“Who am I to judge?” With that refusal to condemn homosexuals, Pope Francis cast himself with the sinners of the world and assumed the role of prophet. Religious prophets do not, we know, foretell the future. Prophets bring a message from God that discerns the way the community is going. Prophets appear when things are going wrong, like now.

Prophets are called by God to deliver a message that challenges the established order, to say there is something wrong about it. Prophets are not honored in their own land. Of course not. God does not send messengers to congratulate people but to tell them they are headed into trouble.

How did Father Jorge Bergoglio, SJ come to this role of pope and prophet? In one of his first interviews as pope, a newsman asked: “Who are you?” Pope Francis answered “I am a sinner.” This is a general acknowledgment, but also a specific self-accusation of moral failure. As the leader of the Jesuits in Argentina during the Dirty War, Francis apparently abandoned two young Jesuit priests to be tortured by the murderous military regime.

When he was Jesuit provincial, Bergoglio did the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. This is an intense 30-day meditation and spiritual renewal for which the Jesuits are famous. The pope came out of this exercise with a profound sense of his own sinfulness and his salvation. He went from being a haunted man to one at peace with his God. In short, the discipline of the Jesuits led him to the joy of the Franciscans.

Because a penitent Cardinal Bergoglio put himself in the hands of God , he is at peace with himself and his God. But he does not forget that he is a repentant sinner. Prophets, much like St. Paul on the road to Damascus, have that moment of grace when they know God forgave them. This forgiveness purified him and made him fit to carry God’s message. Prophets, in the Old Testament and continuing to this day, have that moment when God’s grace touches them and gives them a message they are to present to His people.

Pope Francis early on and throughout his life turned to the poor, the needy and the marginalized. The people have not yet caught on that this is central to his mission. People see his twinkling eyes, his infectious smile and his impromptu comments that church officials often have to scramble to put in context. They do not yet see that he is all about the option for the poor.

Francis of Assisi and his respect for creation are the central theme, the message, the spirit of this pope. Poverty, in the sense of detachment, is the message of this prophet. He has already spoken clearly about income inequality and the environment. And his message was opposed by the keepers of the status quo, Vatican conservatives, Catholic conservatives and evangelicals.

On the positive side, two thirds of Americans already think that we are going in the wrong direction. We will have to see if they will accept this prophet’s message of a new direction, a discernment about where we should be going. Much of Europe, Africa and Latin America already recognize that the materialism of the West is a moral dead-end. But not the United States. In fact, much of the pope’s program seems aimed at American capitalism when it uses language like unbridled capitalism, idolatry of money and austerity as a new colonialism.

The New York Times says that at the heart of Laudato Si, the encyclical on the environment, is a “critique of unfettered capitalism.” The established church is not likely to honor that prophecy.