Often described as the pope of small phrases and great journeys – in contrast to his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who was seen as a scholarly intellectual with a passion for theology and philosophy – Francis, who died on Monday, April 21, at the Vatican, was also a prolific writer. A trained philosopher and theologian, he published numerous texts, some notable for their unprecedented content and others for their exceptional global impact.

There are about 15 different types of official documents that popes can publish, including bulls, encyclicals, homilies, apostolic exhortations and meditations. "These numerous categories may seem surprising and very subtle, but they allow us to distinguish essential positions from less significant ones," explained Michel Fédou, a theology professor at the Facultés Loyola Paris. "When Pope Francis made a statement on the plane returning from a trip, he was, of course, committing himself, but what he said did not carry the same weight as what he wrote in an encyclical," a papal letter addressed to the entire Catholic community with teaching authority, reminding Church doctrine.

Francis mastered this subtlety perfectly. In 12 years of pontificate, he published proportionally as much (four encyclicals, seven apostolic exhortations, 91 apostolic letters) as Benedict XVI did in nearly eight years (from April 2005 to February 2013: three encyclicals, four apostolic exhortations, 65 apostolic letters). Unusually, Pope Francis's first encyclical, Lumen Fidei ("The Light of Faith"), released in June 2013, was written jointly with his predecessor, who had started it before resigning and entrusted its completion to him.

Honoring the ecological debt

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