by Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann
With the rest of the world, I was shocked to learn that Pope Francis died Easter Monday morning. It was remarkable to see a photo from Easter Sunday in the Wall Street Journal of the Holy Father being driven in the popemobile through the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, as well as the article about the pope’s brief meeting with Vice President JD Vance.
Of course, with the pope’s age, ill health and recent long hospital stay, his death was not a complete surprise. With the entire Catholic Church, as well as with many people of good will, I mourn the death of Pope Francis. The Holy Father served the church with zeal and dedication.
The Holy Father’s motto, “With mercy chosen,” foreshadowed mercy to be an overriding theme of the pontificate of Pope Francis. Early in his papacy, during an interview, he was asked to describe himself. The Holy Father thought for a few moments and then shared that the best description of himself was a sinner touched by God’s mercy.
Pope Francis also shared that as a young man, it was after having gone to confession on the feast of St. Matthew that he first began to consider the possibility of a priestly vocation. Early in his papacy, Pope Francis declared a Year of Mercy. The Holy Father’s compassion for the unborn, the unmarried pregnant mother, the refugee, the migrant, the sick, the suffering, the victims of violence and war, and most importantly the poor, flowed from his own personal experience of God’s mercy.
One of the most memorable events during his pontificate was Pope Francis leading the entire world in a Holy Hour prayer on March 27, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pope Francis knelt before the Blessed Sacrament in an eerily empty St. Peter’s Square. The Holy Father chose to focus our attention upon a passage in the Fourth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Mark, when the apostles were caught in a terrifying storm while Jesus slept in the boat.
Mark contrasted the terror of the disciples, many of whom were experienced fishermen that were used to sea squalls, to the absolute calm of Jesus asleep in the stern of the boat. During this violent and terrifying storm, Jesus was completely at peace, sleeping serenely while the apostles were in a panic. Pope Francis pointed out that this was the only time in the four Gospels that Jesus is depicted as sleeping.
The disciples awakened Jesus and accused him of not caring that they were about to perish. After calming the wind and the sea, Jesus asked the disciples: “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” Pope Francis led the church through some turbulent times, but he was always pointing the church to the truth that we need not be afraid, because Jesus is in the boat with us.
During this time when we mourn the loss of Pope Francis, and some are anxious about the selection of the next pope by the College of Cardinals, it is important to remind ourselves that Jesus is in the boat with us. We need not be terrified, because we know Our Lord is with us.
One of my favorite documents written by Pope Francis was his first. It is entitled “The Joy of the Gospel.” Pope Francis echoed his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, in reminding us that our Catholic faith is not first and foremost about our dogma or moral teaching. It is rather about an encounter with a person, the person of Jesus Christ.
In reflecting on evangelization, sharing the joy of the Gospel with others, Pope Francis wrote: “Consequently, an evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral! . . . And may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the good news not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervor, who have first received the joy of Christ.”
Even as we mourn the death of Pope Francis, let us not become self-absorbed or fearful. Jesus is with his church. We need not be terrified or fearful about the future. I think the best way we could honor Pope Francis is by being witnesses of the joy of the Gospel, witnesses of gratitude for the gift and beauty of our Catholic faith.
