By the Miami Herald Editorial Board
South Florida is home to over half a million Catholics and they, along with the rest of the world, mourn the death of Pope Francis. Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Francis was the first pope from Latin America.
In Miami, the U.S. gateway to Latin America, that’s an important connection. But Francis’ local legacy goes beyond that. He touched on topics that were important to South Florida, mainly immigration and climate change.
”He never tired of defending the displaced migrant nor embracing the marginalized or excluded,” Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski said in a statement.
Referred to as the “people’s pope” by Wenski, that was a fitting title for a man who was committed to serving marginalized members of society. That message matters here, where many families are rooted in the immigrant experience.
Francis taught us to look at migrants with compassion, praying at the U.S. southern border in 2016 for the migrants who died trying to reach the country.
Unfortunately, compassion has been lost during the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back the legal status of hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians and Nicaraguans and to use local police to help in deportation operations.
In addition, Francis’ commitment to calling on the world to address climate change was unprecedented. In May 2015, Francis published an encyclical called Laudato Si’, a papal letter to his bishops to guide their work, and addressed it “to all people of good will on the climate crisis.”
Eight years later, Francis built on his initial encyclical and published his apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum, saying the world is “nearing the breaking point,” condemning climate denial and calling for urgent climate action.
He brought climate change to the forefront and challenged everyone to recognize that the degradation of our planet hits the poorest the hardest. In a place like South Florida that is ground zero for the impacts of the climate crisis and prone to flooding and hurricanes, his urgency is compelling. Francis underscored the connection of rising seas to rising suffering, making a strong case of how climate change isn’t just a scientific issue, but a spiritual one.
Francis’ leadership has resonated beyond the Catholic community. His voice and papacy was a reflection of a man committed to being a shepherd among his flock and helping to end the world’s suffering.
Francis will be remembered for a series of papal firsts. Wenski said: “he was the first Jesuit Pope, the first Pope from the Americas, the first Pope to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress, the first to take the name of Francis, after St. Francis of Assisi and the first Pope to appoint women to high positions in the Roman Curia previously held only by male prelates.”
Unlike previous popes, Francis lived a modest lifestyle. As the 266th pope, he chose to live in a two-bedroom apartment in the Santa Marta residence, a guesthouse in the Vatican, instead of the Apostolic Palace where his predecessors lived. His commitment to helping the poor and marginalized as well as his advocacy for the environment brought a new era of reform into the Catholic Church.
Francis showed the world that mercy and justice should be the heart of the church’s mission. Now his legacy lives on in Miami. He reminds us that the church is not a fortress to hide in, but a field hospital to serve in.
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This story was originally published April 21, 2025 at 3:30 PM.
