Pope Francis had a great sense of humor. When I met him once at the back of the papal plane, I cracked a joke with him that was a little bit close to the line. Luckily, he roared with laughter and told me “Sei cattivo!” (“You’re naughty!”). Every day, he used to say, he prayed the words of St. Thomas More: “Lord, give me a sense of humor.”
Francis took what he did seriously. But he never took himself too seriously.
One thing that struck me about him was his intuition and pastoral instincts. Whatever the situation, he always seemed to find the right words to say. When I met him with my family one time, my youngest child was crying.
“Whenever they see a man in white, they think I’m a doctor and about to give them some medicine!” he joked.
His ability to read people was also vital in his leadership. When he met bishops, he would get them into a circle and ask which one wanted to start speaking. It allowed him to understand the dynamics of a group, which helped him make appointments and decisions in the future.
Francis liked to make himself accessible. He would say his door was always open – but that same door also had a sign on it that read “no whining.”
There was never a dull moment covering his pontificate. As pope, he gave more media interviews than anyone else, but he never had a spokesperson or media advisers. Predicting his next move was notoriously difficult, and when it came to appointing new cardinals, no one knew in advance who he’d be choosing or when. New cardinals would talk about their phones blowing up in the middle of a Mass as people tried to contact them to tell them the news.
Francis wasn’t naïve, however. He was a politically savvy pope, very decisive and often stubborn. He wanted to stay true to himself and not become scripted. My enduring memory is of a very human pope who was full of surprises. He leaves big shoes to fill.