Monday, April 28, 2025

Lay leaders offer a new future for our church (Opinion)

A constant mantra today is that everything is changing and that all we can be sure of is that everything will keep changing. Some people are frightened by this, preferring to put the wagons in a circle and to try to keep change at bay. 

Trying, Canute-like, to keep the tide out and finding themselves holding grimly to some jagged rock with the seeds of change threatening to envelop them. Others embrace change, seeing freedom and possibility and life in the altering patterns of society today.

I’m in the second constituency. I believe that this is a wonderful time to be alive. Despite our present worries about the anarchy that Trump is visiting on the world and on us, we are conscious of the prosperity we now enjoy. And of our progressive educational system. And the ethos of accountability and transparency in Irish public life. And for so much more. 

While it’s natural to sometimes look back fondly on the past, who in their right mind would want to live in the dismal 1950s in comparison to the land of freedom and opportunity we now enjoy.

The same is true of the Roman Catholic Church. Isn't it a wonderful time to be a Catholic now, as the future opens up all kinds of possibilities. Remember when we were told that it was a serious sin to eat a rasher on a Friday. 

Or for a priest not to read the designated breviary within a specified time frame of 24 hours – Greenwich time notwithstanding. It was a land of rules and regulations, when in John O’Donohue’s words, ‘you could hardly stir at all without committing a sin’. A land of debilitating subservience and obedience.

Then we were told to grow up. That, in effect, was what the Second Vatican Council (1962-'65) represented. Inevitably there was confusion and insecurity but there was too a glorious sense of freedom and ease. And the greatest freedom of all was the knowledge that change, in terms of church, is not something to be avoided or defined out of existence but the great constant in any institution that wishes to survive and grow.

That’s why the recent commissioning of 62 adult women and men as ‘Lay leaders’ in Killala diocese had such an inspiring and uplifting effect on those who attended a memorable Mass of the Chrism in Ballina Cathedral. After participating in a course in the Newman Institute spanning two years and three months, the 62 graduated with a Certificate in Lay Leadership: Theology, Culture and Ministry on March 28th, and on Tuesday, April 15th, they were commissioned in a number of lay ministries, not least in Funeral ministry, in which they will co-lead all the standard elements of a funeral liturgy – praying for the deceased in their home or in a funeral home, receiving the remains at the church, leading the final prayers after the funeral Mass and the prayers at the graveside; in effect, every element apart from the funeral Mass.

It looks as if this initiative seems simply a reaction to the steep decline in priest numbers but its purpose is more fundamental than that. It represents a release of what Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich at a Roman Synod once called ‘the sleeping giant of the laity’ – the lavish gifts that the people in the pews enjoy but that, up to now, were not given a credible opportunity to use. Now, not just because of priest numbers but because, by virtue of their baptism, the rights of ‘lay’ women and men to exercise their gifts in the service of their church, in co-operation with the priests, is being facilitated.

This change was graphically illustrated as the 35 priests of Killala diocese (in their vestments) joined in procession with the 62 lay leaders wearing their white albs (representing their baptismal garment). At one level it represented 62 women and men, bringing to bear on parish ministry the addition of their faith, energy and commitment, enhancing the pastoral care of the people of our parishes; but, at another level, it represented, in the combined strength of numbers – 90 in all, or should I say, so far – of priests and lay leaders working together in putting their shoulders to the wheel to enhance the service of the people.

It represents too an official diocesan endorsement of the imperative and substance that lay leaders, working side-by-side with their priests, offer the Catholic Church at this critical juncture in our history. The world-weary and the cynical may quote Eric Erickson’s adage about institutions only changing with they have to change but surely there is a providential imperative of change now at work in the Roman Catholic Church.

Even though the gap between the ending of the Second Vatican Council and the present time is all of 60 years ago this year – and so many opportunities for bringing the insights of that council to bear on our Church were lost and sometimes jettisoned along the way – Pope John XXIII’s calling of the Council which produced a series of fundamental documents voted through by up to 90%-plus of the bishops of the world received, just over a decade or so ago, the shot in the arm it needed when Francis I was elected pope.

The commissioning of 62 lay leaders a week or so ago represents an historic step backwards to embrace the vision of a People’s Church represented by the documents of Vatican Two as well as a confident step forward in realising the potential in Killala diocese for a developing appreciation of the lavish gifts lay ministries now offer to our parishes and our Church.

At a parish level, that change was graphically represented too when Noeleen O’Connell (née Healy), one of the 62, on Tuesday last co-led with her parish priest, Michael Gilroy, the funeral liturgies for her mother, Eileen Healy, in Templeboy Church. If at a diocesan level, in Ballina Cathedral, our hearts lifted at the sight of serried ranks of lay leaders being afforded their rightful place in the work of our parishes, how, even more so for the Healy family, to witness their sister in her alb representing her baptismal garment, co-leading their mother’s funeral Mass. How must the angels have danced in heaven as Eileen was reunited with her late husband, Noel, and rewarded for the faith, the hope and the love they and their family have borne witness to for so long?

Thanks be to God.

Letter from Pope Francis reportedly bans Becciu from conclave

The Vatican Secretary of State has reportedly unveiled a letter signed by Pope Francis, clarifying that convicted Cardinal Angelo Becciu cannot attend the upcoming conclave.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin showed the letter to Becciu Thursday night, the Italian newspaper Domani reported.

Domani said Parolin allegedly had two typed letters, signed “F” by Pope Francis, indicating that Becciu could not participate in the conclave that will elect Francis’ successor - one letter from 2023 and another from last month during the pope’s illness.

As the senior cardinal bishop of voting age, Parolin presides over the assembly of cardinal electors.

A papal letter in Parolin’s possession would lay to rest questions of who had the legal authority to exclude Becciu from a conclave.

Becciu had claimed earlier this past week that he had the right to attend the conclave, despite his 2020 resignation of the rights and privileges of a cardinal.

“The pope has recognized my cardinal prerogatives as intact, since there was no explicit will to exclude me from the conclave nor a request for my explicit renunciation in writing,” Becciu told L’Unione Sarda newspaper April 22.

Becciu was once the second-ranking official in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State and the pope’s de facto chief of staff.

But in September 2020, he was forced to resign the rights and privileges of a cardinal — although not formal membership of the college — after Vatican City prosecutors presented the pope with their preliminary findings from an investigation into possible financial crimes in Becciu’s former curial department.

In December 2023, the cardinal was convicted of financial crimes in a Vatican City courtroom, and given a sentence of five years and six months, a fine of 8,000 euros (around $8,700), and perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

Among other crimes, the cardinal was convicted of funneling tens of thousands of euros of Church funds into his brother’s personal bank account, something he defended as ordinary practice in supporting charitable works.

In a separate lawsuit, Becciu was accused of forcing from his position the Vatican’s first auditor general, Libero Milone, as a means of preventing internal audits of Vatican finances.

Becciu has taken credit for forcing Milone’s ouster from office in 2017, saying that the auditor was forced to resign under threat of criminal prosecution, for “spying” on the private finances of senior officials, including Becciu himself — though in October last year, Becciu shifted the blame to Pope Francis, saying he forced Milone out at the pope’s directive.

Becciu has insisted upon his innocence and appealed his conviction. The cardinal has said that journalists “misled the faithful” with false reporting about him, and that he is the victim of a miscarriage of justice in the Vatican City legal process.

Canon law states that cardinals who are not electors have the right to attend the general congregations — meetings of the Church’s cardinals — ahead of the papal conclave, but not to attend the conclave itself.

The Vatican has previously recognized Becciu as ineligible to vote.

In a statistical overview of the College of Cardinals, updated and distributed by the Holy See press office ahead of a 2022 consistory, Becciu was listed as a “non-elector,” along with cardinals who had reached 80 years old, and thus become ineligible to vote.

And in the course of a failed lawsuit against various media outlets, Becciu himself argued that their coverage deprived him of the chance to participate in a future conclave.

Still, as the cardinal arrived in Rome for those congregations and the pope’s funeral, Becciu insisted he was eligible to attend the election itself.

Becciu said back in 2022 that Pope Francis had personally invited him to attend the consistory and would soon “reinstate” him to full membership of the College of Cardinals.

In his comments this week, the cardinal acknowledged that he was listed by the Vatican as a non-elector, but said the press office list “has no legal value.”

Becciu has not publicly responded to the letter from Pope Francis.

Clonskeagh Quranic school rejects allegations of wrongdoing

The Quranic school, which was based at the Islamic Cultural Centre in Dublin (ICCI), has issued a statement rejecting allegations of wrongdoing.

It comes after the centre was closed this past week by the ICCI's newly appointed board of directors.

It follows a fractious meeting for parents of children attending the religious school last weekend.

The ICCI said that the meeting on Saturday 19 April had been disrupted, and that this had led to security concerns, which made remaining open impossible.

A mosque, religious and national school are located at the site in Clonskeagh.

The Quranic school has not been operating on the site since earlier this month but has re-registered independently of the centre offering classes via zoom.

Today, a lengthy statement from the Nurul Huda Quranic school, stated that all financial information requested by the centre's administration had been provided with full transparency and that this had always been the case.

However, it said that the personal data of parents and students were withheld in compliance with Irish data protection laws.

The statement said that school fees submitted by cash or bank transfer were transferred officially and appropriately to the executive management, and noted that an external audit was conducted annually and had never raised concerns.

The ICCI had stated earlier this week that the board was conducting a comprehensive audit "to address and remedy the legal, financial, and governance issues it has inherited".

The Quranic school said that the current centre management had "sealed our offices and changed the locks without warning on Friday, 11 April" and later "seized control of the school's email accounts (both administrative and teaching staff accounts) in the early hours of Sunday13 April".

It continued that management "bear full responsibility for any data loss or data breaches that may result".

The school's statement said that a meeting will soon be announced via the school’s official channels to present the full facts and respond to any questions.

Meanwhile, the ICCI has confirmed that national school located on the site will operate as normal this week.

Manager of Media Affairs Ali Selim said "the school will reopen today".

Official Vatican document on the life of Francis published

A document that was placed in Pope Francis' coffin is intended to provide posterity with information about the person and key deeds and characteristics of the deceased. 

The Vatican published the wording on Friday evening. 

The Catholic News Agency (KNA) documents extracts from the Latin letter, the so-called Rogitum, in its own translation:

Excerpts of the Rogitum in the wording

"With us on the way as pilgrims of hope, as guides and companions to the high goal to which we are called, heaven, on 21 April of the Holy Year 2025 at 7.35 a.m., while the light of Easter illuminated the second day of the Octave, Easter Monday, Francis, the beloved shepherd of the Church, departed from this world to the Father. 

All believers in Christ, especially the poor, praised God for the gift of his ministry, which he carried out with courage and fidelity to the Gospel and to the mystical Bride of Christ.

Francis was the 266th Pope. His memory remains in the heart of the Church and of all humanity. (...)

On 20 May 1992, John Paul II appointed him Titular Bishop of Auca and Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires. He chose "Miserando atque eligendo" as his episcopal motto and added the Christ monogram IHS, the symbol of the Society of Jesus, to his coat of arms. 

On 3 June 1997, he was appointed coadjutor archbishop of Buenos Aires, and after the death of Cardinal [Antonio] Quarracino, he succeeded him as archbishop on 28 February 1998 (...).

He was a simple and much-loved pastor in his archdiocese, who travelled far and wide, including by metro and bus. He lived in a flat and prepared his own food because he felt he was one of the people.

Following the resignation of Benedict XVI, he was elected Pope on 13 March 2013 by the cardinals gathered in conclave and took the name Francis because he wanted to take care of the world's poorest, following the example of the Saint of Assisi. 

From the Benediction Loggia, he introduced himself with the words: "Brothers and sisters, good evening! And now let us begin this journey: Bishop and people. This path of the Church of Rome, which presides over all the Churches in charity. A path of fraternity, of love, of trust between us." 

And after bowing his head, he said: "I ask you to ask the Lord to bless me: the prayer of the people asking for a blessing for their bishop." (...)

Francis, who always had an open ear for the poorest and the outcasts of society, decided immediately after his election to live in the "Domus Sanctae Marthae" because he could not do without contact with people, and from the first Holy Thursday he wanted to celebrate the Mass of the Last Supper outside the Vatican, visiting prisons, centres for the disabled or drug addicts every time. 

He counselled priests to always be ready to administer the sacrament of mercy, to have the courage to leave the sacristies in search of the lost sheep, and to keep the doors of the Church open to welcome all those who long to encounter the face of God the Father.

He exercised his Petrine ministry with tireless commitment to dialogue with Muslims and representatives of other religions (...).

More than any of his predecessors, he enlarged the College of Cardinals and convened ten consistories in which he appointed 163 cardinals, including 133 papal electors and 30 non-electors, from 73 nations, 23 of which had never had a cardinal before. (...)

Time and again, he raised his voice in defence of the innocent. As the Covid pandemic spread, on the evening of 27 March 2020, he wanted to pray alone in St Peter's Square, whose colonnade symbolically embraced Rome and the world, for humanity, frightened and wounded by the unknown disease. 

The last years of his pontificate were characterised by numerous appeals for peace and against the "Third World War in instalments" raging in various countries, especially in Ukraine, but also in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Myanmar. (...)

The magisterium of Pope Francis was very rich. Witness to a sober and modest style, based on openness to a missionary attitude, apostolic courage and mercy, careful to avoid the danger of self-referentiality and spiritual secularisation in the Church, the Pope presented his proclamation programme in the exhortation "Evangelii gaudium" (24 November 2013). 

The most important documents include four encyclicals: "Lumen fidei" (29 June 2013) on faith in God, "Laudato si" (24 May 2015) on the issue of ecology and the responsibility of humanity in the climate crisis, "Fratelli tutti" (3 October 2020) on human fraternity and social friendship, "Dilexit nos" (24 October 2024) on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. (...)

He changed the canonical procedure for declaring a marriage null and void in the CCEO [Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium, Code of the Eastern Catholic Churches] and CIC [Codex Iuris Canonici, Code of Canon Law] (Motu Proprio "Mitis et misericors Iesus" and "Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus") and tightened legislation regarding crimes committed by clerics against minors or vulnerable persons (Motu Proprio "Vos estis lux mundi").

Francis left everyone an admirable testimony of humanity, holy living and comprehensive paternity."

Theologian: Pope Francis knew about the competences of women

Since taking office on 13 March, Pope Francis has brought movement to the Church on very different levels, and this also applies to the issue of women. 

In his first Apostolic Exhortation"Evangelii gaudium" from 2013, he already spoke of the "legitimate rights of women", the equal dignity of men and women and the "deep questions" that "challenge" the Church and which "cannot be circumvented superficially" (EG 104). 

As a priest and later Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he has worked with many women who have taken on pastoral responsibilities, he has experienced violence and hardship, especially among women in the poor areas of the big cities, and has not held back in his criticism of machismo. 

He is aware of the competences of women in educational work and theology; he has supported the network of women theologians Teologanda, which was established at the theological faculty in Villa Devoto in Buenos Aires, and he explicitly mentions the "new impulses" that women theologians give in "Evangelii gaudium" - in the knowledge that "the spaces for a more effective female presence in the Church still need to be expanded" (EG 104).

It is precisely here that the Pope took key steps during his pontificate that even his successor cannot take back: During his pontificate, there has been an opening of leadership positions in the Church to women - in the Vatican itself, but also in many local churches around the world. 

In April 2022, Pope Francis appointed the Italian economist and Don Bosco sister Alessandra Smerilli as the first woman to be appointed "secretario" of a Vatican authority, the Dicastery for Integral Development. 

In July 2022, three women were appointed as members of the Dicastery for Bishops, including the President of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations (WUCWO), María Lía Zervino from Argentina.

For the first time, a woman heads one of the central Vatican authorities

The appointment of the Italian nun Simona Brambilla as Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life on 6 January 2025 is particularly significant; this is the first time a woman has headed one of the central Vatican authorities. 

The reform of the Curia, which the Pope initiated on 20 March 2022 with the Apostolic Constitution "Praedicate Evangelium", prepared the ground for this step. 

Certainly, the Consolata Missionary Sister Simona Brambilla, Superior General of her community from 2011 to 2023, has been given a pro-prefect, a priest, at her side - here it becomes clear that it still needs to be clarified how the leadership and associated decision-making powers in a Roman authority can be understood by a woman, by a non-consecrated person. 

The last significant step to date was the appointment of Raffaella Petrini, an economist and nun, as head of government of the Vatican State on 1 March 2025.

Alongside these clear church policy decisions, the Pope's theological statements on women - especially in speeches, addresses and interviews - remain highly ambivalent. It becomes clear how he struggles to honour women and at the same time make it clear that the participation of women has a very specific limit: their inclusion in sacramental ministries. 

He emphasises that women are "even more important in the life of the Church" and bases this on specifically "feminine" values, that women are "fruitful receptivity, care, living devotion - that is why women are more important than men", he said during his visit to the Catholic universities in Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve on 27 and 28 September 2024. 

These are statements that are not only met with criticism in the secular contexts of Europe - it is precisely here that a boundary becomes clear that affects not only the Pope's theology, but also the gender anthropology of the Church's magisterium.

During his studies in Germany, Pope Francis, born in Buenos Aires in 1936, studied the theologian Romano Guardini, who speaks of a difference between the sexes in the context of a romantic idealisation of women and ascribes specific typologies to the male and female. This gender model based on polarity and complementarity pervades the Pope's "theology of women" and has an impact on the doctrine of the sacraments and the theology of ministry. 

The Church is female, she is the bride of Christ, and Christ stands opposite the Church, he can only be represented by a man - these are formulations that are repeatedly taken up in the magisterial rejection of the admission of women to sacramental ministries in the years of Francis' pontificate. 

Pope Francis already emphasised in "Evangelii Gaudium" that precisely this question is "not open to discussion": "The priesthood reserved for men as a sign of Christ, the Bridegroom, who gives himself in the Eucharist, is a question that is not open to discussion." (EG 104)

"Female mysticism is more important than the ministry of men"

On the return flight from Brussels to Rome after his trip to Belgium in September 2024, he took up this argument again, rejecting the criticism levelled at his statements on women in the Church from various quarters. "Female mysticism is more important than the ministry of men," said the Pope, criticising above all a "feminism" that would "masculinise" women.

Following the Amazon Synod in October 2019, at which many women involved in pastoral work and theology spoke of the need to establish a diaconate for women in view of the pastoral emergency in the vast regions of Amazonia, Pope Francis set up a commission to clarify this issue theologically. 

In view of the controversies within the commission and the divergent results on the historical and theological status of the diaconate for women, the work of this commission was discontinued, but even after the work of a new commission was completed, no results have yet been presented. 

These will - presumably - be included in the publication of the work of Study Group 9 on "theological criteria and synodal methods for a common discernment of controversial doctrinal, pastoral and ethical issues", which, following the meetings of the 16th Ordinary Synod of Bishops held in October 2023 and October 2024 on the topic of"For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission", will also deal with questions regarding further opportunities for women to participate in the Church and the diaconate for women.

Pope Francis and his vocation of women

Pope Francis has taken an important step by appointing 55 women from different continents out of a total of 368 synod members as voting members of the synod and other women - including theologians and canon lawyers - to the group of "esperti" and "periti". 

Likewise, the consultation process for the Pope and the Council of Cardinals, which took place in the Vatican between December 2023 and June 2024, should not be underestimated and in which controversial questions of a "theology of women", the gender anthropology of Hans Urs von Balthasar, the debates on women's access to ordained ministries and questions on gender relations and power in the Church were discussed. 

It is a novelty in the history of the Roman Catholic Church that a pope initiated such a consultation process and wrote a foreword for each of the publications that immediately followed the symposia.

These developments make it clear that even in the Vatican it is no longer possible for men alone to talk about women and issues affecting them, but that women - theologians, philosophers, canon lawyers, economists, etc. - must be included in these consultations. 

Even if the Pope himself has not distanced himself from a "theology of women" and the doors remain closed with regard to the admission of women to sacramental ministries, the insistence on a "theology of women" that is outdated in theological and scientific terms makes it clear that the debate on sacramental ministries for women has become one of the central questions of the reform of the Church during Francis' pontificate, which even a successor to the Pope can no longer silence.

After cancellation: Cardinal takes part in the conclave after all

The Bosnian Cardinal Vinko Puljic (79) will now take part in the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope after all. 

As the archbishopric of Vrhbosna (Sarajevo) announced on Thursday, the archbishop emeritus has been given the green light to travel to Rome following medical consultation. 

Puljic had originally ruled out travelling to Rome for health reasons.

However, he will not be able to attend the funeral service and burial of Pope Francis on Saturday due to time constraints. His journey to Rome is planned for this week.

Puljic is the longest-serving cardinal entitled to vote in the current College of Cardinals. He already took part in the elections of Benedict XVI and Francis in 2005 and 2013. He will be 80 years old on 8 September. 

Following the cancellation of the Spanish Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera (79) due to illness, there are currently 134 cardinals eligible to vote. Only those under the age of 80 are eligible to vote.

Bishop Dempsey remembers Pope Francis as ‘A Pilgrim of Hope’

The 13th March 2013 is a date many will remember.  

The world waited in anticipation as the bells of Saint Peter’s tolled, announcing the arrival of a new Pope. It was, I believe, one of the most watched television moments of all time.  

Then we heard the name ‘Bergoglio’ who would take the name ‘Francis.’ A couple of moments later, he walked out onto the balcony in his simple white cassock greeting us with the simple; ‘Buonasera.’ 

There was a sense that this was something different. After a few words he bowed his head before us and asked for our prayers. Silence descended upon the square in a profound moment of prayer.  

After he gave his blessing, he retired with the words to the crowd; ‘Goodnight and rest well.’ Yes, Pope Francis had arrived!

Since his passing on Easter Monday, there has been so much media attention around his life and legacy.  Our gathering this morning is not about that, it is simply an opportunity for us, as he requested on that first night of his Pontificate, to pray for him. 

However, a time of grief is also a time to remember.  Today we remember how Pope Francis touched our hearts in his role as shepherd over the past twelve years and how he challenged us to be missionaries today.  He was a man who did not want to be eulogised, but there are aspects and qualities of his life and ministry that challenge me, and I think challenge us all as we remember him in this time of mourning.

Firstly, his humanity, his humility and his humour. 

Even though Pope Francis led a global Church, his simple humanity endeared him to the hearts of so many.  In one of his first interviews, he described himself as ‘a sinner,’ he very much aware of his own woundedness.  The many, well documented humble gestures, pointed to a man who chose the simple when grandeur was the norm.  His great sense of humour was captured in many a photograph, that full, hearty laugh, which is so important on life’s journey.  These qualities enabled him to connect with people of all faiths and none and contributed to him being affectionately known as the ‘People’s Pope.’  These were the obvious outward signs so much associated with Pope Francis, but of course there was a far deeper side to him.

For me, Pope Francis was a holy man.  Holiness can conjure up a certain image for us, perhaps a somewhat detached, other worldly sense.  For me, the most profound definition of holiness comes from the early Church theologian, Origen, he described holiness as ‘seeing with the eyes of Christ.’ I believe we can apply this understanding of holiness very comfortably to Pope Francis, a man who tried to see people and the world through the eyes of Christ.  This informed his life and ministry and formed the very essence of his being.  Holiness for him was not about perfection, it was about presence.  This enabled him to be radical in his approach, understanding ‘radical’ in its truest sense as a ‘going back to the roots.’  

Pope Francis was ‘radical,’ not in a sense of breaking with tradition, but rather he wanted to go back to the roots of the Gospel, to the encounter with Christ and share that encounter with the world in a joy filled, merciful way.  We witnessed this from the very beginnings of his pontificate.  His first trip in July 2013, was to the island of Lampedusa, the gateway for migrants from Africa to Europe.  So many had lost their lives on that journey in the hope of finding a better life in a new land.  Pope Francis presence announced to the world, in its ‘globalisation of indifference,’ as he called it, that migrants are people with a story, a dignity, they are not merely some statistic that we can ignore.  (The chalice we are using today is from Lampedusa, made from driftwood of a refugee shipwreck.)

Within weeks of his election, for Holy Thursday, instead of washing the feet of priests in Saint Peter’s, he went to a local prison and washed the feet of prisoners, men and women, some of Christian faith and others from different faith traditions.  From the beginning he was showing us that real leadership kneels in service before the other.  

The Church he believed in was a Church that walked with the wounded, a place where the forgotten would finally be seen.  Compassion was more important than condemnation, and mercy came before any judgement.  This signalled a Pope who was reaching out to the peripheries. 

In his final message, Pope Francis stated that ‘Society’s greatness is found in how it treats the most vulnerable.’  He wanted a Church of the poor, for the poor.  It was this that motivated him to raise awareness about the current and impending climate crisis facing the world. 

Sometimes, I believe, his message on the environment was misunderstood.  For Pope Francis, care of creation, as a gift from God, was not some fashionable ecological fad, but rather a moral, real ‘life issue,’ especially when the lives of those living in the poorest of nations were being threatened by those in powerful positions, exploiting the earth’s resources in the name of self-interest.  His groundbreaking exhortation ‘Laudato Si,’ published ten years ago this year, was and is a prophetic statement in the area of climate justice.  The document established bridges between the Church and the world at large, especially those who may not profess Christian faith.

The vision of his Pontificate brought the Church from a eurocentric base to a global one.  This was most evident when he encouraged us to take the synodal pathway.  For Pope Francis the Church, in line with the Second Vatican Council, was the ‘People of God,’ we all belong.  He wanted a Church of ‘communion, participation and mission.’  He wanted the Church to refocus on its primary task of going out in a missionary sense, preaching the Gospel in the reality of today’s complex world.  

I was very struck at the image of the gatherings in Rome last October and the previous October.  

The participants from the global Church; men and women, ordained and lay faithful, people with different views of what direction the Church should be going, reflecting in many ways a wounded Church.  Despite the differing views they sat together and listened to each other in a respectful, prayerful space.  They were also encouraged to speak with ‘parrhesia,’ with ‘boldness’ and not to be afraid.  In that space they were invited to discern where the Holy Spirit is calling the Church at this time.  

As I watched, I thought how this was a powerful witness to the leaders of nations today.  We live in a complex world, we witness division, war, aggression, all motivated by self-interest, if only we could sit down together to listen and understand each other, as Pope Francis encouraged us to, what a different world we could have.

In recent months and weeks, we could see how Pope Francis’ health was failing.  Day-by-day his physical weakness became more evident.  However, his quiet determination saw him appear on the balcony of Saint Peter’s on Easter Sunday to pray for peace in the many troubled areas of our world, to call for a cessation of war, to wish us a Happy Easter and impart his blessing.  Then one last round of the square.  

Early next morning, Easter Monday, we woke up to the news that he had returned to the ‘Father’s house.’  What timing, in this ‘Jubilee Year of Hope,’ he held on just long enough to hear the ‘Alleluia’ one last time, to witness the Church rejoice in the Resurrection, its ultimate hope, before quietly letting go and entering into the promise he spent his life proclaiming.

The Gospel today recalls that intimate moment between Jesus and Peter, the Lord asking Peter three times does he love him.  Peter in turn affirming that love three times.  Through Pope Francis’ life, witness, and faith he affirmed his love for Jesus.  He was a humble man, who lived the Gospel, a shepherd who walked with the poor and wounded.  He was the one who reminded us that the second name for God is ‘Mercy.’ 

His faith was marked by a closeness to Mary.  In 2018, during his visit here to Saint Mary’s Pro Cathedral, he spent time before the image of Our Lady at the side altar.  The chair he was seated upon, poignantly, sits empty today.  No doubt Our Lady was there to embrace him as he went home to God.

I started these words reminding us of Pope Francis’ request on 13 March 2013, to pray for him.  He bowed his head before us in silence.  Today we bow before him, we bow before his life, his witness, his humility, his service, we bow before this ‘pilgrim of hope.’  

We pray for him and commend him to God’s mercy, a mercy he proclaimed and preached so beautifully.  

As he left the balcony that evening in March 2013, he turned to the crowd and said, ‘Good night and rest well.’  

Today, in turn, we say to Pope Francis; ‘thank you, goodbye and rest well.’

The Drimnagh boy who grew up to be the most powerful man in the Catholic Church

As the bespectacled, crimson-robed cleric led the procession bringing Pope Francis up the aisle of St Peter’s Basilica for one final time this week, many wondered how this 77-year-old, largely unknown Irishman suddenly found himself at the apex of the Catholic Church’s ruling hierarchy.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell is now the most powerful man in the Catholic Church, his role as camerlengo – the person who runs the Vatican following the death of the pope – is pivotal as he takes charge of the conclave of cardinals who, in the coming days, will choose the next pontiff.

But absent from the mourners in Rome was the boy who sat beside a youthful Cardinal Farrell as they made their way to school together more than six decades ago on the number 58 bus in Dublin in the 1950s and ’60s.

Alan Whelan and Kevin Farrell lived just a three-minute walk from one another in the south Dublin suburb of Drimnagh. Separated in age by just six months, they journeyed together each morning until they reached the age of 13 or 14. And then the pair, who spent Saturday afternoons enjoying high-action westerns and the wild adventures of cowboy Roy Rogers at the local youth club, went their separate ways.

Alan went on to become a school principal, while the fate of the bookish boy, who did not play sport, was sealed after he went into Clerys department store on O’Connell Street with his parents.

The cardinal’s childhood friend recalls: ‘We got the 58 bus down to Cork Street… He would go one way and I would go the other.

‘He got off at St Teresa’s school on Donore Avenue, and I went in the other direction to St James’s Street [CBS] school. In those days, we did what was called our Primary Cert, and that decided in a way whether we continued, if our parents could pay for it. It wasn’t a great deal of money to continue, but it still was a sacrifice.

‘About 10% of us went on to secondary education and the rest would have left school around 14. ‘I cannot say I can remember him leaving to join the priesthood at 14 with any firmness. I only remember descriptions my parents gave, and they said: “He went into Clerys as a young boy, and he came out as a young priest.”

‘They were describing getting the cassock, a soutane and so on, and that particular order [the Legionaries of Christ] was very big on wearing hats. They were posh. That’s the word my mother used to use about the order. It would have been a round hat, very much in the Italian tradition.’

Back then, Clerys was where members of the clergy and aspiring members of the religious orders went to be fitted out for the clothes that would set them apart from others.

The day the young Kevin Farrell went through the doors of Clerys would have been a momentous day for him and his family. By then, his older brother Brian had already joined the South American-based Legionaries of Christ order.

Even though many young men joined the priesthood at the time, it was still a little out of the ordinary for two brothers just barely out of their childhood to leave their families and homes to become priests.

Years later – before the Legionaries of Christ became embroiled in a sex abuse scandal involving its founder, Father Marcial Maciel – the future cardinal’s older brother was talked about at one stage as a possible secretary-general of the order.

Despite beginning their clerical careers with the disgraced order, the two Dublin brothers were later appointed bishops. And their progress was meteoric. After leaving a post at a university in Mexico, the future Cardinal Kevin Farrell went to Washington, D.C., in the United States, where he worked as an adviser to the then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

However, the senior American cleric also became embroiled in a sex abuse scandal involving adults and children. Cardinal McCarrick was laicised – removed from the Church – in 2019 after an internal Church investigation.

Following his stint in Washington DC, Kevin Farrell was appointed Bishop of Dallas. He was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2016.

Three years later, he was given the title ‘Camerlengo’, or the person who runs the Vatican after the death or resignation of a pope. Pope Francis nominated the cardinal for the job in 2019.

Cardinal Farrell will remain in the position during the ‘Apostolica Sedes Vacans’, the period between the death or resignation of a pope and the election of the next pontiff.

Cardinal Farrell has even been named in international media reports as a potential outside bet to become the next pope. Technically, a camerlengo can become pope, as has happened twice in history: Gioacchino Pecci (Pope Leo XIII) in 1878 and Eugenio Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) in 1939.

Years after naming him as camerlengo, in 2023, Francis chose Cardinal Farrell as president of the Supreme Court of Vatican City State. He was also named president of the Commission for Confidential Matters.

As camerlengo, Cardinal Farrell will be tasked with making arrangements for the conclave. The highly secretive process by which the next pontiff is selected was depicted in last year’s hit film of the same name starring Ralph Fiennes, who played the role of camerlengo.

But according to Cardinal Farrell’s childhood friend, Fiennes’ fictional character and the real-life boy who grew up around the corner from him in Dublin have little in common.

Alan Whelan told Extra.ie: ‘The last time we spoke, it was at the World Meeting of Families in 2018 in the RDS in Dublin. ‘I joked with him about a postcard I had sent as a nine- or ten-year-old to his family when I was on holiday.

‘I knew they were a republican family and I had written at the bottom of the address, “the Irish Free State”.

‘He could remember, and we were immediately in that sort of chatter… the years didn’t matter. He certainly hasn’t forgotten where he has come from.

‘And when I saw him in the procession on Wednesday, leading the procession to St Peter’s Basilica, he was the main person. When he spoke Latin, you could hear his Dublin accent.

‘I was taken aback by that. I thought, “he hasn’t lost his roots”, and it reaffirmed for me that he is an Irish cardinal at the heart of what is happening.’

However, others hold a different view of the ‘humble man from Dublin’ who advanced through the ranks to the highest echelons of the Catholic Church. These include the renowned filmmaker and investigative journalist Jason Berry, who exposed sex abuse scandals involving the clergy in America.

Asked this weekend about Cardinal Farrell, he told the Extra.ie: ‘He is an enigma to be honest… He didn’t leave many fingerprints.

‘He left the Legionaries of Christ, and he became the Bishop of Dallas, Texas, which had a convulsion of abuses there. I can’t really tell you how well he did there. I’m not implying he is a failure. He is one of these people who have travelled up the ranks of the hierarchy without leaving many traces.’

Mr Berry added: ‘A man who came out of a cult like the Legionaries of Christ – that’s what it was, in my opinion – he got out and managed to rebrand his career. There has to be something said for him to get so close to Pope Francis.’

David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) support group in the US accused Cardinal Farrell of not doing enough to protect children from predatory sex abusing priests.

The group cited the Irish-born cardinal in a formal complaint lodged with the Vatican last month. Mr Clohessy told the Extra.ie: ‘For decades, Farrell has held a number of posts in the Catholic hierarchy.

In none of those roles has he done anything but the bare minimum to protect kids, expose predators and help victims.

‘Farrell’s close affiliation with the now-defrocked Cardinal Ted [Theodore] McCarrick, who both committed and concealed, and Farrell’s refusal to come clean about what he knew and did about abuse reports against McCarrick is worrisome in and of itself.’

In 2018, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, then head of the Vatican office for laity and family, insisted he was ‘shocked’ when he heard allegations of years of sexual abuse and harassment by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the man who ordained him a bishop and whom he served as an auxiliary bishop for six years.

‘I was shocked, overwhelmed; I never heard any of this before in the six years I was there with him,’ he told Catholic News Service at the time.

Criticism of Cardinal Mahony’s role in papal funeral points to abuse crisis still affecting Church

Senior Catholic Church leaders are already discussing what the late Pope Francis’s successor will need to tackle first and foremost after his election, whenever it comes.

On the agenda for the cardinals choosing a successor to Francis will be the scandal of sexual abuse and the crisis of coverup that has been plaguing the Church for decades.

That is one reason why the news that Cardinal Roger Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, would be taking part in the sealing of the Pope Francis’s coffin on Friday, was received with surprise and shock.

The 89-year-old Mahony played a central role in the abuse scandal and was accused in 2013 of shielding priests from prosecution by having them moved to other dioceses when facing abuse allegations.

Mahony apologized “for my own failure to protect fully the children and youth entrusted into my care,” calling the abuse “a terrible sin and crime.”

That same year, he was barred from certain activities by his successor, Archbishop José Gomez. Soon after, however, the Church in LA issued a statement saying Mahony was still “in good standing” in the archdiocese.

None of that came up in the statement issued by the archdiocese after Mahony’s role in Francis’s burial was announced.

Mahony is the most senior “cardinal priest”, which is why he is one of the nine cardinals taking part in the burial. (The College of Cardinals is divided into “cardinal bishops”, “cardinal priests”, and “cardinal deacons”.)

In a statement to CNN on Thursday, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles described Mahony’s official role in the ceremonies as a blessing.

“Cardinal Mahony is our Archbishop Emeritus. He retired in 2011 as Archbishop of Angeles and has continued his ministry in our Archdiocese as a retired archbishop,” the archdiocese said. “He has always been in good standing.”

It continued, “We are blessed to have Cardinal Mahony represent our Archdiocese in Rome for the funeral of our Holy Father and the election of our new Pope.”

The Los Angeles cardinal himself noted his pleasure in playing such a significant role in the papal funeral.

“I was stunned and felt honored when I received the news to have been chosen for these special roles,” said Mahony. “Pope Francis and I had a special friendship over the years, and we exchanged personal letters often.”

“God’s surprises never seem to end, and I am joyful that someone from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was chosen for this role,” the cardinal said.

“It is yet another example of the importance of our wonderful Archdiocese. I carry out these roles with gratitude to the extraordinary Catholic community of Los Angeles under the leadership of Archbishop José Gomez, our Auxiliary Bishops, our priests and deacons, our men and women of Consecrated Life, and our outstanding lay Catholics. May our Risen Lord continue to bestow blessings upon all of us,” Mahony added.

Mahony’s role in the funeral activities didn’t “bestow blessings” in the view of groups set up to defend victims of abuse in the Church.

“Shame on him for participating in the public rites for Pope Francis, and shame on the College of Cardinals for allowing him to do so,” said Anne Barrett Doyle of the group Bishop Accountability, in a message to Reuters.

David Clohessy, a former director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, told Reuters the role “sends the signal to complicit bishops that… they will still be protected and honored by their peers.”

Vatican officials surely didn’t appreciate Mahony mentioning a “special relationship” with Pope Francis, and his claim the two men “exchanged personal letters often.”

The bruhaha over Mahony is coming as Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani arrives for the funeral. Although over 80 – so ineligible for the conclave – it was revealed in January that he was sanctioned by the Vatican in 2019 after allegations were made that he committed an act of sexual abuse in 1983. Cipriani has strongly denied the accusations saying he has never abused anyone at any time.

Still, both cases bring attention to the decidedly mixed record Francis has had on tackling abuse.

The pope had the strongest laws passed to combat clerical abuse during his rule, including setting up the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors early on in his reign and instituting Vos estis lux mundi in 2019, which establishes “universal procedures aimed at preventing and combating these crimes that betray the trust of the faithful.”

However, Francis on a personal level often favored the protests of accused clergy – who, after all, have more face-to-face meetings with the pope – over the accusations of their victims.

In Chile in 2018, the pope strongly resisted accusations against Bishop Juan Barros, who was said to have witnessed abuse committed by Father Fernando Karadima – a powerful and popular Chilean celebrity priest – who was later punished for serial sexual abuse. (Francis later apologized for this.)

Bishop Gustavo Óscar Zanchetta of Argentina was one of the first men raised to the episcopate by Francis after his election in 2013. In the summer of 2017, he stepped aside citing “a health problem.” Later that year, he was appointed assessor of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), the Vatican’s “central bank.”

It turns out, however, allegations of sexual impropriety had been made against Zanchetta several times, beginning some two years before his resignation ostensibly for reasons of ill health, and several years before formal accusations reached the Vatican no later than early January 2019.

Francis said he believed Zanchetta when he denied the accusations and said one ought to favor the accused when in doubt.

The most notorious example is that of now deceased ex-priest and ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was accused of several sexual crimes, and given several tasks by the pope despite the claims against him.

Francis’s passing also left unfinished business.

When pope Francis died, the case against the disgraced former celebrity Jesuit mosaic artist, Father Marko Rupnik, was still awaiting trial. Rupnik is accused of abusing dozens of victims, most of them women religious. Only after massive international outcry and a direct rebuke from the pope’s own point man on safe environments, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, did Francis agree to reopen the case against Rupnik after it had been closed on a technicality despite mountains of evidence.

That was nearly a year and a half ago.

At an April 24 press conference in Rome, Jesuit Superior General Arturo Sosa said Francis “always acknowledged his limitations, his mistakes, and his slowness.”

“With regard to abuse cases, I think the Church is not in the same place when Pope Francis was elected. That’s without a doubt. It hasn’t been a straight line… but the Church has advanced in that direction,” he said.

Even if the Church has moved forward, the abuse crisis is still one of the main issues facing the Church as it awaits the next pope in the coming days.

Top papal candidate says Francis’s legacy must continue

Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin on Sunday said the overwhelming love of Pope Francis must not be a flash of momentary emotion, but his legacy be welcomed and lived in the Church and the world.

Speaking during an April 27 Mass in St. Peter’s Square, Parolin noted that it was Divine Mercy Sunday, and that mercy was a central guiding principle throughout Francis’s papacy.

“It is important to welcome as a precious treasure this principle on which Pope Francis insisted so much,” he said.

“Our affection for him, which is being manifested in this time, must not remain a mere emotion of the moment; we must welcome his legacy and make it part of our lives, opening ourselves to God’s mercy and also being merciful to one another,” he said.

The Vatican’s Secretary of State for the entirely of Francis’s papacy, Parolin celebrated Mass on the second of the novemediales, or nine days of mourning, after the pope’s death last week. The Mass also coincided with the Jubilee for Teenagers and Divine Mercy Sunday.

“It is precisely the Father’s mercy, which is greater than our limitations and calculations, that characterized the Magisterium of Pope Francis and his intense apostolic activity,” Parolin said, saying the desire to share God’s mercy with everyone “was the principal theme of his pontificate.”

Pope Francis, he said, reminded believers that mercy “is the very name of God, and, therefore, no one can put a limit on his merciful love with which he wants to raise us up and make us new people.”

“Mercy takes us back to the heart of faith. It reminds us that we do not have to interpret our relationship with God and our being Church according to human or worldly categories,” he said.

The Gospel message is primarily the discovery of being loved by God, regardless of one’s merits, he said, saying it is also a reminder that “our life is woven with mercy.”

“We can only get back up after our falls and look to the future if we have someone who loves us without limits and forgives us,” he said, saying Christians must let go of calculations and selfishness in their relationships, and enter into dialogue with others in a spirit of mercy and forgiveness.

“Only mercy heals and creates a new world, putting out the fires of distrust, hatred and violence: this is the great teaching of Pope Francis,” he said.

Pope Francis died Monday, April 21, at the age of 88, after struggling with severe respiratory illness that had landed him in the hospital for 38 days earlier this year.

He was discharged March 23, and seemed to disregard doctors’ orders to rest, making several public appearances, including his final Easter Urbi et Orbi blessing and a surprise outing the popemobile to greet faithful who had gathered for the event.

Francis’s funeral was held Saturday, April 27, in St. Peter’s Square, and he was buried later that day in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, his favorite Roman basilica, which he visited often and which is home to the famed icon, Maria Salus Populi Romani, or Mary Health of the Roman People.

His funeral began a nine-day period of mourning in the Catholic Church referred to as the novemediales, during which Masses are celebrated for the deceased pontiff and pre-conclave meetings of cardinals, called general congregations, are held to discuss the state of the Church, and the world, ahead of the election of the Church’s new universal pastor.

Parolin has emerged as a frontrunner papabile, or likely candidate who could be elected, in the lead up to the conclave.

His insistence that Francis’s legacy must not be forgotten or reduced to a momentary show of emotion will certainly draw attention from his fellow cardinals, and his extensive experience in diplomacy and gentle demeanor will help his chances, however significant questions remain about his record on finances, and the future of economic and institutional reform on his watch.

The general consensus among observers is that, while maintaining and carrying forward the spirit of Pope Francis’s pastoral and geopolitical agenda, Parolin is essentially a creature of the institution, and would therefore represent a step backward in many other key areas of priority for Francis.

Parolin’s novemediales Mass Sunday coincided with the Jubilee for Teenagers, during which the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis was expected to take place, however, that has been postponed until after the election of a new pope.

In his homily, Parolin said the sadness at Pope Francis’s death and his absence for the celebration is accompanied by the joy of the resurrection, and by “the joy of the Gospel” that Francis had prioritized so much.

“The joy of Easter, which sustains us in this time of trial and sadness, is something that can almost be touched in this square today,” he said.

Referring to the feast of Divine Mercy, he called Pope Francis “a shining witness of a Church that bends down with tenderness towards those who are wounded and heals with the balm of mercy.”

Pope Francis, he said, reminded the Church and the world “that there can be no peace without the recognition of the other, without attention to those who are weaker and, above all, there can never be peace if we do not learn to forgive one another, showing each another the same mercy that God shows us.”

Divine Mercy Sunday is a time to remember Pope Francis, he said, and addressed the roughly 200,000 people present, saying, “to you, to all of us, to the whole world, Pope Francis extends his embrace from Heaven.”

German bishops issue guide for same-sex blessings

The German Catholic bishops have published a handout that offers guidance to pastors on blessings for couples in “irregular” situations such as same-sex relationships, urging clergy to use the blessings to “express appreciation” for individuals seeking the recognition from Catholic priests. 

The handout, “Blessings for Couples Who Love Each Other,” was distributed earlier this month by the joint conference of members of the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK).

The guidance cites Fiducia Supplicans, the Vatican document published in 2023 that was approved by Pope Francis. The German document allows for “blessings” of homosexual couples and other extramarital arrangements. It was first reported on by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner. 

“Non-church married couples, divorced and remarried couples, and couples in all the diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities are of course part of our society,” the bishops wrote, noting that “quite a few of these couples want a blessing for their relationship.”

“Such a request is an expression of gratitude for their love and an expression of the desire to shape this love from faith,” the document says, calling blessings “an act of the Church, which places itself at the service of divine-human encounter.” 

“The Church takes seriously the couple’s desire to place their future path in life under God’s blessing,” the handout claims. “It sees in the request for blessing the hope of a relationship with God that can sustain human life.”

“The art and manner of conducting the blessing, the location, the entire aesthetics, including music and singing, are intended to express the appreciation of the people who have asked for the blessing, their togetherness and their faith,” the guidance stipulates. 

When published in 2023, Fiducia Supplicans generated widespread international backlash from Church leaders around the world, though some bishops praised the guidance and vowed to allow the blessings in their bishoprics.

The document asserted that Catholic priests can bless same-sex couples as an expression of pastoral closeness without condoning their sexual relations. The declaration emphasized that blessings may only be given “spontaneously” and not in the context of a formal liturgical rite.

Bishops in Europe, Africa, and elsewhere said they would not be permitting priests to perform such blessings. Some bishops in the U.S., meanwhile, said they would implement the guidelines in their dioceses. 

Pope Francis several times defended the document from criticism, arguing that blessings do not require “moral perfection” before they are given.

“The intent of the ‘pastoral and spontaneous blessings’ is to concretely show the closeness of the Lord and of the Church to all those who, finding themselves in different situations, ask help to carry on — sometimes to begin — a journey of faith,” he said last year.

Carlo Acutis and the four popes

The unexpected death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday, April 21, postponed the much-anticipated canonization of Carlo Acutis, the Italian teenager who captivated a generation of young Catholics with his love of the Eucharist and passion for technology.

Now, as the Church prepares for a conclave to elect a new pope, tens of thousands of young pilgrims who traveled to Rome for the canonization remain in the Eternal City, holding vigil for the departed pope.

Acutis’ journey to sainthood has unfolded alongside the lives of the last three popes, each of whom has marked a different chapter in the teenager’s short life and legacy.

Carlo went on pilgrimage to see John Paul II, offered up his suffering from cancer for Benedict XVI, and was later beatified during the pontificate of Pope Francis. Now, it will be up to the next pope to canonize the Church’s first millennial saint.

A childhood inspired by John Paul II

Born in 1991 during the pontificate of John Paul II, Carlo Acutis grew up at a time when the Polish pontiff was inspiring millions with his travels and teaching. It was Carlo’s Polish nanny, herself devoted to the pope, who helped cultivate Carlo’s early faith.

In October 2000, the Acutis family traveled to Rome to attend a landmark moment of the Great Jubilee: Pope John Paul II’s act of entrustment of the new millennium to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Standing in St. Peter’s Square, the then-9-year-old Carlo witnessed a crowd united in prayer, gathered beneath Bernini’s colonnade and in front of a statue of Our Lady of Fátima.

“The Church today, through the voice of the successor of Peter, in union with so many pastors assembled here from every corner of the world, seeks refuge in your motherly protection and trustingly begs your intercession as she faces the challenges which lie hidden in the future,” John Paul II prayed to Our Lady.

Offering his suffering for Benedict XVI

When white smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel in April 2005, 13-year-old Carlo Acutis watched closely as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI. According to his mother, Carlo was “fascinated” by Benedict XVI.

The following year, Carlo was diagnosed with leukemia. Before he died of cancer in October 2006, he offered up his suffering for Benedict XVI saying: “I offer all the suffering I will have to endure to the Lord for the pope and for the Church, in order not to go through purgatory and to go straight to heaven.”

Beatification under Pope Francis

Pope Francis declared Carlo Acutis’ heroic virtue in 2018 and recognized the two miracles attributed to Carlo’s intercession that made possible his beatification and canonization. 

Francis frequently cited Carlo as a model for youth in the digital age. In Christus Vivit, his apostolic exhortation to young people, Francis wrote that Carlo’s life stood as a witness against the temptation of “self-absorption, isolation, and empty pleasure” in the digital world.

“His witness indicates to today’s young people that true happiness is found by putting God in first place and serving him in our brothers and sisters, especially the least,” Pope Francis said the day after Carlo’s beatification in 2020.

Pope Francis had been scheduled to preside over Carlo’s canonization on April 27 during a jubilee event expected to draw 80,000 teenagers to Rome. Instead, that Mass will now be offered as one of the Novendiales — the nine days of mourning that follow the death of a pope — as part of a revised schedule for the Jubilee of Teenagers.

A saint for the next pope

Carlo Acutis’ canonization will now be one of the first major acts awaiting the next pope. 

The timing and location of the canonization Mass will be left to the discretion of Francis’ successor, who will likely recognize the moment as an opportunity to speak to the Church’s future and to its youth as the canonization of the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint.

Tony Flannery: Francis was a counter voice to all those who venerate power

Though not a great surprise, due to his recent serious illness, the announcement of the death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday morning is a matter of great sadness  to many people. 

I am deeply saddened by his death.  He was a remarkable man who made an enormous contribution not only to the Catholic Church, but to the whole world.

The role of the papacy in the Church had become very inflated over the past few centuries, probably since the Council of Trent in the 16th century, but especially since the First Vatican Council in the middle of the 19th century, with the definition of Papal Infallability. 

This teaching declared that the pope had a direct line to God, and that when he spoke infallibly he could not err, and raised him to an almost super human level.  The exalted position was accentuated by residing in the papal residence, the elaborate attire - remember Pope Benedict and his red shoes. 

A strong counter voice

So when Francis, on the day of his election, came to the balcony in a simple white soutane and announced himself as the Bishop of Rome, rather than the Pope, it gave an immediate signal that this would be different. Somehow, he was on par with other bishops around the world. There was a shift in emphasis from the global to the local.

When asked who he was, he responded that he was a sinner. So now we had someone who was equal to the rest of us, not standing above us, or claiming any special status. In that too, he was giving a message, one which he continued to emphasise right through the succeeding years, to all bishops, to all clergy, that they were to be servants of the people rather than lords over them.

In a world that is increasingly unstable, and is falling under the rule of people who seem to be obsessed with their own power, and moving more and more toward  control over the lives of their people, Francis was a strong counter voice, constantly portraying a different type of leadership, one that was about love, care, justice, rather than oppression. 

He was a great defender of the poor, the migrant, and saw everybody as equal, and gave them all a welcome. But at the same time he was always open to meeting world leaders of all shades of opinion, because he believed that progress was made not by excluding people but by meeting and talking to them.

This was shown right to the very end by meeting with the United States vice president J.D. Vance, who had been a very strong critic of him, and whose values appear to be at odds with those of Francis.

 Francis will be remembered for his stance on the environment, one of the major issues of our time. His encyclical, Laudato Si, will be one of his great legacies. 

A small local angle to that encyclical, but also one who shows that measure of the man. In founding the Association of Catholic Priests in 2010 I was joined by Brendan Hoban and Sean McDonagh. Sean, a Columban priest, was an expert on the whole world of climate change.  

Maybe it was his involvement with the ACP that caused him to be ignored by the Irish Church authorities. But we were all surprised when Sean got a message from the Vatican, asking him to come to Rome and help draft the encyclical. He did, and played a significant part in putting it together.

Francis was not perfect. I think it is fair to say that the Church has traditionally had an obsession with matters of sexuality and gender, and Francis was not completely free from those attitudes. He upheld the ban on women becoming deacons or priests, and that has been a great disappointment to many, especially women. 

But he opposed efforts that were being made by various bishops and priests to exclude people from receiving the Eucharist, such as people who were in second relationships or members of the LGBT community. Under Francis, the Church generally was a more compassionate and welcoming place. 

‘All are welcome’ was his motto. The Eucharist was food for the journey, not a reward for good living.

His biggest legacy, if it becomes embedded in the future Church, is the process of synodality. The vision he had that members of the Church would be consulted on all matters that affected them is intended to dramatically change the way the church operates, by opening up the exercise of authority and decision making to lay people, and in that way reduce the control of the clerical caste over the Church.

Francis had many critics within the Church, including men in very high offices both around the world and in the Vatican. The United States Church in particular is very divided and among its Catholic hierarchy there seem to be very few supporters of Francis or of his message.  

I hope and pray that his successor will continue his work, but I am not holding my breath.   I think the next conclave could be a battle.