Young adults remember pope for servant leadership, emphasis on mercy and listening
Victoria Dickson remembers seeing the white smoke on TV in her sixth-grade classroom when Pope Francis was elected in 2013.
Growing up with his example had a profound effect on Dickson, now 24.
“The biggest thing to me were his actions, and how he was a visible presence of Catholic social teaching in practice, meeting with the poor, meeting with prisoners,” she said. “That was impactful to me as a young Catholic who wants to work with people like this.”
Dickson was drawn to work at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, where she serves as donor engagement coordinator, through a desire to be a servant leader like Pope Francis, particularly upholding human dignity and working toward the common good.
“That’s at the center of what Pope Francis lived and what I want to emulate, and it’s what I do in my day-to-day at Catholic Charities,” she said.
Several young adults in the Archdiocese of St. Louis remember Pope Francis as a pontiff who showed God’s mercy in action, emphasized the importance of listening to others and included young Catholics as vital members of the Church.
Alex Stenberg, 27, youth minister at Holy Infant Parish in Ballwin, attended World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, with a group of young adults from the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
As hundreds of thousands of young people gathered to listen to the pope, one chant that often broke out was “We are the youth of the pope” in Portuguese, Stenberg said.
Pope Francis posed for a selfie with World Youth Day volunteers at a concert venue in Algés, Portugal, Aug. 6, 2023.
“As we’re chanting this, being able to see Pope Francis way up at the front, he just had this smile on his face like: yeah, these are my kids,” she said. “His love for us, the young people, was really exciting. It made Pope Francis very human.”
During one World Youth Day message, Pope Francis acknowledged that young people are carrying a lot, but they are not alone and do not need to be afraid, she said. “Even though he’s older, and in a very different spot than I am, he could see the needs of the young people and be able to speak to that.”
Stenberg was in high school when Pope Francis was elected. She served on a youth advisory council in her home Diocese of Salina, Kansas, and they often discussed the new pope’s words and doings. They were especially inspired by the pope’s encouragement to ask questions and explore new ways to share the Gospel, she said.
“I remember talking to my peers and being really inspired by that: Oh, we don’t have to worry about messing something up. We don’t have to worry about being perfect all the time, but we can really strive to be saints,” she said.
When she started her first youth ministry job, she read Pope Francis’ “Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel)” for inspiration.
“How can I bring that joy into my ministry? And how am I doing ministry in a way that (shows) Jesus is really risen from the dead, that He really has conquered death, that He really is desiring the hearts of my teens?” she said.
She also took to heart the pope’s emphasis on receiving people as they are and listening to them well.
“Pope Francis talked a lot about listening and creating a space where teens can ask questions and can share and feel safe, and then also, to point them in the direction with the Lord, that He is the place that you can feel the most safe, and He is the one that wants to hear what you have to say more than anything. And He has things to tell you, too,” she said.
Grant Hartley, 32, credits Pope Francis’ leadership and “humble posture” with helping him decide to enter the Catholic Church three years ago. Hartley is now a third-year Master of Divinity student at Aquinas Institute of Theology and a parishioner at St. Francis Xavier (College) Church.
Pope Francis greeted young people after meeting with representatives of local charities at the parish center in Serafina, a neighborhood in Lisbon, Portugal, Aug. 4, 2023.
During the Synod of Bishops on synodality, Hartley worked with the local synod committee to interview young people around the archdiocese with varying relationships to the Catholic Church. He also interviewed people in the LGBTQ community as well as their parents, friends and loved ones.
“Throughout the synod work, and throughout my studies at Aquinas, learning about synodality, I think I just became really excited that Pope Francis sort of took steps to achieve the vision of Vatican II,” Hartley said. “That was really exciting for me, learning about how synodality invites the whole people of God to share how the Spirit is moving among them.”
Pope Francis’ willingness to meet with different groups of people, including people who identify as gay, lesbian or transgender, has also been moving, Hartley said. “As someone who has a lot of LGBTQ friends — and who is a member of the LGBTQ community — those things mean a lot to me,” he said.
He’s read several of Pope Francis’ encyclicals and apostolic exhortations throughout his time at Aquinas Institute, but one simple story about Pope Francis sticks with him. A young man approached Pope Francis and told him that he sometimes falls asleep during adoration.
“And Pope Francis responded, ‘It doesn’t matter; God keeps looking at you,’” Hartley said. “(Pope Francis) just seemed very focused on a God who sees us, like the name that Hagar gives God: ‘the God who sees me.’ I think that strikes me as really resonant with everything Pope Francis did and said over the course of his papacy.”
Joey Musial, a parishioner at Sacred Heart in Florissant, said he will never forget his encounter with Pope Francis during World Youth Day 2023.
Musial, now 27, was hurrying to the park square where Pope Francis would give his official welcome address to the pilgrims. As Musial arrived in the park, the road at the last checkpoint was closed off, right in front of him. He was disappointed — until he started to see the papal motorcade coming down the road, where he now had a front-row position.
“He stood and waved to the pilgrims, blessing them as he passed,” Musial said. “…Seemingly bad situations transforming into something more wonderful than I could have imagined would go on to be a theme of that pilgrimage, something I can only attribute to providence.”
During the 10-day trip, Musial got to know a fellow pilgrim in the group named Bridget Keeven. She had a similar experience with Pope Francis’ procession that day, just up the road from Musial — and the two are now engaged to be married in December.
“I believe Pope Francis’ blessing had some very tangible grace,” Musial said.
