Why is Pope Francis embracing the patriarchy (of the West)?

(The Pillar).

Pope Francis has revived the papal title Patriarch of the West, bringing back the style which has fallen in and out of usage over the centuries and was most recently dropped by Benedict XVI in 2006.

In the 2024 edition of the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican’s annual statistical yearbook, Patriarch of the West once again appears, in the litany of formal papal dignities listed at the opening. 

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