Opinion: Francis May Be Gone, But The Brand Remains

(MENAFN- PRovoke) Easter Monday this year arrived with an unexpected stillness. News of Pope Francis's passing spread across the globe like the ringing of a bell, calling for a moment to pause in a world of constant noise. In an era where many claim to be spiritual but not religious, the passing of the Pope on Easter prompted something rare: a collective hush, an acknowledgment that a pillar of conscience had left the stage. And what the world responded to wasn't just doctrine, it was the enduring power of story.

For more than 2,000 years, the Catholic Church has perfected what modern brand strategists chase in our PowerPoint decks: resonance, consistency, visual identity, and emotional appeal. Catholicism endures not because it updates often, but because it doesn't have to. Its brand is mystique. And mystique, when done well, moves culture.

Catholicism is a faith that doesn't ask to be noticed, it insists upon it. Madonna kneeled before flaming crosses, Kanye crowned himself in thorns, and Martin Scorsese turned sin into cinema. Fleabag's hot priest wasn't a fluke, he was a meme for the mystery that even agnostics can't shake. Films like The Two Popes and Spotlight explore the institution's contradictions, from moral grandeur to deep institutional failure, yet still treat it with a kind of reverent gravity. Even in critique, tragedy and failure, The Church is framed as spectacle: elevated, grandiose, transcendent and impossible to ignore. And spectacle works. Because brands are emotional before they're logical. They're remembered by how they feel.

That's what gives Catholicism its staying power. It makes people feel something: awe, guilt, reverence, belonging. Often all at once. Its symbols are charged and its rituals are immersive, all which work to heighten its mystery, rather than downplaying it. And in doing so, it creates emotional stakes that live beyond Sunday service.

This is how it commands both devotion and dissent. Because once something makes you feel deeply, you don't forget it. Even if you walk away. While brands rewrite themselves to stay relevant and leaders workshop how to appear authentic, the Church remains what it has always been: structured, visual, certain. Flawed, yes, incredibly. But also immovable. And that, too, creates trust.

Pope Francis understood this intuitively. He didn't dilute the Church's mystique; instead, he intentionally recast it. Rather than using the brand to guard tradition, he used it to stretch our moral imagination. He stood on balconies and spoke of migrants, inequality, and the Earth as“our common home.” He washed the feet of Muslim refugees and dined with the unhoused instead of dignitaries. He became, in effect, a case study in how to evolve with the modern time without erasing foundational values.

And the world responded. He helped ease tensions between the US and Cuba. He reframed climate policy as a spiritual imperative. Secular governments, NGOs, and institutions borrowed from Laudato Si', mirroring its language in ways that signaled alignment without ever invoking religion directly. In countries where the Church still shapes everyday life (across Latin America, the Philippines, parts of Africa) Francis's progressive stance opened space for new political actors. His beliefs moved culture.

This is its brand advantage. Catholicism shapes culture in quiet ways, and culture, in turn, shapes politics with volume.

Even in secular spaces, its design language, stained glass, ritual garments, hymns & chants, lingers. Its moral code echoes through all social movements. Even those who disavow the Church often carry its aesthetic and ethical residue. We may speak the language of progress and pluralism, but the grammar of our worldview is still steeped in Catholic tradition. Our obsession with aestheticized leadership, our hunger for public figures who seem anointed, our need to drape justice in beauty, these are not just instincts. They're liturgies. All of which play out in campaign ads, courtroom dramas, protest chants, and global forums.

So when the world and I stood still for Pope Francis on Easter Monday, it wasn't just mourning a man. It was responding to a brand. The most enduring brand in human history. One that still commands silence, wonder, curiosity and the desire to believe that somewhere, power and grace can coexist.

Francis may be gone, but the brand remains, held in tone, presence, and perception. It shows up in the cadence of speeches, the iconography of movements, the way we frame power and credibility. The mystique still works, quietly shaping how power communicates itself.

If one institution can shape the world this way for 2,000 years, what are we building that lasts?

Jenelle Coy is the founder and CEO of Spero Studio, an award-winning integrated communications firm shaping public opinion across politics, advocacy, and highly-regulated industries. She advises campaigns, Fortune 500 companies, coalitions, members of Congress and brands on how to build lasting influence through clarity, trust, and credibility.

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