For several weeks we were praying for Pope Francis as he was seriously ill. Given his age, his health and the huge responsibility that was certainly burdening him, we knew that we were praying for him not to suffer and to be at peace when it was time for him to go. For him to ask to be taken to the balcony to see the crowds and to wave to them with a smile on Easter was such a wonderful gesture. As we know today, it was his goodbye to the world. A true “goodbye” in the original meaning of the phrase “God be with you”. He died in the year that he dedicated to hope, and on Easter, our celebration of hope and eternal life.

I honestly believe that Pope Francis did what he thought was best for the Catholics and for the world. Like Francis of Assisi, he saw the interconnectedness of all Creation – human beings as well as animals and the Earth.
Every person, every creature and the Earth need to be treated with respect. As Pope Francis once he said: “If we took the planet’s temperature, it will tell us that the Earth has a fever. And it is sick”.
The other aspect for which Francis of Assisi is known is to reach out to members of other religions. More than 800 years ago, during very troubled times, he met with the Sultan of Egypt.
Pope Francis died in the 60^th year after the conclusion of Vatican II and the document “Nostra Aetate” which opened Catholics to the opportunity to engage in interreligious dialogue.
Pope Francis practiced this dialogue. He often received people of other faiths or visited them.

We Catholics have the expression of a Universal Church, but it is in some way a “Colonial Church” with traditions that have been very much centred on Rome and Central Europe. Pope Francis has opened the horizons. His parents were migrants who were looking for a better life in Argentina. He knew about the struggles of migrants, and he knew that many migrants had their dreams shattered by a harsh reality in their new home country.

Pope Francis connected Italy and Central Europe with Latin America. A connection made up of migration, of hopes and dreams, of joys and disappointments – and of tears and laughter.
With his family migrating from Italy to Argentina, they would have felt like moving to the ends of the Earth. Maybe that’s why he had a deep concern for the people at the peripheries.
Unfortunately, he didn’t make it to the country furthest away from Rome, New Zealand.

Mercy and compassion were at the heart of Pope Francis’ agenda. He started his papacy with the declaration of the Year of Mercy.
He might have thought that this pastoral approach would solve most issues. However, his experience will certainly have shown him that this was not enough. One of our most famous saints who lived about 800 years ago, St Thomas Aquinus, once said: “Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; justice without mercy is cruelty.”

The extent of the abuse committed or covered up by clergy would have been first a shock for Pope Francis and then a painful reality. A mitre of thorns he had to carry at all times.
He certainly tried to “tidy up”, but the entanglement of so many clergy men made the cleanup more and more difficult.
I think that Pope Francis would have hoped that any perpetrator would face their wrongdoings and agree to be held accountable. Repent, repair and deal with the consequences. I don’t think that Pope Francis wanted to be a judge who condemns even a perpetrator – especially if that person denies his guilt. We need to remember that mercy and justice are terms that concern at least two parties: the alleged victim and the alleged perpetrator. Both need to be heard equally, and both need to be taken seriously.

Pope Francis often pointed out that we were all equal – but this seems to stop when it comes to gender. The argument for male priesthood is often that women have “other important” roles….
In this context, I wish I could have heard the sentence: “Who am I to judge?” In fact, what if a woman feels called to priesthood? Will she be told to ignore this call?
We live in a time when many countries complain that there is a lack of priests. Would a man be ordained a priest, because of the lack of priests – rather than a call to priesthood?

Women have a lot to offer. As a bishop once said to me, the women are the backbone of the Church. How much outreach has been done to women who are not blessed with children?
These are often women who have dedicated so much time and energy to their communities and the Church, but they are taken for granted. What about the marginalised in this case?

So, there is still a lot to do in the Catholic Church.
I think that Pope Francis has been a good pastor. He has started many good initiatives. However, we now need a Pope who is ready to continue this work with determination. We need someone who sees all people who are marginalised: the lonely, the sick, the poor, the vulnerable, the neglected, the “non-man” and the “non-parent”. In short: all of Creation.

Pope Francis left us with a barely started Year of Hope. We are all pilgrims of hope – we are all in the same boat…

May the cardinals listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and decide on a good leader for us to further clean up our Church and make it a beautiful place of welcome and hope.

BM