This article gives an account of the legacy of Pope Francis particularly in his moral teachings and pastoral practices. From the beginning of his reign, he sought to teach as Christ did, welcoming all into the merciful life of the church. I will examine how through his work with the World Popular Movements and the Synods on the family, Francis developed a remarkable responsive listening; it looks then to the work of Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti where he leads us to embrace both the earth and all humankind. It concludes on Dilexit Nos and the Synod on Synodality.

This article surveys all the contributions in ethics on these pages over the past eighty
years and is divided into four historical parts: the first three years; the years from
1943 to 1964; the years Richard McCormick wrote from 1964 to 1984; and the years
beyond McCormick. It surveys a period from neo-Scholastic manualism at the eve of
World War II to the contemporary era, where methods for attaining moral objectivity
are complex. This survey notes shifts in theological method, the movement of the
center from the personal to the social, the transition from an exclusively clerical
authorship to a much broader array of authors, and a shift in readership from priest
confessors to professional theologians.

The concept of moral discernment is often used to describe the inspired decisionmaking of a conscientious Christian, but Pope Francis uses it relationally in terms of accompaniment and often enough, more broadly than an individual’s choice. Rather, he suggests that bishops and their local churches ought to morally discern how they should settle issues addressing contemporary pastoral challenges. This article argues that in its history, moral discernment was a social practice used in a variety of relational ways to determine a pathway for living out the summons of the gospel.