Francis: a legend for a Pope, by Antonio Elorza

One of the most dramatic scenes of the life of St. Francis, reflected in the iconography of the Basilica of Assisi, presents the saint as a hero of Christendom, who was assigned to him as a restorer of the Church. According to tradition, it was Jesus himself who spoke to him from the crucifix preserved today in the church of St. Clare: «Go and repair my Church, which is in ruins». On the scene of the Basilica, while Pope Innocent III sleeps, Fra…