New Delhi: Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, has died, at 88 years, a day after making an appearance at Saint Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday. He was recognised as a humble pontiff, a progressive Pope and a global voice for peace, and justice. His compassion for the poor and marginalised and his love and hopes for humanity have been remembered by many. The Vatican has confirmed his death in a statement. Pope Francis died a day after making an appearance at Saint Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday. He was 88 years old.
The Vatican said in a statement that that the pope died at 7.35 AM (local time). Pope Francis had the reputation of an outspoken reformer a radical voice from the church. He was the first to occupy the highest position of the Catholic Church from Latin America. The Vatican News noted that in the 12 years of his pontificate, Pope Francis visited as many as 68 countries “giving life to a tireless mission to take the Word of God and the comfort of His love to the whole human family.” Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis was the son of Italian immigrants in Argentina.
The pope’s last message to the world through his official account on X was to observe Easter. “Christ is risen! These words capture the entire meaning of our existence, for we were not made for death but for life,” he had written. Even during his last full address, the pope, who was known for speaking on the marginalised, had said spoken against violence.
“What a great thirst for death, for killing, we witness each day in the many conflicts raging in different parts of our world! How much violence we see, often even within families, directed at women and children! How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants!”
Pope Francis was also aware of and spoke against ecological damage done to the earth by humans. In 2015, his letter to Roman Catholic bishops took many Catholics by surprise with its uncompromising conclusions and call for an in-depth transformation of our lifestyles.
Stop the killings in Gaza: Pope Francis
One commentator on X, formerly twitter quoted from his tenure as the pontiff of the Catholic Church. “𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙄 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧𝙨, 𝙄 𝙖𝙨𝙠 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛, “𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙢𝙚?” – The Pope after his Good Friday visit to Rome’s Regina Coeli jail. An unfailing support for a lasting peace in Gaza, he had publicly commented, and strongly against Israeli bombings:
“Yesterday, children were bombed. This is cruelty. This is not war.”
Against Ecocide: Pope Francis
A piece on Conversation says: “For the “green” pope, the aim was to raise public awareness around the challenges of global warming by creating a relational approach that included God, human beings and the Earth. It was the first time an encyclical had been devoted wholly to ecology.”
2018: Sharp comments on child abuse in the Church
Though long overdue, but Pope Francis’s letter of condemnation and apology regarding the abuse of children by Catholic priests did sent a few ripples of comfort and reckoning. He conceded that the Church “showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them”. He acknowledged the “heart-wrenching pain” of the victims who had been assaulted by the clerical class, and the cries “long ignored, kept quiet or silenced”. Sabrangindia had reported on this: “With shame and repentance,” went the Pope’s grave words, “we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives.”
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The Tree of Life affirmed by Pope Francis in Bahrain