TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — The death of Pope Francis will, of course, affect life in Vatican City, but it also has an impact on some lives in the Wabash Valley.
Passing away just hours after his public appearance on Easter Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis’s death came as a shock.
However, retired Priest of the Archdiocese, Todd Riebe, said the pope lived his final days doing what he loved.
“The beautiful thing is, up to the very last minute, he was doing what he did as pope and that was caring for his people”, Riebe said. “He came out yesterday for the Easter mass, to give the blessing after the mass, and then rode around in the popemobile for that visit for the last time then died peacefully. I think he gives us a great example of living life until the very end.”
Riebe said members of the church feel like they have lost a family member, but all feel that they have lost a friend.
“We lost a father, it’s like we lost a father”, Riebe said. “I think for the world, especially with this pope, they feel like they lost a friend. I think he has reached out to so many people in so many directions and been so concerned about so many people that, even if you don’t see him as a spiritual leader, they see him as a friend.”
The Pope’s death will trigger a nine-day mourning period, before work begins on electing a new one.
Riebe said Pope Francis will be remembered as a simple man.
“The first word that comes to mind when I think about Pope Francis is mercy because his first letter to the church was a letter on the importance of mercy”, Riebe said. “We see, all through his papacy how he, himself, acted on that. Doing things like bringing homeless in for dinner with him. The other word that would come to mind would be humility. As soon as he began his papacy, the first thing he did was to go back to the hotel where he had stayed as a cardinal and pay his bill. When they offered him the new shoes, which traditionally the pope wears red shoes, he looked at his shoes and said these are good. He lived his life with great simplicity and great humility.”
Sisters of Providence of Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods released a statement acknowledging Pope Francis’s passing Monday. The full statement is below:
“With heavy hearts, the Sisters of Providence acknowledge Pope Francis’s passing today. We join people everywhere in mourning for him, who became a symbol of hope, both in his person and in his ministry.
From the moment he was introduced as pope and greeted the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, people knew he would be different. Almost immediately, he asked those present to pray for him, and he knelt in humility to receive those prayers.
Certainly, his deep humility lent credibility to the challenges he made to us during his pontificate to go to the margins, to reach out to those most in need of God’s mercy and hope.
For the Sisters of Providence, Pope Francis’ recognition of our common home, Earth, as one of the places most in need found resonance in our ministry of eco-spirituality and justice. His encyclical Letter, Laudato Si’, began a truly universal movement to change our very relationship with each other and with Earth.
In 2020, we and our wider Providence Community publicly committed to joining the worldwide Catholic community in responding to Pope Francis’ appeal to participate in a seven-year journey toward sustainability and integral ecology by developing a Laudato Si’ Action Platform.
Perhaps just as remarkable has been Pope Francis’s insistence that we become a synodal church. From the beginning, Pope Francis has seen the Synod on Synodality, first convened in October 2021, as “what the Lord is asking of us, a call from God to walk together with the whole human family.”
Radical inclusion, shared belonging and deep hospitality are recognized as the result of the listening that is at the heart of the synodal process. Pope Francis said, “Instead of behaving like gatekeepers trying to exclude others from the table, we need to do more to make sure that people know that everyone can find a place and a home here.”
Just yesterday, in what was to be his final Easter Blessing, Pope Francis again implored us to “hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas! For all of us are children of God! … I would like us to renew our hope that peace is possible!”
May Pope Francis’s death renew that hope in us, and may his memory stir us into continued action on behalf of the lost and the least.
In this time of mourning, we will join the global Catholic community in prayer and reflection. For the next nine days, Pope Francis will be included in the prayers and in the necrology read daily during liturgy at Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods.”
