by Lisa Dunson
On Easter Monday, a day soaked in resurrection hope, we received the sorrowful news of the death of Pope Francis. That he took his last breath on the heels of the resurrection story feels strangely fitting because for Pope Francis, resurrection was never confined to a single morning or a single tomb. He lived it daily in his words, in his witness, and in his radical commitment to the margins.
Francis was a pope of the people, not in title only, but in deep and costly truth. He centered the poor, embraced the refugee, and dared to ask who the Church was leaving behind. He made us uncomfortable in the way prophets do, not by seeking to destroy the Church, but by daring to believe it could be more just, more tender, more Christ-like.
His theology, shaped by liberation and mercy, resonated with the soul of the Alliance of Baptists. He saw the Gospel as good news for the wounded, not a weapon for the powerful. Whether challenging the idols of capitalism, denouncing the cruelty of closed borders, or gently inviting the Church to imagine wider tables of belonging, including for LGBTQ+ persons and divorced Catholics, Francis leaned toward love.
His leadership often stood in tension with tradition, and yet it was that very tradition he sought to reform with the Spirit’s breath still moving. He reminded the world, and us, that the Church is not a fortress, but a field hospital; not a gatekeeper, but a guest at every table where justice is being served.
As the Alliance Baptists, we recognize in Pope Francis a kindred spirit. We, too, believe in a Church that confesses empire, not aligns with it. We, too, seek to be a people of welcome, resistance, and prophetic love. His papacy was far from perfect, but it was palpably human, shaped by listening, shaped by lament, and always reaching for the margins where Christ still bleeds.
Today, we grieve the death of Pope Francis. But even more, we give thanks for a life that dared to believe the Church could change, that walls could fall, and that the Gospel still speaks in the voice of the oppressed. In his memory, may we keep rising. May we keep resisting. May we keep making room.
Rest in peace, Holy Father. Rest in power, brother in Christ.
The Reverend Lisa Dunson is the President of the Alliance of Baptists Executive Committee and is a member of the Ministerial Team at Covenant Baptist UCC. She also serves as Co-Chair of the African American Women in Ministry (AAWIM) Global Engagement Committee and on the Executive Committee for the Potomac Association AAWIM.
Recent Comments