Sophia McCrackin
Hours after blessing an Easter crowd in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis died at age 88 after suffering a stroke during the early hours of Monday morning, April 21.
On April 25, scores of Bay Area mourners gathered at St. Ignatius Church for a Mass of Resurrection in his memory. The Mass was given by St. Agnes Parish, St. Ignatius Parish, St. Ignatius College Preparatory, the Ignatian Spiritual Life Center and the University of San Francisco, all Jesuit institutions. This event was particularly poignant for the Jesuit order as Francis was the first Jesuit to be elected pope. Approximately a dozen Jesuits filled the altar, which was still adorned with garlands of Easter flowers. Parishioners, students and USF employees filled the pews.
“Seeing the outpouring of attendees was moving, a profound celebration of the very life and legacy of our former pope,” said Randon Ranquillo, a first year nursing major and the president of USF’s Catholic Student Fellowship. “I thank USF, St. Ignatius Parish, and the University Ministry for giving out Catholic students and faculty a chance to formally say goodbye.”
Rev. John Fitzgibbons, S.J. began the homily with a reading of “In the Valley of the Elwy,” a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins.
“What is known of Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio of the Society of Jesus?” asked Fizgibbons. “He lived in hope.”
“He was a courageous global leader, a champion of the poor who eschewed many of the traditional trappings of the papacy for a humble, charismatic style,” said Fitzgibbons, USF’s interim president, in a statement to the USF community on April 21.
Aside from being the first Jesuit pope, Francis’s leadership marked several other milestones in the history of the Catholic Church. He was the first Latin American pope and is considered by some to be the most progressive pope in history. He rejected the glamorous trappings of the position and made a point of championing the poor and the suffering. Up until his health prevented him, he had been called members of the only Catholic church in Gaza to see how they were faring each night.
“I think Francis’s greatest legacy is revealed in his actions as pope,” said Erin Brigham, director of the Lane Center for Catholic Social Thought. “[In] celebrating his birthday with unhoused neighbors, visiting borders to walk with migrants and refugees [and] washing the feet of incarcerated people each Holy Thursday. He made the Gospel message– nonviolence and liberation for the oppressed and excluded– real and visible. Francis believed that realities are more important than ideas and I think his legacy will prove this to be true.”
Shortly before his death, Francis wrote a foreword to a book about marriage for young Catholics which has not yet been published. His letter, “On Tango, and Lasting Marriage,” was published in the New York Times on April 28. “Believe in love, believe in God, and believe that you are capable of taking on the adventure of a love that lasts a lifetime,” wrote Francis. “Love wants to be permanent; ‘until further notice’ isn’t love. We humans have the desire to be accepted without reservations, and those who do not have this experience often — unknowingly — carry a wound for the rest of their lives. Instead, those who enter into a union lose nothing, but gain everything: life at its fullest.”
“Pope Francis’s passion to assert that the Catholic Church’s mission was to proclaim that the doors to the church were open to all,” said Kobi Grossman, a third year politics major. “As a young, gay Catholic, my journey of faith was shaped by Pope Francis’s legacy,” said Grossman. “His messages of mercy and hope were what led me back into the church after feeling like I was rejected from the faith community.”
Francis’s legacy includes his outspoken commitment to a wide range of issues. These included the environment and the Church’s relationship with the Catholic LGBTQ community. “He loved without judging, and was willing to learn a new way forward for the Church. Always in love, always respectful,” said Rev. Donal Godfrey, S.J., a USF Chaplain who is gay.
Catholics around the world mourned Francis’s death. The BBC estimated that 50,000 people gathered outside St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City to pay their respects to the pope, who lay in state in the church on Thursday and Friday, before being laid to rest in St. Mary Major Basilica on Saturday. In Francis’s hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the San Lorenzo soccer club, which the late pontiff supported from boyhood, gathered for Mass to honor his legacy at the church where Francis, formerly Jorge Mario Bergoglio had preached before he became pope.
“These past few weeks have been filled with sorrow and disbelief. Pope Francis has led the Church for nearly my entire life and it’s hard to imagine anyone else in his place,” said Ronquillo.
The conclave, or process to elect a successor to Franics, who held the role for 12 years, will begin on May 7.
“Pope Francis has had a profound impact on my life,” said Godfrey. “I am proud of him as a fellow Jesuit for standing up for the marginalized peoples all over the world, reaching out beyond the confines of the Catholic church to people of good will, leading in regard to environmental issues, most especially with the letter Laudato Si’ and having an enormous heart.”
“At this time, the world needs leaders such as Francis more than ever,” he said. “In many ways he has been the moral conscience of the world. His legacy is huge.”
Editor-in-Chief: Jordan Premmer; Managing Editor: Jordan DelFuigo; Chief of Copy: Sophia McCrackin; News Editor: Deeya Gupta; Sports Editor: John Lindroos
