Three unsolved mysteries Pope Francis left behind

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Mar 20, 2026

Thirteen years after he introduced himself to the world as the new Bishop of Rome, and nearly a year after his death, Pope Francis remains an elusive figure: a man whose personality is not easy to understand. Having written two books and literally thousands of news briefs about the late Pontiff, I remain puzzled by several aspects of his life. Let me focus on three of these mysteries. If I understood them, maybe I would understand him better. But I don’t.

1. What happened in that confessional? When asked how he had first felt a calling to the priesthood, the late Pope said that one day when he was out with some of his friends, he decided to go to confession, and when he emerged from the confessional, he had decided that he would be a priest. As he told the story, it seems that he had not been thinking about the priesthood until that day, and then suddenly his trajectory was set. That sounds like a very dramatic encounter. Yet when he told the story, Pope Francis made it sound simple, almost prosaic, as if a light turned on and everything became obvious to him.

But what was it that flipped the switch? The story really doesn’t answer the question. He wasn’t thinking about the priesthood, and then he was. Did the priest say something that awakened the young man’s consciousness of a vocation? Or did the sacrament itself stir something within him? Had he gone to confession on an impulse, or did he have something particular on his mind? Pope Francis never provided any further details about that fateful day, so any theories we might devise about his vocation are based on our own pure speculation.

2. What changed his relations with the Jesuits? As a Jesuit provincial in Argentina, during a time of intense political and theological conflict, Father Bergoglio was not popular within the Society of Jesus. In fact he was more or less exiled after his term as provincial. The worldwide leader of the Society advised against making him a bishop, saying that Father Bergoglio’s personality made him unsuitable for ecclesiastical leadership.

Although he became Archbishop of Buenos Aires despite that negative recommendation, and eventually won a red hat, Cardinal Bergoglio remained at a distance from his Jesuit confreres. He did not spend much time with Jesuit leaders in Rome during his visits to the Eternal City (which were usually brief), and liberal Jesuits in particular continued to view him with suspicion. After the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI, in which Cardinal Bergoglio was reportedly second in the voting, one very influential Jesuit cardinal told his brothers: “Better Ratzinger than Bergoglio.” Eight years later, when the next conclave chose Cardinal Bergoglio, there was a palpable nervousness among the Jesuit leadership.

Yet within weeks after assuming the papal throne, Pope Francis had evidently made his peace with his fellow Jesuits, who—led by Father Antonio Spadaro—were numbered among his most influential aides and most enthusiastic supporters. Had mutual suspicions been overcome by a shared sense of mission? Had the Society recognized a precious opportunity to advance under the first Jesuit Pontiff? Had Pope Francis recognized that the clout of the Jesuits could advance his agenda? Or did they realize that they had the same agenda all along?

3. Why did he never visit Argentina? Pope John Paul II began planning a trip to Poland soon after his election, and after protracted negotiations with the Communist regime, made his triumphant return eight months after becoming Pontiff. Pope Benedict XIV traveled to Cologne for World Youth Day (which admittedly had been planned much earlier) just weeks after he become Pontiff. But in the thirteen years of his reign Pope Francis never traveled back to Argentina.

During those years Pope Francis made dozens of trips abroad, visiting far-flung lands such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Myanmar and Egypt, Morocco, Madagascar, Iraq, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Dubai, and New Guinea—not to mention his numerous trips all around Europe. He might have added a visit to Argentina when he planned his visits to Brazil in 2013; to Ecuador, Bolivia, and Paraguay in 2015; to Mexico in 2016; to Colombia in 2017; or to Chile and Peru in 2018. But he never did make that visit back home.

When questions arose as to whether Pope Francis would eventually travel to Argentina, Vatican officials suggested that the Pope did not want to inject himself into the country’s political controversies. But Pope Francis did not shy away from controversies on other occasions, and the political climate in his homeland shifted several times during the course of his pontificate. Was he worried about what sort of welcome he would receive in his native land, or what sort of memories his presence might awaken? Yet another question remains unanswered.