THE POPE OF PEACE AND HOPE - BURIED

 

Cardinal Bychok, who leads the Ukrainian Catholic eparchy of Melbourne (Australia), said in a tribute to Pope Francis that reflects the thoughts of many as today we bury the Holy Father:  

 “Each Pontiff imparts his own personal character on the Church. The Holy Father Francis was a Pope for the marginalized and those on the periphery. He was a man of simple piety who strove to bring the Church closer to people. His gave freely of his gifts and had a unique personal approach to all he met.

 Pope Francis was a Pope of peace. In a world devastated by war he called for peace and justice… the Holy Father was a strong defender of life and the dignity of every person. He worked for the healing of divisions between East and West and for a greater understanding of other faiths, building on that which we have in common rather than our differences.

 Building on the work of his illustrious predecessor Benedict XVI of blessed memory, Pope Francis apologized to survivors of abuse and set in place simpler procedures to deal with perpetrators. He began to implement a culture of safeguarding for the most vulnerable. Work that must continue into the future.

 I ask all Catholics and people of good will to pray for the eternal repose of the late Holy Father giving thanks for his life and the gifts that he freely shared.”

In another tribute, Father Arturo Sosa, SJ, superior general of the Society of Jesus, reflected on the first Jesuit pope, saying Pope Francis “did not seek to please everyone” or to measure himself by a popularity index. Once he chose to be a disciple of Jesus, his deep motivation in life was to put God’s will into practice…. He was “a man of prayer, who asked for prayers to make decisions according to the will of God.”

 “Pope Francis helped put the difference of positions on the table. I don’t think of Pope Francis as a reformer. I think of him as someone who continued the reform that the Church has always carried out.”

 “Pope Francis’ most urgent legacy for today will be his calls for peace. I think Pope Francis has shouted in every moment, on every occasion, about peace. The world needs peace and peace is built by us. Peace means to put aside any other priority than people and the dignity of people. And peace means justice with the poor. I think the constant prayer and the constant argument about peace by Pope Francis is a very important message for today.”

It is not a coincidence that Pope Francis died part way through 2025, in the year he had proclaimed a Jubilee of HOPE, for many have called him the pope of Hope.

In his own words, the Holy Father written:  “In times like the ones we are living, in which the Third World War being fought ‘piecemeal’ that is unfolding before our eyes can lead us to assume attitudes of gloomy discouragement and ill-concealed cynicism.”

Hope is “the hinge on which the world remains standing, despite all the wickedness and nefariousness caused by our sins as men and women.

To hope, then, is to welcome this gift that God offers us every day. To hope is to savor the wonder of being loved, sought, desired by a God who has not shut Himself away in His impenetrable heavens but has made Himself flesh and blood, history and days, to share our lot.”