The life and legacy of Pope Francis — a pontiff who defied simple definition and led the Roman Catholic Church by means of a dozen years of various phases and contradictions — will not be simple to suit right into a single homily.
However that was the duty for Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the School of Cardinals, on Saturday.
“He was a pope among the many individuals, with an open coronary heart towards everybody,” Cardinal Re mentioned beside Francis’ coffin from the steps of St. Peter’s Sq.. “He was additionally a pope attentive to the indicators of the occasions and what the Holy Spirit was awakening within the church.”
Because the cardinals arrayed round him ready to go right into a conclave subsequent month to decide on Francis’ successor, Cardinal Re, 91, averted apparent political overtones. However by highlighting Francis’ pastoral and inclusive method, and his humble type, Cardinal Re’s tribute sought to remind the tens of hundreds of devoted at St. Peter’s Sq., the handfuls of assembled heads of state and dignitaries, and — maybe most vital — the cardinals liable for selecting Francis’s substitute what made him such an esteemed determine inside and outdoors the church.
“The guiding thread of his mission was additionally the conviction that the church is a house for all, a house with its doorways at all times open,” Cardinal Re mentioned.
He mentioned that Francis had unfold the religion with a way of pleasure, a “nice spontaneity and an off-the-cuff method of addressing everybody,” and a spirit of “welcome and listening.” However Francis additionally “really shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time of globalization.”
With President Trump seated a number of yards away, Cardinal Re recalled the late pope’s journey to the border between Mexico and the United States, one in all his many “gestures and exhortations in favor of refugees and displaced individuals,” when Francis spoke of the necessity to “construct bridges, not partitions.”
Cardinal Re mentioned that Francis’ pastoral type and “resolute persona” had instantly made a mark on the church, and that the pontiff had been “wanting to be near everybody, with a marked consideration to these in problem, giving himself with out measure, particularly to the marginalized, the least amongst us.”
The Cardinal spoke of Francis’ rise by means of the hierarchy to turn into pope and mentioned his resolution to take the identify Francis, after the medieval saint devoted to caring for the poor, “instantly appeared to point the pastoral plan and elegance on which he needed to base his hold forth.”
He described Francis as a easy pastor who till his final day adopted within the footsteps of Jesus, who liked his flock “to the purpose of giving his life for them,” as a result of he believed it was higher to offer than to obtain.
Cardinal Re walked by means of Francis’ milestones within the church, his safety of the surroundings, his work therapeutic wounds between religions, together with a doc on human fraternity that he signed with Muslim leaders within the United Arab Emirates, and his frequent calls to cease struggle and battle. He recalled how Francis bodily reached out to the world’s peripheries, in search of to heal wounds and unfold seeds of religion.
“The outpouring of affection that we have now witnessed in latest days following his passing from this Earth into eternity tells us how a lot the profound hold forth of Pope Francis touched minds and hearts,” Cardinal Re mentioned.
He mentioned the enduring picture of Francis could be that of Easter Sunday, the day earlier than his loss of life when, regardless of being clearly ailing, he got here to a balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Sq. to ship his blessing after which greeted the group.
Recalling that Francis usually ended talks with an invite to wish for him, the cardinal concluded, “Expensive Pope Francis, we now ask you to wish for us.”
