By order of the beloved Pope Francis, the Catholic Church is immersed in celebrating a Holy Year, a Jubilee Year, dedicated to reflection, decision-making, and concrete actions for HOPE, in a world that faces serious challenges.

This year offers a propitious opportunity for believers in Christ, as a Church, to be “light and salt” for the world, witnesses of hope, a Hope that does not disappoint or die. Our hope is in God Himself, in the God of life and mercy revealed to us by Jesus and preached – through gestures and words – by Pope Francis.

And this Year for HOPE summons the whole Church to two unexpected events: first, the end of the pontificate and a farewell to the house of our father, Pope Francis, who leaves a legacy that fills the Church and world with hope.

Second, another reason that fills us with hope is the gathering of the Cardinals of the Church who will elect the new Pope, the political head of the Vatican State or Holy See, but, above all, a guide in the faith of the world’s Catholics and the spiritual leader of humanity.

This coming May 7, the elective sessions begin, behind closed doors, to decide who will succeed Francis in the See of Peter and as bishop of Rome.

In this time of wagers and betting on which cardinal will be named the new pope, allow me to recall and point out some qualities that – in my opinion – the new pope and his Petrine ministry should have as conditions for contributing to the construction of the time and space for hope in the Church and the world.

These are qualities that are fundamentally shaped or determined by three concepts:

• First, the identity and permanence that each of the Church’s pastors must have with the very traits of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
• Second, the challenges that the world throws at the Church’s evangelizing work.
• And third, the traits that the Church herself, and especially from the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, outlines in its Decree Christus Dominus (on the pastoral ministry of bishops) as the profile of the personality and mission of a bishop in the Church.

A summary of the traits that the Church’s abundant magisterium on bishops has recently asked of them – and the pope is the bishop of Rome – holds that: the bishop – through his deeds and words – must be an authentic disciple of the Gospel, which is Christ himself.

He must be a father and a shepherd, teacher, and servant of the people of God, a model, witness, and example of holiness in the community of faith over which he presides, a promoter of unity, merciful, and attentive to the needs of all, especially those most in need, capable of listening and dialogue, fortitude, patience, and discernment of God’s will amid the signs of the times.

The recent and multitudinous demonstrations, full of affection and gratitude, that – worldwide – accompanied the funeral honors of Pope Francis show that the world and the Church found, in the Pontificate of the first Jesuit and Latin American Pope, the features described above, in full identity with Jesus Christ himself.

Pope Francis’ legacy, through which he restored credibility to the Church’s existence and work in society and for which he will be remembered in history as a great human being, holy Christian, and great universal pastor, was characterized by his natural and spontaneous humility and simplicity without airs, his closeness to everyone, his compassion and special concern for the weakest and “discarded in society” (especially migrants, children, the elderly, the imprisoned, etc.), his special sense of humor, and his total openness to ecumenical dialogue with all, his building bridges, always searching for concord, universal fraternity, and peace.

Francis focused his Petrine ministry on Church reform, emphasizing the mission and proclamation of the Gospel in the geographical, human, and social peripheries, always seeking the inclusion and synodality of the Church to respond – reasonably – to the challenges of the contemporary world.

These are traits that the magisterium demands of each bishop, traits lived through Pope Francis’ very personal style and approach, and that correspond to the challenges facing the Church today in a world in urgent need of leaders with authority, with consistency between what they preach and what they live, with consistency between their deeds and their words.

Ours is a world that needs signs of fraternity and solidarity, compassion and mercy, and power understood as service. Ours is a world that needs justice, equity, and peace. Ours is a world that needs truth and abundant life. A world that, amidst technological and economic advances and achievements, must pay special attention to the poorest. We live in a world that, in short, needs signs that fill us with reasons to continue believing, loving, and hoping.

Our hope rests in God and, to his Holy Spirit, we pray that the next Pope, preserving the great legacy of Francis and “with the smell of the sheep,” as he himself lived and requested of us, will lead the Barque of Peter, through the storms, along paths of truth and unity and will be, for all humanity, a sign of hope.

Mario J. Paredes is the secretary of the Dr. Ramon Tallaj Foundation. The Dr. Ramón Tallaj Foundation is a non-profit institution that grants scholarships to low-income students with high academic performance who wish to study a career in the health field.