Check out these articles from around the web on Pope Francis’ first year:

Francis: A Pope That Millennials Can Love by Millennial co-founder Christopher Hale and Ashley McGuire, Time: “Francis has reminded us that the faith is not simply set of rules, regulations and procedures, but a complex human drama about the goodness of creation, the pain of sin and brokenness, and the power of God’s redeeming love.”

Pope Francis’ One Big Mistake: Syria by Millennial editor Robert Christian, Time: “Pope Francis has had an extraordinary first year. He attacked economic injustice, placed mercy at the center of his pastoral approach, and traded the culture war for the culture of encounter…His biggest failure has been his unwillingness to speak with moral clarity on the illegitimate nature of Assad’s regime and to side with the Syrian people against Assad’s continued rule.”

Pope Francis’ First Year by Michael Sean Winters, NCR: “Under Francis, it can be said that moral theology has been returned to its proper place as a subset of pastoral theology, not the other way round. Indeed, you could say that one of the principal differences between Francis and his predecessors is that he has placed far less emphasis on his job as teacher of the faith and far more emphasis on his job as pastor of the flock.”

More Reflections on Francis’ First Year by Michael Sean Winters, NCR: “In Pope Francis, we have a man whose humility and steeliness are both rooted in a lifetime of walking with other Catholics as a fellow pilgrim. The Church, for him, is not an ideology but a way of walking through the world.”

Pope Francis’ First Year: The Reaction by Michael Sean Winters, NCR: “We are to preach the Gospel and, it turns out, people are still hungry for the Gospel. We are to walk humbly with Jesus Christ and, it turns out, people are still encouraged and comforted and ennobled by the companionship of their savior. We are to reach out to the poor and the marginalized and, it turns out, people in this highly self-referential age are still capable of self-transcendence with a bit of inspiration and encouragement.”

Francis’s Radical Realism: Performance v. Ideology by Sam Rocha, Ethika Politika: “Francis’s radical realism, then, is to treat the Word as an incarnate thing, as a reality to be shown more than it is said, to let its proclamation live in the performance of its witness, to be captured in pictures of tenderness, embrace, ordinary living.”

On Monastic Papacies by C.C. Pecknold, Ethika Politika: “Neither liberal nor conservative, Pope Francis sees change in eternal terms. Like his favorite painting of the conversion of Saint Matthew, Pope Francis believes in change ordered to Christ in whom we ourselves may hope for transfiguration. That is what makes him so radical, and that is what should make each of us so hopeful.”

A key to understanding Pope Francis by Fr. James Martin, SJ, CNN: “Over the past year, Jesuits have been accused of being too proud of Pope Francis. I’m guilty myself. So at the risk of pride, I’ll say that I think he’s a great Pope, a great priest and a great Jesuit. And I’ll bet St. Ignatius would be proud — or as proud as he would allow himself to be.”

A year into his papacy, Pope Francis is making all the right moves by John Gehring, Washington Post: “Preaching the Gospel’s radical message of solidarity and sacrifice is countercultural. But Francis has proved that joy, mercy and even a sense of humor are undervalue tools for evangelization.”

Pope Francis Turns 1: A Year of Surprises by Mike Hayes, Busted Halo: “It indeed has been a whirlwind year since the election of Pope Francis and right out of the gate this new pontiff was full of surprises. Busted Halo looks back at Pope Francis’ first year and highlights some of the surprises he had in store for the world.”

Pope Francis’s first year underlines his commitment to the needy by EJ Dionne, Washington Post: “He thus declared that the church’s main mission would no longer be as a lead combatant in the culture wars. It would stand primarily with and for the neediest.”

Why Pope Francis appeals to young adults by Jonathan Lewis, The Catholic Standard: “The trust and enthusiasm Pope Francis inspires is palpable, and this is nonetheless true for even the least religious generation in American history: Millennials.”

‘A witness to the Gospel’: Cardinal Wuerl reflects on Pope Francis’s first year, The Catholic Standard: “Years ago Pope Paul VI said that people of this age look for witnesses rather than teachers and that if they follow teachers it is because the teacher is also a witness. I think what we see, what the whole world sees, in Pope Francis is a beautiful, simple and clear witness to the Gospel.”