A person’s heroes often point to their values. In Pope Francis’ case, the people he singled out for their heroic virtues reveal a great deal about his papal priorities.

In Africa, a person of Pope Francis’ moral caliber and spiritual substance holds the coveted designation of “ancestor,” whose role includes everlasting solicitude for the community he or she leaves behind.

Pope Francis was overwhelmingly popular with ordinary Catholics in the United States. But Francis’ priorities often failed to take root here.

“Pope Francis entered the papacy as a Jesuit, governed as one and died as one,” Father James Martin writes.

As Pope Francis’ legacy is debated in the coming weeks, one key area for examination will be his advancements of women in the Vatican, whether his changes were sufficient and whether they will last.

When the cardinals voted to elect Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the 265th successor of St. Peter on the evening of March 13, 2013, few of them imagined what kind of pope he would be.