There are so many assessments about the gift God has given us in the life and ministry of Pope Francis. But I was particularly moved by Vaticanista Gerard O’Connell’s poignant reflection in America – ‘A final goodbye to my friend, Pope Francis.’
Gerard recounts that in his last hours, the 88-year-old pope thanked his personal nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, who had encouraged him to go around St Peter’s Square in the Popemobile on Easter Sunday, saying: “Thank you for bringing me back to the square.” The Vatican said these were his last words.
Even in his last moments, Francis was displaying one of the loveliest and inspiring qualities that have endeared him to so many millions: he was such a good human being who actually lived the Gospel.
As Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna said: “The most striking thing was that he (Francis) was normal, that he was characterised by a completely normal humanity. I always stayed at the Santa Marta guesthouse when I was in Rome, at the Vatican. And I repeatedly spoke to the staff, the cleaning lady, the servants in the dining room, and asked: What is he like?
“For example, I was told that he came into the staff dining room and said: ‘Today I have no one at my table, I’m coming to you for lunch.’ It was this simplicity that you encountered him in the elevator, in the hallway, in the dining room. Right from the start, he said: ‘I have to live among people, otherwise I’ll end up in a madhouse’,” Cardinal Schönborn said.
Yes, our brother Pope Francis had warmth and deep concern for the beauty and dignity of all persons. He tirelessly reached out to remind the Church and the world of our responsibilities for the poor, refugees, the suffering, the environment, families and all those alienated from the Church.
And above all, he reminded us that as disciples, we are all called to accompany people in our lives. As American writer and contributor to Commonweal, Paul Elie, puts it so memorably: “Francis has shown us again and again what it means for Catholics and the Church to accompany others. The Francis way of accompaniment is – you meet people where they are. You presume the good in them and hope that they will presume the good in you. You have a conversation. You open your mind and heart: you prepare to learn something from them. You go where they are going, if only for a little while, trusting that something good will come of it. You keep your wits about you, but you don’t let scruples rule you.”
Pope Francis has lunch with the poor, refugees and prisoners on 17 October, 2017. Image: Vatican Media
The graceless critics of Pope Francis
Rather sadly, however, there were some in the Church, who stubbornly refused to accept the gift of Pope Francis’ wisdom and leadership.
Many of them relentlessly spend their time weaponising every possible angle or story to damage the legacy of our late Holy Father.
They claimed that our contemporaries need more ‘clarity’ and doctrinal truth. Hence, they complained Francis was just too ‘fuzzy’. For me, that’s simply a massive oversimplification of the relationship between faith and culture.
And let’s get one thing clear. Francis was neither ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’. He was simply a radical disciple of Jesus of Nazareth who lived the Gospel.
And in any case, I just don’t trust the ‘good faith’ of these vociferous anti-Francis complainants. Often their ideas and theories are simply used to hide agendas that have more to do with people’s personality structure, wounds and deeper resentments than anything to do with Gospel truth. I doubt they will treat Leo XIV any better…
The gift of the Latin American Church
When all is said and done, every Pope brings a special gift to the Church and the wider world.
Francis’s gift emerged from the lived experience of the Church in Latin America. A church that heroically implemented the Second Vatican Council amidst great suffering and persecution.
The Claretian priest Pedro Casaldáliga, who was bishop emeritus of the Amazonian diocese of São Félix do Araguaia, Brazil, once penned a prophetic poem – ‘Deixa a Cúria, Pedro!’
Here is an English translation of the poem – it is a virtual summary of what Francis achieved in his Petrine ministry:
Leave the Curia, Peter!
Leave the Curia, Peter,
disassemble the Sanhedrin and the walls,
order all the impeccable scrolls to be changed
to words of life and love.
Let us go to the garden of the banana plantations,
undercover and by night, at any risk,
for there, the Master sweats the blood of the poor.
The tunic/vestment is this humble disfigured flesh,
so many cries of children unanswered,
and memories embroidered
with the anonymous dead.
A legion of mercenaries
besieges the frontier of the rising dawn
and Caesar blesses them in his arrogance.
In the tidy bowl, Pilate, legalistic and cowardly,
washes himself.
The people are just a “remnant”,
a remnant of hope.
Leave them not alone among the guards and princes.
It’s time to sweat with His agony,
It’s time to drink the chalice of the poor,
lift the cross, devoid of certainties,
shatter the building
— law and seal — of the Roman tomb,
and wake up to
Easter.
Tell them, tell us all
that the grotto of Bethlehem,
the Beatitudes,
and the judgement of love as food,
remain in force and steadfast.
Be no longer troubled!
As you love Him,
love us,
simply,
as an equal, brother.
Give us, with your smiles, your new tears
the fish of joy,
the bread of the word,
roses of embers …
… the clarity of the untrammelled horizon,
the Sea of Galilee,
ecumenically open to the world.
What a grace to have lived at a time when Pope Francis prophetically lived out this very poem in front of our eyes.
Br Mark O’Connor is Editor of Catholic Outlook & Vicar for Communications in the Diocese of Parramatta.
This article was originally published in the 2025 Ordinary Time | Winter edition of the Catholic Outlook Magazine. You can read the digital version here or pick up a copy in your local parish.
