Farewell to a Justice Pope

Pope Francis was a justice pope. Even a non-Catholic follower of Buddhism could see that. May he rest in peace.

In October 2020, I was doing my usual drum-banging about a tragically invisible problem: around half of the people in most countries face one or more justice issues every four years, and less than half of them find resolution. Courts and law firms only handle a fraction of around 5 to 10% of these problems. For most people, justice systems are slow, complex, expensive, inaccessible, and ineffective. And as always, the vulnerable suffer most. As the UN Secretary-General has put it: many justice systems deliver only for the few. The economic, social, and political costs of this failure are enormous.

Then, out of nowhere, an authoritative voice - a spiritual leader, no less - said much of this, and said it far more eloquently. In his Encyclical Letter called Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis, joined by other religious leaders like the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, laid it out much more eloquently.

Like me, the Pope’s starting point is life, not law. Life, he reminds us, “exists where there is bonding, communion, fraternity.” Without connection, there is no life, only death. The world’s interconnectedness, he says, reveals a truth we easily forget: people only exist in relation to each other. We need relationships to live, to be safe, to earn, to learn, to love. A country rich in wellbeing is a country with strong, functioning relationships. That is its true wealth - not money. And because human relationships inevitably fray and falter, societies need a relationship management system to support people in keeping them healthy and effective. That, I have always argued, is what a good justice system is for: a system to protect and renew the most valuable capital we have.

In that web of relationships, every human being has the right to live with dignity and to develop integrally. This right, the Pope says, cannot depend on circumstance. It is based on the intrinsic worth of each person. States must create the environment where dignity can flourish - not just through human rights, but through the design of systems that channel rights into real opportunity.

Justice, for Pope Francis, is not a technical project. It is an all-embracing foundation. It is social justice - equity in access to opportunity. Restorative justice - healing over punishment. Economic justice - fair distribution of resources. Institutional justice - accessible, impartial systems that protect the vulnerable. Environmental justice - stewardship across generations. Global justice - fair international systems that uphold human rights. And finally, what I take to mean loving justice: justice infused with compassion, fraternity, and care.

When I first read Fratelli Tutti, for the first time, I was inspired and energised. The Pope connects us to the Big Why. Why do we need good justice systems? Because human dignity demands it. Because dignity can only be realized in relationships with others. Because those relationships require work - personal work, collective work, political work. And because the state has a duty to help maintain these relationships, preventing them from descending into violence, exploitation, corruption, or despair. The Why comes first. The What and the How flow from it.

I leave you with his call to action:

“Each day offers us a new opportunity, a new possibility. We should not expect everything from those who govern us, for that would be childish. We have the space we need for co-responsibility in creating and putting into place new processes and changes. Let us take an active part in renewing and supporting our troubled societies.” (FT 77)

Let’s get cracking.