Easter Monday arrives with the sad news of the death of Pope Francis. Just yesterday, the Holy Father spent time with the faithful in Vatican City. Many of our Spring Romers were among those faithful who were blessed and encouraged by Pope Francis during his last day among us.
In a reflection published this morning in First Things, Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia, Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M., remarks of Pope Francis, “He devoted himself to serving the Church and her people in ways that he felt the times demanded. As a brother in the faith, and a successor of Peter, he deserves our ongoing prayers for his eternal life in the presence of the God he loved.” Indeed, he does.
Pope Francis’ call to care for the poor resonated with Christians worldwide. He shepherded a vibrant 21st century Church, whose numbers are growing in Latin America, Africa, Asia and even winning millennial converts in the U.S. and Europe.
As we turn our attention to Pope Francis’s funeral, we should also keep former Bishop of Dallas and longtime University of Dallas board member, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, in our prayers. Cardinal Farrell serves as Camerlengo, the duties of whom include running the temporal affairs of the Catholic Church during this interregnum.
In his last homily, delivered on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis remarked, “Brothers and sisters, this is the greatest hope of our life: we can live this poor, fragile and wounded existence clinging to Christ, because he has conquered death, he conquers our darkness and he will conquer the shadows of the world, to make us live with him in joy, forever. This is the goal towards which we press on, as the Apostle Paul says, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead (cf. Phil 3:12-14). Like Mary Magdalene, Peter and John, we hasten to meet Christ.”
As we pray for our Church and our next Pontiff, let us especially pray for Pope Francis as he hastens to meet Christ.
Sincerely,
Jonathan J. Sanford, PhD
President | Professor of Philosophy
University of Dallas