With the death of Jorge Bergoglio, or Pope Francis, we lose a rare leader who, in an Italy governed by neofascists and in an increasingly reactionary Europe, stood out for his surprising ethical, social, and ecological commitments.

Since Pope Pius XII excommunicated the communists, the Left could only ever expect to be anathema. Didn’t Pope John Paul II and Joseph Ratzinger persecute liberation theologians, accusing them of using Marxist concepts? Didn’t they try to impose a “penitential silence” on Leonardo Boff?

It’s indeed the case that there have been leftist currents in Catholicism since the nineteenth century, but they’ve always been met with hostility from the Roman authorities. Further, the clerical tendencies critical of capitalism have mostly been quite reactionary.