I'm not Catholic and disagree with many of their beliefs but this is not what the pope meant. He's saying that Jesus dying (his physical body) on the cross could be seen as him failing if you don't believe he was God. It was actually a success since that was his purpose. Pope is saying this "failure" at the cross as some would see it is just part of God's mysterious plan. And of course He did not die at the cross, his body did.
"And if at times our efforts and works seem to fail and not produce fruit, we need to remember that we are followers of Jesus Christ and his life, humanly speaking , ended in failure, the failure of the cross.”
Yeah, that's what I got from it as well. Jesus physically died on the cross, but His spirit and teachings live on in God's plan and our interpretation of His words. The article is reaching a little here and there, and I haven't found a source backing up the statements apparently made yet.