In a front-page article in the Vatican newspaper, Alessandro Gisotti, vice director of the Editorial Directorate at the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, surveyed the late Pope Francis’s words and actions in defense of religious freedom.
“Until the last moment of his pontificate, Francis positioned himself as a courageous and tireless defender of the inseparable rights to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion,” said Gisotti. “He did so with words, gestures, and fundamental documents, but above all with journeys of extraordinary significance, often to places from which political or security reasons might have dissuaded him.”
Gisotti—whose article coincided with the release of Aid to the Church in Need’s annual religious freedom report—concluded:
Pope Francis made religious freedom one of the pillars of his mission as Successor of Peter, closely linking it to the promotion of peace, dialogue, and human dignity. A legacy now entrusted to Pope Leo, who continues to challenge us all to build a freer and more fraternal humanity.