ROME — Among the flock of 250,000 mourners at Pope Francis’ funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Square, four priests from the Diocese of Providence managed to remain together to offer prayers for the repose of the pope’s soul. Fathers Marcel Taillon, Christopher Murphy, Joseph Brodeur and Mark Gadoury joined hundreds of fellow priests in concelebrating the Mass of Christian Burial on Saturday, April 25. They reflected on the extraordinary and solemn occasion to the Rhode Island Catholic.
Father Murphy and Father Brodeur were already in Rome, the former as spiritual advisor at the Pontifical North American College and the latter finishing his degree as a student there.
Father Gadoury, however, said that: “While I originally came to Rome for the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis, I was unexpectedly given the grace — within just the first three years of my priesthood — to concelebrate the funeral Mass of yet another pope. I had also been present, during some time off, for the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI.”
“The somberness of the Holy Father’s funeral stood in striking contrast to the joy originally anticipated for the canonization of a young, modern-day saint. Yet the strong presence of youth, already gathered because of Carlo’s canonization, was a powerful reminder that even amid sorrow and turbulence in the world and the Church, they are full of faith, hope, and deep love for Jesus Christ — the future of the Church.”
Father Murphy was amazed that the four were able to coordinate their appearance at the funeral and remain together throughout, given the logistical challenges presented by the capacity of the crowd for the immediate area inside St. Peter’s Square.
“It was providential that we met and were able to sit together,” Father Murphy told Rhode Island Catholic via email. “Being here in Rome for the pope’s death and the events that followed has been nothing short of surreal. It is like mourning a ‘spiritual father.’ Pope Francis’ pontificate spans most of my priesthood.”
During the Mass, he thought of what it meant for a priest to answer God’s call.
“Concelebrating the funeral Mass, my mind was on three men: Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who would take the name Pope Francis, the Apostle Peter (whose bones are venerated daily beneath the Basilica) and Christ, to whom both of these men responded ‘yes’ when he said, ‘Follow me,’” Father Murphy said.
He also contemplated the day he learned of Pope Francis’ election to the papacy in 2013.
“I was in the Dominican Republic for a parish mission trip. Our group watched on a small television in the living room of a local family who invited us into their home as Francis appeared before St. Peter’s Square.”
Father Brodeur said it was a “tremendous blessing” to be there in the Square praying for the happy repose of our Holy Father, especially in the company of so many of his brother priests.
“To sit all together as priests of Providence amidst such a large crowd was a special grace,” he said.
“In the days since the funeral, I have been reflecting a lot on the last 12 years of Pope Francis’ pontificate. He was elected right around the time that I first began to seriously discern a vocation to the priesthood in 2013 and my time in formation was bookended by the two jubilee years he opened — the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2016 and this Ordinary Jubilee in 2025 — so you might say my seminary journey is intimately caught up with his years on the chair of Peter.
“I also found it quite providential,” he said, intending the play on words for his native diocese, “that the Gospel for his funeral liturgy — which was actually just the given Gospel for Saturday of the Easter Octave — was a passage that the Lord had used in a powerful way to bring me into the seminary.”
Father Gadoury reminds the faithful that even someone as prominent in the Church as a pope “comes before God in need of mercy and in need of prayers” and asks for continued prayers for the soul of the Holy Father.
