The life and heritage of Pope Francis – a pontiff who challenged an easy definition and led the Roman Catholic Church through a dozen years of different phases and contradictions – are not easy to integrate into a single homily.
But it was the task of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the Cardinals College on Saturday.
“He was a pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone,” said Cardinal Ret next to the coffin of Francis since the marches of Place Saint-Pierre. “He was also a pope attentive to the signs of the time and what the Holy Spirit woke up in the church.”
While the cardinals took place around him were preparing to go to a conclave next month to choose the successor of François, the Cardinal Re, 91, avoided obvious political connotations. But by highlighting Francis’ pastoral and inclusive approach, and his humble style, Cardinal Re tribute sought to remind the dozens of thousands of faithful in Saint -Pierre square, the dozens of assembled heads of state and dignitaries, and – perhaps the most important – the cardinals responsible for choosing the replacement of Francis which made his element so important inside and outside the church.
“The guiding thread of its mission was also the conviction that the church is a house for all, a house with its doors always open,” said Cardinal Re.
He said that Francis had spread the faith with a feeling of joy, a “great spontaneity and an informal way of addressing everyone” and a spirit “of welcome and listening”. But Francis also “really shared the anxieties, suffering and hopes for this period of globalization”.
President Trump sat a few meters away, Cardinal Re recalled the trip from Fire Pope to the border between Mexico and the United States, one of his many “gestures and exhortations in favor of refugees and displaced people”, when Francis spoke of the need to “build bridges, not walls”.
Cardinal Re said that Francis’ pastoral style and the “resolved personality” had immediately marked the church, and that the pontiff had been “eager to be close to everyone, with marked attention to those who are in difficulty, giving himself without measure, in particular to the marginalized, the least among us”.
The cardinal spoke of the rise of Francis through the hierarchy to become a pope and declared his decision to take the name of Francis, after the medieval saint devoted himself to taking care of the poor, “immediately seemed to indicate the pastoral plan and the style on which he wanted to base his pontificate”.
He described Francis as a simple pastor who until his last day followed the traces of Jesus, who loved his herd “to the point of giving them his life”, because he thought he was better to give than to receive.
Cardinal RE has traveled Francis’ stages in the church, his environmental protection, his work healing injuries between religions, including a document on human fraternity that he signed with Muslim leaders in the United Arab Emirates, and his frequent calls to stop war and conflicts. He recalled how Francis physically reached out to the outskirts of the world, seeking to cure wounds and spread seeds of faith.
“The outpouring of affection which we have witnessed in recent days after its passage from this earth to eternity tells us how the deep pontificate of Pope Francis touched the spirits and hearts,” said Cardinal Re.
He said that the sustainable image of Francis would be that of Easter Sunday, the day before his death when, although he was obviously sick, he came to a balcony overlooking Saint-Pierre square to deliver his blessing and then praised the crowd.
Recalling that Francis has often put an end to talks with an invitation to pray for him, the cardinal concluded: “Dear Pope Francis, we now ask you to pray for us.”
