We are living in a very Catholic moment. The death of our Holy Father Pope Francis brings the attention of the world to our Catholic traditions and our mission – to be fishers of men. The special calling that our Lord gave to St. Peter, our first pope, could easily be our vocation as the baptized – to bring others to Christ and His Church.
The Holy Spirit knows what our world and Church needs every time it chooses a pope for us, and with each pope we are blessed with an example of service for the various missions within the Body of Christ.
Pope Francis was elected to the papacy on March 13, 2013, and from the very first day of his public life as pope, he sent us the message of “be humble and serve,” rather than be served. He was the first Jesuit to be chosen as pope and was the first to take the name Francis, after the humble Saint of the Poor. He was the first pope to be elected from the Americans, as well as the first from the Southern Hemisphere.
On August 2, 2018, Pope Francis issued a letter revising the Catechism of the Catholic Church's teaching on the death penalty. He continued the recent tradition of previous popes, including from St. John Paul II, by escalating Catholic opposition to modern-day use of the death penalty. Pope Francis used the term "inadmissible" and said it was an attack on human dignity.
Italy was one of the hardest-hit areas in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic and saw thousands of deaths. The entire country went into lockdown on March 9, 2020, making them the first to do so. About two weeks later, on March 27, 2020, in one of the most striking moments of his papacy, Pope Francis delivered a special "Urbi et Orbi" (From the City to the World) blessing from St. Peter's Square, which was televised worldwide. I remember watching him walking alone in an empty St. Peter's Square to pray for the world. His message was powerful: encouraging us to treat the crisis as an opportunity for personal conversion and for building fraternity, along with assuring us that Jesus was with us. After the blessing, Pope Francis lifted the Eucharist in a monstrance and took it out of St. Peter's Basilica. He gave us all a moment of profound intimacy with the Lord at a time when we needed it most.
The word Catholic translates to universal, and Pope Francis' papacy exemplified this. Francis visited places no previous pontiff had ever visited and appointed cardinals from non-traditional locations.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, primary celebrant of Pope Francis’ funeral, offered the following words as part of the homily:
He was a Pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone. He was also a Pope attentive to the signs of the times and what the Holy Spirit was awakening in the Church.
With his characteristic vocabulary and language, rich in images and metaphors, he always sought to shed light on the problems of our time with the wisdom of the Gospel. He did so by offering a response guided by the light of faith and encouraging us to live as Christians amid the challenges and contradictions in recent years, which he loved to describe as an “epochal change.” He had great spontaneity and an informal way of addressing everyone, even those far from the Church.
Rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today’s challenges, Pope Francis truly shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time of globalization. He gave of himself by comforting and encouraging us with a message capable of reaching people’s hearts in a direct and immediate way.
Dear Pope Francis, we now ask you to pray for us. May you bless the Church, bless Rome, and bless the whole world from heaven as you did last Sunday from the balcony of this basilica in a final embrace with all the people of God, but also embrace humanity that seeks the truth with a sincere heart and holds high the torch of hope.
God Bless,
