“I see the Church as a field hospital after a battle. How pointless it is to ask a wounded man if his cholesterol or blood sugar is high! We must heal his wounds. We’ll talk about the rest later. Heal wounds, heal wounds… And we must start with the most basic.”

This is how he described it during the more than six hours he spent talking with Father Antonio Spadaro, director of “Civiltà Cattolica,” during the interview he conducted on behalf of the cultural magazines of the Society of Jesus.

It’s impressive to read that conversation today, twelve years later, because it spelled out his roadmap almost to the millimeter.

In these hours following his death, the day after Easter Sunday, the most important Sunday for the Church as it marks the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the media are reporting reactions from all corners of the planet. We hear and read generally unanimous praise for his willingness and closeness to the most vulnerable. Francis himself made this attitude explicit then:

“How are we treating the people of God? I dream of a Church that is Mother and Shepherd. The ministers of the Church must be merciful, taking care of people, accompanying them like the Good Samaritan who washes, cleanses, and comforts his neighbor. This is the pure Gospel. God is greater than sin. Organizational and structural reforms are secondary; that is, they come later. The first reform must be that of attitudes.”

Today we see that Francis has reached out to many of those who lack faith and even attacked the Church from their ideological positions almost systematically.

In an extremely polarized world, perhaps in this interview we will also find the keys to the future Pope.

“Ministers of the Gospel must be people capable of warming people’s hearts, of walking with them in the night, of knowing how to dialogue, and even of descending into their night and darkness without getting lost. The people of God need pastors, not clerical office-holders. Bishops, especially, must be men capable of patiently supporting God’s steps among his people, so that no one is left behind, as well as of guiding the flock, with their sense of smell, to find new paths.”

Not all of his new paths have pleased everyone within the Church. We will see if the new pontiff continues on his path, because there are paths with little turning back. Others, however, may be better left undone.

But only God knows that.

If Saint John Paul II was the Pontiff who tore down walls and went on pilgrimage, touching hearts at the ends of the earth, Benedict XVI was the profound theologian who thought more than he spoke… and spoke with the power of thought. Francis was the pastor who transformed the Church into a field hospital. Symbols, each in their own way, of the anchor and the sail that catch the wind of the Holy Spirit: a Church of love and hope.