The Second Vatican Council marked a tectonic shift in the life of the Church – not a tectonic change in faith itself, but in the way this same faith is supposed to be lived. This is most evident in how the Church chose to relate to the world outside itself, a secular world increasingly indifferent to, or even disdainful of, the Church. Whereas previous ecumenical and even local councils often concluded with long lists of condemnations and anathemas (Anathema sit), the Second Vatican Council ended its documents with a gaze full of hope toward the future and toward Christ who comes to meet us. Consider, for example, the Church’s approach to atheism, as I have written about elsewhere, and you’ll see the magnitude of this tectonic shift.
At the Council, the Church decided to listen more, to view the world not from a position of power, but through the eyes of Jesus of Nazareth: gently, mercifully, and with the fullness of truth. To discern the signs of the times. Since then, the Church has been in a process of gradually implementing the spirit of the Council, particularly evident in the pontificates of the last three popes: St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis – each in their own way.
St. John Paul II reminded us of what we believe
The Polish pope entered history as a tireless witness of faith during global crises – from the end of the Cold War and the fall of communism to the challenges of modernism – across nearly every sphere (culture, art, science, politics…). His pontificate, one of the longest in history, was marked by a strong catechetical and anthropological emphasis. Through the Theology of the Body, encyclicals like Fides et Ratio, Redemptor Hominis, and Veritatis Splendor, and numerous World Youth Days, John Paul II offered the world clarity about the content of faith: the Church knows what she believes and is unafraid to proclaim it – not as law, but as a gift that shapes human dignity. His life, marked by personal suffering and global recognition, lent credibility to the doctrine he preached. He served as a bridge between the Council’s decisions and their application in a globalized, yet increasingly secularized world. He called us to re-evangelize the baptized pagans, whose numbers were growing daily in the Christian West and Europe. Sadly, they are still numerous today.
Benedict XVI reminded us why we believe
If John Paul II was the evangelizer of the world, Benedict XVI was its quiet contemplative and longtime collaborator, even the theological mind behind many pontifical documents. A theologian of the heart and reason, Pope Benedict deeply reflected on the foundation of faith. His insistence on the harmony of faith and reason was a response to a world that often views faith as emotional or irrational. In his encyclicals Deus Caritas Est, Spe Salvi, and Caritas in Veritate, Benedict demonstrated that faith is not an escape from reason but its deepest expression. In a time when truth had become relative, he offered the Church and the world spiritual and intellectual orientation: we believe because Truth has encountered us – not as an idea, but as a Person. Thus, faith must become profoundly personal, for only what is personal is relevant and important.
Francis continues to teach us how to believe
Pope Francis is not an academic theologian, but he is a prophet of closeness to those who are distant – to those on the peripheries. His vision of the Church is not only about what she teaches but how she lives the faith it is immersed in. He calls the Church to smell like sheep, to step off the stages and enter the real lives of people. This demand leads to significant ambiguities and theologically questionable pastoral approaches, but such is the necessary consequence of a Church that sees herself as a field hospital on the battlefield. She must act now, and she needs to be close to the lost and wounded, so we could win the current battle and ultimately the war. Later, when circumstances calm, there will be time – time that is more important than space(!) – to pause and soberly evaluate the content that caused confusion among the faithful and theological uncertainties. Synodality, the key word of his pontificate, is not just a church governance model – it is a spirituality of listening, communion, and participation. The Church is no longer the one that knows everything but one that seeks, listens, and discerns together with others. I have tried to explain this using the term incarnational logic of kenosis, which – in my assessment – clearly describes and explains Pope Francis’s pontificate. Through Evangelii Gaudium, Laudato Si’, Fratelli Tutti, and the ongoing synodal process, he shows that faith is not just content or theory but a way of life.
What else must the Church be reminded of?
A conclave lies ahead. After three popes who reminded us of what, why, and how we believe, the question arises – what now? What could (or should) the next pontificate offers to the Church and the world? What is the next question whose answer the pope needs to remind us of?
In one of his most profound insights, Aristotle defined that everything that exists does so thanks to four causes: the material, the formal, the efficient, and the final cause. Christian theology – especially that of St. Thomas Aquinas – adopted this idea and wove it into its understanding of the world, of faith, and even of the very nature of God. But can this same philosophical key help us understand the development of the Church in our time?
If we look at the pontificates of the last three popes – John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis – we can observe a deep, yet subtle dynamic: each of them, in their own way, responded to a key question of faith. And each, perhaps unknowingly, highlighted one of the classical causes of faith – demonstrating that faith is not just content or practice, but a living organism with structure, meaning, action, and foundation.
St. John Paul II was a witness to and teacher of the form of faith – of what we believe. His pontificate was marked by clear doctrine, strong anthropological insights, and catechesis that defined the shape of faith in the modern world. In metaphysical terms, he pointed to the formal cause of faith – its inner structure and truth.
Benedict XVI, a quieter yet equally prophetic voice, directed the Church toward the purpose of faith. He didn’t only defend truth but showed why that truth matters and where it leads. His reflections on truth as love, and on reason and faith in dialogue, reveal the final cause – faith as a path to communion with God, as meaning grounded in Love.
Pope Francis, in turn, draws attention to living faith, to concrete people and real life. He doesn’t only ask what or why we believe, but how we believe – and who believes. The Church as a people on a journey, synodal and vulnerable, yet alive – that is his focus. In doing so, he reveals the efficient cause of faith – faith as dynamic, as the working of grace in history and in community.
But one cause remains: the material cause. What is our faith made of? What is its foundational substance? Perhaps the next pontificate will provide an answer to that question – reminding us that faith is composed of Divine Revelation, Tradition, apostolic succession, the sacraments, and the life of the Church founded on a credible inheritance. In a time when everything seems fluid and unstable, the Church may once again hear the call: return to your foundation, to that from which you are made. Four causes, four dimensions of faith, four pontificates. The same faith – but increasingly revealed, deepened, witnessed, and rooted. For faith, to be true, must have its form, its goal, its life – and its foundation.
John Paul II preserved the truth of faith. Benedict XVI deepened it and presented it to us as the goal of our action. Francis brought it closer to us and showed us how to act to realize it in our personal and communal lives. Perhaps the next pope Thomas – whoever he may be – will call us to live that truth in holiness, simplicity, and everyday life, pointing especially to the sources and pillars of our faith: to Revelation, Tradition, and Succession, which together ground the dogmatic Teaching of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
So may it be!
Adekvatna Teologija | Bruno Petrušić 