2025-05-02-eEdition

THE CATHOLICWEEK I MAY 2, 2025 PAGE 11 POPE FRANCIS: 1936-2025 Pope Francis' ministry was his "conviction that the church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open." For Pope Francis, he said, the church was a "field hospi- tal," one "capable of bending down to every person, regard- less of their beliefs or condition, and healing their wounds." With President Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Olga Lyubimo- va, Russian minister of culture, seated near the altar, Cardinal Re said that "faced with the raging wars of recent years, with their inhuman horrors and countless deaths and destruc- tion, Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice imploring peace and calling for reason and hon- est negotiation to find possible solutions." '"Build bridges, not walls' was an exhortation he repeated many times, and his service of faith as successor of the Apostle Peter always was linked to the service of humanity in all its dimensions," the cardinal said. Cardinal Re also recalled Pope Francis' constant concern for migrants and refugees from his first papal trip outside of Rome to pray for migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, his visit to Lesbos and his celebration of Mass in 2016 on the U.S.-Mexican border. At the end of the Mass, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, papal vicar of Rome, offered special prayers for the city's deceased bishop, Pope Francis. Then Eastern Catholic patri- archs and major archbishops gathered around the casket and led funeral prayers from the Byzantine tradition in honor of the pastor of the universal Catholic Church. Sister Norma Pimentel, a Missionary of Jesus and director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, had knelt in prayer before the body of Pope Francis April 25 and was present for the funeral. "The funeral of Pope Francis is a very important part of who we are as people of faith," she told Catholic News Service. "We walk together, we cry together, we work together ... doing what we believe is important in our lives as people of faith, and we say farewell together at the end." The funeral, she said, is a time "to join him in this last farewell and say thank you: Thank you for being you, for being there with us, and we'll see you." Sister Pimentel is known especially for her work with migrants and refugees, a min- istry close to the heart of Pope Francis. "He was all about making sure that we understood the im- portance" of welcoming new- comers, she said. His message was: "Please open your hearts. Please care for them.That's all they're asking." Cardinal Joseph W.Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, also prayed alongside the pope's body April 25 as it lay in state in St. Peter's Basilica. "It was an important moment of confirming the news that I had heard but did not want to believe"—that the pope had died. Pope Francis "had played such an important role in my life as a mentor, as a teacher," the cardinal said. "It was really a 20-year friendship." "We have many reasons to grieve, but we have every reason to hope," said the cardinal, who concelebrated the funeral Mass and would be among the cardi- nals voting to elect a new pope. Cardinal Tobin said he thought Pope Francis' lasting legacy would be the call to be "a synodal church," one where every person takes responsibil- ity for the church's mission and where all members listen to one another and to the Holy Spirit. "That kind of church is really necessary to bring to fruition all of his other prophetic teach- ings," the cardinal said. "Without a synodal church," he said, it will be difficult to put into practice Pope Francis' teaching on the environment, on dialogue and human frater- nity and even on sharing the joy of the Gospel. Funeral From page 10 By GINA CHRISTIAN OSV News From Rome to the Rio Grande, Americans witnessed Pope Francis' funeral liturgy in person or broadcast live over the television and internet, joining their prayers with those of the universal church in a Mass of simple splendor—one that drew an estimated quarter of a million people to St. Peter's Square. "The world tuned in for this beautiful moment," Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia said, speaking to OSV News from Rome shortly after the liturgy's conclusion. Like many of the tens of thousands in Rome, the arch- bishop and close to 100 arch- diocesan pilgrims had initially prepared for a journey centered on the planned canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis, the 21st- century Italian teen whose short life was marked by a profound devotion to the Eucharist, a spirit of evangelization and a love for the Church. With Pope Francis' death on April 21, Blessed Carlo's canonization was suspended by the Vatican, although the April 27 Mass for the close of the April 25-27 Jubilee of Teenag- ers would still be celebrated. For Archbishop Pérez, being in St. Peter's Square evoked memories of being "many times at Wednesday audiences" with Pope Francis. He recalled pre- senting a delegation of young people to the pope in 2022, and taking a selfie together with the pontiff. "He was so gracious to them," Archbishop Pérez said, noting "there was a sadness" in the realization that Pope Francis "won't be doing that anymore." He said the "throngs of youth" and young adults on hand at the funeral gave the appearance of a "mini World Youth Day." Theresa Evans, a 28-year-old office manager from Levittown, Pennsylvania, told OSV News the funeral Mass and commen- dation prayers—which together were offered in Latin, English, Spanish and Greek —"felt like one, true, apostolic church that transcends cultures." A number of those present were stirred by the litany, said Vincent LeVien, director of ex- ternal affairs at DeSales Media Group in Brooklyn, New York. LeVien, who along with his wife and two children was seated among the families of the Vatican's Swiss Guards, told OSV News, "When they were singing the litany of the saints ... a lot of people were getting emotional." Archbishop Pérez noted the liturgy's inclusion of a prayer taken from the funeral office of the Byzantine liturgy— chanted in Greek by patriarchs from several of the 23 Eastern Catholic churches that, with the Latin Catholic Church led by the Bishop of Rome, form the global Catholic Church -- was a "very beautiful, beautiful moment" that showed "church breathes with two lungs, (the) East and West." For Bernardo Gonzalez, another sound was memorable —the applause that broke out when Pope Francis' casket was laid before the high altar. "It must have lasted—I don't know how many min- utes," said Gonzalez, director of tour management for Vir- ginia-based ProRome Tours. He said they were "applaud- ing a man who gave his life in service of the church." He added, "That's the beauty of the papacy: a man who is just a man -- who has his mistakes, who has fallen just like the rest of us -- but somebody who the Holy Spirit has selected to guide the church." Gonzalez also pointed to the homily by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the Col- lege of Cardinals, who presided over the papal funeral Mass. "You could tell he had a very deep, very personal relationship with the pope," said Gonzalez, adding the cardinal addressed the throngs in St. Peter's Square "as if he were speaking to a small room of people about a very, very close friend." A sense of intimacy and joy was felt even among pilgrims who were unable to access the square due to the sheer volume of people and the security mea- sures in place. Mary Bea Damico—who had traveled to Rome amid a family "whirlwind tour" of Italy, expecting to attend the Acutis canonization — said she was staying "just outside" the Vati- can, with security constraints and crowds making it "impos- sible to move anywhere." As a result, the family group ended up walking "for hours" around the perimeter of St. Peter's. "We wanted to be close to it," said Damico, a board mem- ber for the Malvern Retreat Center in Malvern, Pennsylva- nia, and a driving force behind that organization's Blessed Carlo Acutis Shrine and Center for Eucharistic Encounter. Her daughter, 28-year-old Sarah Damico, told OSV News that the crowds on the street exuded a "positive energy and a hopeful spirit." "They maintained that joy," said Damico, who teaches third grade at Sts. Peter and Paul School in West Chester, Pennsylvania. She added the crowd's outlook mirrored Pope Francis' "desire to communicate the love of God for all people …without any boundaries or limitations." U.S. Catholics join in Pope Francis' funeral Susana Vera/Reuters, OSV News The faithful pray during the funeral Mass of Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on April 26.