How Pope Francis changed the Catholic Church’s foreign policy

By Massimo D'Angelo, Research Associate in the Institute for Diplomacy and International Affairs, Loughborough University

When the late Pope Francis first stepped on to the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica following his election 12 years ago, he remarked that he had been called almost from the “end of the world”. He was the first non-European pontiff since Gregory III, elected in AD731, who was of Syrian origin. And he was the first pope in history to come from Latin America.

This is not merely a biographical detail. His papacy was transformative in shaping a Catholic Church…

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