The University of Notre Dame hosted the lecture on their Rome campus on Thursday.
ROME — A political science professor from the U.S. has used data analysis to show how Pope Francis differed from predecessors regarding policy, appointments, and papal trips, while notably omitting discussion of the deceased pontiff’s doctrinal differences.
The University of Notre Dame in Rome hosted the lecture “Francis and His Predecessors: Quantifying Continuity and Change in the Modern Papacy,” by Sean Theriault, on March 19.
Avoiding theological debate?
Theriault, a self-described sociologist and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told EWTN News that he became interested in studying Pope Francis’ legacy two years ago after discussing the papacy with his students and fellow Catholics.
“I had heard people suggest that Pope Francis was different, and I thought I could bring data to help assess how different he was. In other words, as a social scientist, I could actually supply some facts to the question at hand.”
He noted that his study avoids theological debate entirely, observing that while many theologians emphasize Francis’ doctrinal shifts, his study focuses on quantifiable patterns in the data.
What do the numbers say about Francis?
Examining the data
