“The saints are not supermen, nor were they born perfect. They are like us, like each one of us,” Pope Francis said during an Angelus prayer on November 1, 2013, a couple of months after his election. Throughout his pontificate Pope Francis has canonized hundreds of saints and often highlighted how every baptized person is personally called to be holy. He even published an apostolic exhortation on the topic, Gaudete et exsultate, in 2018.
But which holy individuals does Pope Francis draw inspiration from or turn to in moments of trouble ? Aleteia goes through some of the Pontiff’s most beloved and mentioned saints.
1
St. Joseph
Pope Francis has always reserved special praise for Jesus’ father, St. Joseph. He is so dedicated to this saint that he even celebrated the Mass inaugurating his Petrine ministry, after being elected a week earlier, on March 19, St. Joseph’s feast day. “I think that in some way St. Joseph wanted to tell me that he would continue to help me, to be beside me, and I would be able to continue to think of him as a friend I could turn to, whom I could trust, whom I could ask to intercede and pray for me,” the Pope said about this Mass in an interview with Vatican News in 2022.
In December 2020, Pope Francis also published the apostolic letter “Patris Corde” (“With the heart of a father”), declaring St. Joseph patron saint of the universal Church and decreeing the following year, 2021, as a year dedicated to this saint.
“I have always nurtured a special devotion for St. Joseph because I believe that his person represents what Christian faith should be for each of us, in a beautiful and simple way,” the Pope said in an interview in 2022. “Joseph is a normal man and his holiness consists precisely in making himself a saint through the beautiful and ugly things he had to experience and face.”
2
St. Francis of Assisi
Pope Francis surprised Catholics across the world when he chose the name of the “poverello” of Assisi to represent his papacy. The Argentinian Pontiff has shared on multiple occasions how he was inspired to choose this name by Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes, who when congratulating him on his election told him to not forget the poor. In fact, throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has made it a point to favor those who are disadvantaged and on the margins of society.
He has also visited Assisi six times and signed important documents from there, such as his 2020 encyclical “Fratelli Tutti,” which he also published on this Italian saint’s feast day. His 2015 encyclical on the care for creation, “Laudato Si,” also draws inspiration from St. Francis, and the title is inspired by a song of praise, the Canticle of the Sun, written by the saint.
“[St.] Francis is the man of peace, the man of poverty, the man who loves and celebrates creation; but what is the root of all this, what is the source? Jesus Christ. He is in love with Jesus Christ, and, in order to follow him, is not afraid to make a fool of himself but goes forward. The source of his whole experience is faith,” Pope Francis said in 2022.
3
St. Thérèse of Lisieux
In 2022, Pope Francis was interviewed by a group of homeless people for a book, and they asked him who his favorite saint is. His response: St. Thérèse of Lisieux!
This came as no surprise, as throughout his pontificate the Pontiff has frequently mentioned the young French saint and Doctor of the Church, who died at 24 years old. He even canonized her parents, Louis and Zélie Martin, in October 2015. In 2023, the 150th anniversary of St. Thérèse’s birth and 50th anniversary of her beatification, he published an apostolic letter dedicated to her titled “C’est la confiance” (meaning “it is confidence”). There he explained how this young saint is able to teach us how to go straight to the “essential and indispensable” of the Gospel and the faith.
The title comes from a quote by St. Thérèse that says: “C’est la confiance et rien que la confiance qui doit nous conduire à l’Amour.” (It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love.)
“I have the habit, when I do not know how things are going, of asking St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus that if she takes care of some problem, anything at all, to send me a rose,” the Pontiff told journalists during a papal trip in 2015.
4
St. Monica
On August 27, 2024, St. Monica’s feast day, Pope Francis left the Vatican to go pray at her tomb in the Church of St. Augustine in Rome. He had already done the same in 2018 and 2020 and has often expressed his affection and admiration for this holy woman, mother of a great saint.
According to Vatican News, Pope Francis’ devotion for this saint comes from his own mother, who was part of an Association of Christian mothers, inspired by St. Monica.
“How many tears did that holy woman [St. Monica] shed for her son’s conversion, [St. Augustine]! And today too how many mothers shed tears so that their children will return to Christ! Do not lose hope in God’s grace!,” Pope Francis said in 2013. “A restless woman, this woman who at the end of her life said these beautiful words: ‘cumulatius hoc mihi Deus praestitit!‘ [my God has exceeded my expectations abundantly]. God lavishly rewarded her tearful request! And Augustine was Monica’s heir, from her he received the seed of restlessness. This, then, is the restlessness of love: ceaselessly seeking the good of the other, of the beloved, without ever stopping and with the intensity that leads even to tears.”
5
St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Peter Faber
As a Jesuit, it is logical that Pope Francis would be particularly attached to the founder and holy men from his same religious family. He has often mentioned St. Ignatius of Loyola as a favorite and quotes him in many speeches and texts. Francis has also emphasized especially how useful spiritual exercises are to him.
“Two practical counsels that St. Ignatius gives and I apologize for the ‘in house’ advertising. He tells us that ‘it is not great knowledge that fills and satisfies the soul, but the ability to feel and savor the things of God interiorly’ (Spiritual Exercises, 2),” the Pope said in 2016. “St. Ignatius adds that whenever we encounter and savor something we desire, we should pray in peace, ‘without being anxious to move forward as long as I am satisfied.’”
Apart from St. Ignatius, Pope Francis has also often mentioned another Jesuit. In one of his first interviews as Pontiff to the Jesuit Italian magazine La Civiltà Cattolica, in September 2019, he cited Peter Faber, who was at the time blessed, as a holy man he was particularly attached to even though he was less well known. On December 17, 2013, the Pope’s 77th birthday, he canonized Peter Faber by decreeing an “equivalent (equipollent) canonization” meaning he becomes a saint without the need to attest a second miracle or have the formal process.
“It was this restlessness that Peter Faber had, a man of great aspirations, another Daniel.” Faber was a “modest, sensitive man with a profound inner life,” Pope Francis said in January 2014, referring to the Old Testament hero.
6
St. Charles de Foucauld
On May 15, 2022, Pope Francis canonized the French priest and former soldier Charles de Foucauld, who lived in the Sahara in Algeria. A couple of days later he shared that this saint personally helped him a lot and that he considers him “a prophet of our time, who knew how to bring to light the essentiality and universality of faith.”
“I would also like to thank St. Charles de Foucauld because his spirituality did me so much good when I was studying theology, a time of maturation and also of crisis,” he said.
“Charles lets Jesus act silently, convinced that ‘Eucharistic life’ evangelizes. Indeed, he believes that Christ is the first evangelizer,” the Pope said during a general audience in 2023 where he focused his catechesis on this saint. “And do we, I ask myself, believe in the power of the Eucharist? Does our going out to others, our service, find its beginning and its fulfillment there, in adoration?”
7
St. John Bosco
In the preface to a book on St. John Bosco, released in 2019, Pope Francis explained that he attended sixth grade at a Salesian school in Argentina and praised the charism of this congregation. Throughout his pontificate he has in fact highlighted St. John Bosco as an example to follow in order to help children and young people mature and grow in the faith.
“So much can be said about Don Bosco! But today I would like to remark upon only three distinguishing features: trust in divine Providence; vocation to be a priest to the young people, especially the poorest; loyal and diligent service to the Church, notably to the person of Peter’s Successor,” the Pope said in 2015 when he visited Turin for the 200th anniversary of the saint’s birth.
These are only some of the holy men and women Pope Francis has cited often, but there are many more one could include, such as Paul VI, John XXIII, Mama Antula, and more. Also, one can never forget to mention the Argentinian Pope’s great devotion to Mary, Mother of Jesus, (which could be another article in itself)!
And today we celebrate...