Pope Francis: a legacy of compassion and change

THE last few months, in which Pope Francis has been dangerously sick, should have prepared us for his passing. Nevertheless, the news of his death on Monday morning still came as a shock to many.

- RAYMOND PERRIER

For Christians, who have been marking the festivals of Holy Week, it is especially poignant.

We have just celebrated Easter Sunday with the focus on new life and resurrection. Wasn’t Francis’ death out of step with that message? Of course, the very opposite is true. Francis dying as Christians were celebrating the Resurrection is a reminder that Christians should always be focused, not just on the life on this earth, but also on the life to come.

In this, Francis’ death mirrored John Paul II who, in 2005, also died just a few days after Easter Sunday. The use of impactful symbolism was something that links the papacies of Francis and John Paul, even if in so many ways they were different. They both understood that, in the world of modern media, their gestures would have a greater impact than their words.

Thus, in the wake of the clerical abuse scandal, Francis realised that, whatever words of apology were offered, nothing would show his desire for reparation better than his willingness to meet face to face with people who had been abused by priests. That while his public writings about reaching out to other faiths were important, it was his visits to a number of Muslim-majority countries (UAE, Indonesia, Iraq, Bangladesh and Morocco) and to Israel that showed how important such reconciliation was to him.

That it mattered that he used words that welcomed LGBTQI people instead of condemning them, but the sight of him hugging an openly gay couple was even more significant.