With the passing of Pope Francis, I really feel disappointment but in addition gratitude for what he contributed not solely to the Church but in addition to humanity extra extensively. They’re presents of peace, simplicity, and solidarity with the poor.
Peace
Pope Francis was a proponent of peace, typically working to encourage it each in world occasions and between people. In his message for the 2025 World Day of Peace, he spoke of the necessity for “disarming” our hearts. We will typically be defensive and construct up methods to guard ourselves such that we don’t do what is required to attain peace. If I really feel afraid of what you would possibly do to me and react defensively to really feel protected, then the prospect for peace is lessened. But when I can disarm my coronary heart, and the opposite particular person can as nicely, then we will join in a shared sense of vulnerability, a shared sense that we’re all human and all in want of a bit generosity.
Maybe this idea hearkens again to St. Ignatius’s motion of laying down his sword at Manresa, as he put away the lifetime of a soldier and took up a lifetime of examine and repair. Ignatius gave away the weapon that protected him and led a life extra depending on others. Francis requested us to disarm ourselves from hostility, concern, and self-centeredness as a path to peace.
Simplicity
Pope Francis practiced intentional simplicity. We would keep in mind when he first grew to become pope and refused the extra elaborate mozetta, or embroidered stole, and as an alternative selected to put on a easy white cassock to greet the trustworthy at St. Peter’s for the primary time. He insisted on carrying his personal baggage and driving the bus with all his brethren cardinals fairly than receiving particular therapy after his election.
At his funeral, he was not positioned in a conventional three-coffin association however in a easy open coffin, as he had requested. He selected to be buried on the Basilica of St. Mary Main, close to a favourite icon of the Madonna. His want mirrored his perspective of simplicity all through his papacy, one which we’re invited to share, whether or not we resist consumerism to take care of the planet or simply resist making ourselves the focal point. From starting to finish, Francis’s papacy mirrored the concept of the Precept and Basis to not care an excessive amount of about honor or dishonor, however to position God on the heart.
Solidarity
Pope Francis additionally reminded us that Jesus stood in solidarity with those that are poor and marginalized, and we should always too. Each early in his papacy and in his final days, Francis visited prisons and consoled these dwelling in conflict zones. He urged us to take care of the poor and to face with them, not forgetting their wants in creating insurance policies. With Laudato Si’, he reminded us that the earth is our “frequent residence” and that it, too—certainly all dwelling issues—wants our solidarity.
As we await the election of a brand new pope, I’m grateful for the ways in which Pope Francis modeled peacefulness, simplicity, and solidarity for us all.
