Two worldwide communions, both without their chief shepherd: the Roman Catholic world is mourning Pope Francis, while starting to anticipate conclave to discern his successor, and the Anglican Communion is looking for a new Archbishop of Canterbury.*

The two men had very different routes in and out of ministry, though they had much in common, including not wanting the job and a strong friendship. As I accompanied Archbishop Justin to meet with Pope Francis on several occasions, I couldn’t fail to see their shared passion for mission and evangelism, for a ministry of peace, justice, and reconciliation.

They laid aside long theological conversations in favour of ‘an ecumenism of action’ – focusing on what we could do together to work with God in the transformation of a broken world. Both demonstrated a passion for mission and a bend towards pragmatism that at times caused ecclesial consternation.

The debate about their successors has begun. What kind of leader do we want? What do they need to believe? How must they act? What should they stand for?

Obituaries for Pope Francis repeatedly affirm that he was a shepherd who ‘smelled of the sheep’, a man of the people. His way was deeply shaped by spending time with people, listening, caring, and seeking to respond well. Shepherds who smell of the sheep wrestle with the complexity and pain of living in a broken world, lamenting God’s apparent absence while clinging to hopeful promises.

The description reminds me of Psalm 113:5–8:

Who is like the Lord our God,

who is seated on high,

Who looks far down

on the heavens and the earth?

He raises the poor from the dust,

and lifts the needy from the ash heap,

to make them sit with princes,

with the princes of his people.

The Christian life is about walking in the footsteps of Christ, modelling our character and actions on his. Our God is a God who stoops down to earth, shares our life and struggles, and cares gently for the vulnerable. Neither archbishop nor Pope were perfect, or acceptable to all their people. Yet both showed the marks of a person transformed by the love of God, determined to share that love with the world.

What kind of leader should we pray for in their successors? Probably, people whose lives are transformed by the love of God, who seek to follow in the way Christ: shepherds who smell of the sheep.

Isabelle Hamley
Principal of Ridley Hall College, Cambridge, and former chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury

*The Oscar winning movie, Conclave, alongside The Two Popes – while both highly dramatised – are well worth a watch with one’s peers to provoke a conversation about the role of the church in the world today, and the kind of peacemaking leader we need as nations adopt a war-footing.