis was speaking on Holy Thursday, at the Mass where he blessed the sweet-smelling oils that the priests of Rome would use throughout the year, especially to anoint the sick and children at their baptism.The “smell of the sheep,” then, is actually the “odor of Christ.” By our zealous work bringing his anointing to our people, the pope was saying, his...