Pope Francis on five ways to engage a hostile culture

As the world continues to remember Pope Francis, this story from ten years ago seems worth telling. Francis was speaking on “our martyrs in Iraq and Syria, our martyrs of today” and said: “A few days ago in [St. Peter’s] Square, an Iraqi priest came up to me and gave me a small cross. It was the cross being held by the priest who was beheaded for not renouncing Jesus Christ.”

According to Rev. Johnnie Moore, a former commissioner for the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Francis carried that cross “with him every day” from that point forward. 

When I became a Christian in high school, I soon began wearing a cross in public. Where I went to school, believers were a decided minority, and those who attended church were often ridiculed by others, so it felt important to me to make public my faith in this way. A year or so later, a friend made me a cross out of wood that I still cherish. However, when I graduated from a secular high school to a Baptist university, my external cross seemed less necessary.

Whether we wear a cross as jewelry or not, wearing a cross spiritually is non-negotiable for disciples of Jesus.

Jesus called anyone who would follow him to “take up his cross daily” (Luke 9:23). Of course, he did not mean the cross as an ornament but as a metaphor for the gruesome death that awaited so many of his followers. His request that we be willing to die “daily” for him aligns with the consistent biblical call to submit every dimension of our lives every moment to our Lord (cf. Romans 12:1–2; Galatians 2:20).

What does it mean to “take up our cross” publicly in a post-Christian and even anti-Christian culture?

How do we respond to those who would malign our faith and worse?

Pope Francis’ ministry illustrates five biblical lessons for Christian leaders, regardless of our denominational tradition.

One: Work in the Spirit to manifest the character of Christ

I was part of a panel discussion some years ago with the noted atheist Christopher Hitchens. In response to one of my statements, he sneered and ridiculed what I said in a way that drew laughter from his supporters in the crowd. I immediately thought of things I could say that would demean him and perhaps “win” our argument. Only by the grace of God did I not react in a way that would have actually demeaned our Lord.

And that’s my first point.

Pope Francis reminded us that the Holy Spirit brings us the freedom of Christ (cf. John 3:8) but warned that this is not “a freedom to do what one wants, but the freedom to freely do what God wants!” This, he added, is “a freedom that expresses itself in service.”

In the Old Testament, a sacrificial offering to God became holy when it was offered to him (Leviticus 27:9). The act of submission positioned the sacrifice to be sanctified by the holy God. We are to “consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy” (Leviticus 20:7), knowing that “I am the Lᴏʀᴅ who sanctifies you” (v. 8).

A recent First15 devotional made this point clearly: “Scripture teaches us that it is God, in his patience, who produces holiness and godliness. In my own strength I have no ability to change my heart. My only job is to engage with him and allow him to work in and through me.” Oswald Chambers agreed: “There is no responsibility on you for the work; the only responsibility you have is to keep in living, constant touch with God, and to see that you allow nothing to hinder your cooperation with him.”

Speaking of himself with regard to other apostles, Paul testified, “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). He identified his life purpose: “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).

Then he explained how he fulfilled this purpose: “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (v. 29). The Greek could be translated, “fighting mightily with all his energy to accomplish my task that he energizes within me.”

All this to say, if we are to engage an antagonistic culture with the love and grace of Christ, the Holy Spirit must manifest this character in and through us (cf. Galatians 5:22–23). The time to submit to him is before the challenge arises (Ephesians 5:18). Only when we experience the “fruit” of love can we share it with a loveless world.

Two: Engage critics with respect

Pope Francis told a general audience in 2015, “To enter into the life of another person, even when that person forms part of our life, requires the delicacy of a non-intrusive attitude that renews trust and respect.”

His encouragement and example illustrate the posture of the Apostle Paul in confronting a culture whose idolatry grieved him deeply (Acts 17:16). Rather than respond by demeaning the fallen religion of their culture, he used their images as a foundation by which to point to the one true God (v. 23).

He and his associates were so winsome that the pagan town clerk in Ephesus could say of them, “These men . . . are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess” (Acts 19:37).

One of the many ways Pope Francis has advanced God’s kingdom has been by presenting a public face of humility, service, and compassion. If critics respect our character, it is more difficult for them to dismiss our beliefs.

On March 27, 2020, in the early days of the pandemic, he stated: “We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time, important and needed, all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other.”

The key is to remember, as Francis often said of himself, that we are sinners saved by grace. The ground is truly level at the foot of the cross.

Three: Speak to the eternal

Pope Francis noted: “Hope is not a gift that one possesses by human merit alone, but it is grace that arises from the innate desire to be happy. Through Christ who died and rose again, this grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is implanted in the heart of every man and woman.” He then quoted the book for which he was writing the introduction: “This desire is of divine origin; God placed it in the heart of man to draw him to himself, because he alone can fulfill it.”

Scripture agrees that God “has put eternity into man’s heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). It is because “here we have no lasting city” that “we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14).

A Gallup study recently headlined, “Steady one in five have no religious preference.” Said differently, four in five Americans have a religious preference. Fully three-fourths of Americans identified in the survey as Protestant or Catholic Christians. Even among the irreligious, recent studies show that belief in the afterlife is rising to around 60 percent today.

When we speak to the eternal, we address the “God-shaped emptiness” in every human heart. Even those who oppose our faith have hearts that are “restless until they rest in him.”

Four: Lead to Christ

Pope Francis urged the faithful to call others to faith in Christ, noting that “evangelization is more than just simple doctrinal and moral transmission but rather that it is first and foremost, the witness of the personal encounter with Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word in which salvation is fulfilled” (his emphasis).

His call reminds us of the urgency of faith in Christ and the uniqueness of salvation only in him.

Jesus said of himself, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9, my emphasis). The definite article could be translated as “I am the one and only door.” As a result, he added, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (v. 10).

How do we know this is true? Our Lord continued: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (v. 11). No one else in human history has died for humanity or even claimed to do so. This is because no one else could.

Even if Buddha or Mohammed had claimed to die for the sins of the human race, they would not be able to do so since they had their own sins for which to pay. And the God who alone can grant forgiveness for our sins did not send them to do so; he sent only his Son (Revelation 13:8). Thus Jesus’ death was his voluntary choice: “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18).

This is why Peter told Cornelius that Jesus “commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:42–43). Then, “While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word” (v. 44).

Every obstacle is an opportunity for the gospel. Our call is not to defend ourselves but to give reason for “the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15–16).

Five: Be the change we wish to see

Pope Francis, in his statement urging the faithful to share their faith, was quick to add that our witness “cannot be separated from consistency between what one believes, what one proclaims, and what one lives.”

To persuade people to change, they must want what we offer more than they must give up to get it. The best way to persuade them is by example, showing the benefit to us when we made the decision we are asking them to consider. If we are as sinful as they are, why would they want what we profess? But when we are different and more godly, our lives draw them to our Lord. Then we can and must explain how and why we came to the lives we now lead.

St. Augustine noted that “God could give no greater gift to men” than to make his Son the head of his body, the church, so that we are joined eternally to him as one (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:27). This occurs when his Spirit makes our bodies his temple (1 Corinthians 3:16), merging us with the Son in the providence and grace of the Father.

Now we can think of our hands and feet as those of Jesus, continuing the earthly ministry he began in his flesh. When we manifest his character in our own and demonstrate the unity of the Spirit, others are drawn to the Source of our lives and service.

Helping “dead men live”

The more people reject our Lord, the more they need his grace. The more they reject the messenger, the more they need our message. Leonard Ravenhill was right:

“Jesus did not come into the world to make bad men good. He came into the world to make dead men live!”

Helping “dead men live” is the greatest privilege in the world. Let us embrace it, whatever the cost, to the glory of God.