Twenty years ago on April 8, 2005, Karol Wojtyła, Pope St. John Paul II, passed away on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday. On the eve of the same Sunday, thousands bid a final farewell to Jorge Mario Bergoglio two decades later.
St. Peter’s Square was marked by the image of a simple wooden coffin with the book of the Gospel open on top, as its pages slowly turned in the wind.
The funeral Mass for Pope Francis was moving, intense, and heartfelt. The people of God, who had embraced him on Easter Sunday without knowing it would be the last time, accompanied him on the final leg of his earthly journey six days later.
The courtyard in front of St. Peter’s Square was filled not only with heads of state and dignitaries but also many young people, who had planned to visit for the Jubilee of Teenagers.
Many representatives of other Christian denominations and various religions also came together on the steps of the papal basilica. All were united in bidding farewell to a shepherd who was faithful to the Gospel and who never ceased preaching fraternity and, even from his hospital bed, called for an end to war.
Two passages in particular from Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re’s homily were met with applause.
First, he reiterated that the guiding thread of Pope Francis’s mission was “the conviction that the Church is a home for all; a home with doors always open.”
During the last World Youth Day in Lisbon, the Pope exclaimed, “Everyone, everyone, everyone.” With these words, he explained that nothing and no one can separate us from the love of God, who is always waiting with open arms to embrace us, no matter who we are.
The Holy Father sought to build a Church with open doors, prioritizing the last, the poor, and the humble. It was precisely them who welcomed him at the threshold of the Basilica of St. Mary Major before he was laid to rest near one of his great devotions: Mary Salus Populi Romani.
The thousands of pilgrims gathered at the funeral Mass also applauded Cardinal Re’s reflection on the Pope’s tireless plea for peace.
They cheered the memory of the Holy Father’s invitation to reason and “honest negotiations to find possible solutions, because war,” he said, “is only the death of people, the destruction of homes, the destruction of hospitals and schools. War always leaves—this is his expression—the world worse than it was before: it is always a painful and tragic defeat for all.”
Before the Mass began, the American and Ukrainian presidents met for a few minutes. We hope and pray that something positive may come from these exchanges—the final conversation for peace fostered by the Successor of Peter, who was the first to take the name of the Saint of Assisi, the saint of peace.
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