Canadian Catholic sculptor Timothy Schmalz warmly recalls the treasured seal of approval the late Pope Francis gave his “radical” and famed Homeless Jesus bronze upon their first meeting in St. Peter’s Square in November 2013.

The ambitious bronze rendering depicts Jesus as a destitute man sleeping on a park bench with wounds on His feet from the crucifixion identifying that the man is Christ. The original is installed at Regis College on the University of Toronto downtown campus while dozens of copies of the piece, representing the Lord’s suffering and affinity with the marginalized, have been installed worldwide, including in Vatican City.

“I was amazed and honoured that the Pope would bless such a representation,” said Schmalz, of St. Jacob’s, Ont. “It is a sanctioning, and (he sanctioned) such a humble representation of Jesus that is so attached to (Matthew 25:40), where it says, ‘whatever you have done for the least of my brothers and sisters you have done for me.' ” 

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Throughout the nearly 12 years that followed their initial encounter, Schmalz said he has sought to serve as an “artistic soldier” for the pontiff, who died April 21. He artistically spotlighted issues that were very much on the heart and mind of Francis during his papacy.

Take for instance the 56-year-old’s Let the Oppressed Go Free statue, showing St. Josephine Bakhita opening a trap door to liberate numerous victims of human trafficking. The Pope strongly endorsed and blessed the work as he often spoke out about the scourge of trafficking, calling it “an open wound on the body of Christ.”

On Sept. 29, 2019, Pope Francis celebrated a special Mass in St. Peter’s Square to commemorate the installation of Schmalz’s life-size bronze sculpture Angels Unaware. This was the 105th World Day of Migrants and Refugees. The ambitious work depicts a group of migrants from different cultural and racial backgrounds, and from various historical periods, all huddled together on a raft. The depiction of angel wings coming up from the crowd is a nod to Hebrews 13:2: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

Schmalz especially felt like the “artistic soldier” when working on Angel Unawares.

“I’ve got a Jew shoulder to shoulder with a Muslim at the front of the sculpture,” said Schmalz. “Here I am (working) and I know that where this piece is going when I'm making it — it's going to St. Peter's Square. It's a Hasidic Jew, and it's a woman that's shrouded, and this is at the time when Quebec is trying to challenge the idea of wearing religious dress. And you hear in the news all the time the problems with the Jews and with Muslims.

“I thought, ‘this is too much. This is too much. I better soften this down.’ Then I thought, ‘what would Pope Francis want? Would he want me to soften it down?’ And I thought, ‘no, he’d want me to go full steam ahead.’ ’’

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In 2022, Schmalz and Pope Francis intersected on Canadian soil. The former was commissioned to craft a representation of Mary, the mother of God as the Undoer of Knots that would be unveiled during the latter’s historical penitential pilgrimage to foster reconciliation between Canada’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

During Francis’ visit to the Lac. Ste. Anne, Alta., on July 26, 2022, he blessed the statue and now it is permanently installed at the popular pilgrimage site.

Schmalz marvelled at the Pope’s determination and energy to complete this pilgrimage at the age of 85.

“You think about the age of him doing that and you think about his mission and the power that he has”, said Schmalz. “That is a strength that comes from some spiritual force because it’s just absolutely stunning.”

Schmalz’s Be Welcoming sculpture was affixed within St. Peter’s Square six days before Francis’ death at 7:35 a.m. Rome time on Easter Monday. If you approach the sculpture from one direction you will see a cloaked pilgrim sitting on a bench with a cane in his hand, but if you advance upon it from the other direction, you see an angel with outstretched hand. It is also inspired by Hebrews 13:2.

Schmalz said the Pope was shown images of the sculpture by Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity. The Polish cardinal relayed to Schmalz that Francis was interested in receiving 10 miniatures of the sculpture to give out as gifts.

Francis will keep inspiring Schmalz for some time to come as he continues working on a series of ambitious homages to Laudato Si', the famed second encyclical of Francis, which calls for the people of the world to quickly take determined action to safeguard the Earth.

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But he also stands ready to be an “artistic soldier” for Francis’ successor. While characterizing himself as “probably more right-wing than left-wing,” he boldly declared “I want my pope to be left-wing.”

“I want my pope to care about everyone and not really care about business,” said Schmalz. "And I think that with that force in the world, that's who you want a pope to be. You want a pope to go visit prisoners at Easter. You want a pope to tell everyone that the poor are so, so important. The Christian pope should bring out those aspects of the Gospels that are hard for everyone to chew on. That is what a pope should do.”