PROVIDENCE — While most along the U.S. East Coast were still asleep at about 1:35 a.m. on Easter Monday, Pope Francis breathed his last, and the tectonic loss for the universal Catholic Church began to sweep around the globe.
“With heavy hearts the Roman Catholic Church in the Diocese of Providence mourns the passing of His Holiness, Pope Francis,” Diocesan Administrator Msgr. Albert A. Kenney said in a statement released in the early morning hours.
“From the moment of his election as Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church when he took the name Francis, our Holy Father has been a shining and powerful example of the mercy of God, embracing in his Petrine ministry the poor, the migrant, the marginalized, and the global Catholic community. We entrust his noble soul to the hands of our Blessed Mother, his patroness under the title Salus Populi Romani, the Refuge of the Roman people. May he rest in God’s peace.”
Carrie Corcoran awakened at about 6:30 a.m. to find her adult son Alexander in deep sorrow in his room, having already heard about the passing of the pontiff.
“I woke up to my son crying in his bedroom and he had told me the news,” she told Rhode Island Catholic.
She at first asked him if his allergies were bothering him, seeing the tears in his eyes, but she quickly learned that it was much more.
“He said with deep sorrow that the Holy Father had passed.”
She said that Alex was truly inspired by Pope Francis’s humble journey of faith and encounter with people wherever he went.
“The Holy Father had brought him back to the Catholic Church. Everything about the Holy Father brought Alex back to the Church,” Corcoran said, noting the strong impact the pontiff had on the family.
“We pray the Office every morning,” she said, referring to the Liturgy of the Hours. “Alex just wept. I’ve never seen my son cry like that before.”
Corcoran, a parishioner at Holy Name of Jesus Parish, Providence, attended the noon Mass at the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul on Monday along with her daughter Taelyn, 11.
Taelyn said she admired Pope Francis for his openness to helping people and for the way he embraced kids as the future of the church. She said that she had a book at home that her mother purchased for her from Tally’s featuring letters that kids had written to the pope.
“Pope Francis was really nice to everyone,” Taelyn said.
A larger than normal crowd gathered for the Easter Monday Mass, at which former Auxiliary Bishop Robert C. Evans was the principal celebrant.
Bishop Evans, who had met Pope Francis on two separate occasions early in his pontificate, told Rhode Island Catholic the pontiff effectively used his platform on the world stage to bring attention to those living on the margins of society.
“I think of Pope Francis as the world’s conscience, especially in the areas of immigrants, the marginalized, the victims of war and the poor. His was not the role of solving the world’s problems but of bringing these problems to the attention of those capable and responsible for addressing them,” he said.
“Christians believe in rendering to Caesar what is Caesar’s but to God what is God’s, and when these realms overlap, then appeals to conscience must be made. Perhaps the beatitude of showing mercy in order to receive mercy was his guiding light,” Bishop Evans said of the late pontiff.
In a tribute to Pope Francis, Father Robert E. Lacombe, who delivered the homily, read an excerpt from the Holy Father’s first encyclical, “Lumen Fidei,” which he issued in 2013.
“Faith is born of an encounter with the living God, who calls us and reveals his love. A love which precedes us and upon which we can lean for security, and for building our lives. Transformed by this love we gain fresh vision, new eyes to see, and we realize that it contains a great promise of fulfillment and that a vision of the future opens up before us,” he read.
“Since Christ has risen and draws us beyond death, faith is also a light coming to us from the future and opening before us vast horizons, which guide us beyond our isolated selves, toward the breadth of Communion. We come to see that faith does not dwell in shadow and gloom; it is a light for our darkness. Pope Francis, the 265th successor to St. Peter, rest in peace.”
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the loss was also being felt at the Pontifical North American College in Rome for the pontiff whose legacy is marked by a compassion for the poor and marginalized of society.
Seminarian Nathan J. Ledoux told Rhode Island Catholic that in studying in Rome he feels a great sense of gratitude to Pope Francis for his service to the Church and for his contribution to the common good of the international community.
“He deeply loved God and all God’s people,” the seminarian said. “The testimony to this reality is the throngs of people who’ve gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray for Pope Francis during his illness and hospitalization, and now at his passing.”
Ledoux said that in the tradition of the Easter season, when we rejoice through the Paschal mystery of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection, we have great hope that, even in our sadness at the loss of the Holy Father, we rejoice that Christ has paid the price of our salvation.
“As we prepare for a Papal funeral and a conclave in Rome, I pray that Catholics the world over, especially our local Church in Rhode Island, will pray for Pope Francis’ repose and for the cardinals who will take part in the election of a new pope,” Ledoux said.
“I hope to be present for the white smoke in St. Peter’s Square, when a new pope is elected and, with all Rhode Island Catholics, offer thanks to God for providing a shepherd for his Church.”
Father Christopher J. Murphy, a spiritual director at the Pontifical North American College, attended Pope Francis’ final blessing to the Easter crowd.
“I was in St. Peter’s Square just yesterday to receive the Holy Father’s Easter blessing and greetings, so it’s quite shocking to learn of his passing today,” Father Murphy said.
“I remember reading ‘Joy of the Gospel’ as a young priest and it had a profound impact on me. I was equally moved by his most recent encyclical on the Sacred Heart. I grieve his death with the rest of the Pontifical North American College community and indeed the entire Church. We will pray for him and the Church as we begin these days of mourning.”
Carrie Corcoran reflected on the qualities of Pope Francis that made him a truly special shepherd for his flock.
“He was not judgmental,” she said. “He looked at everyone like the true miracle that we really are. That’s how we should all be. If we all lived Pope Francis’s motto, it would be a better world.”
