It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of Pope Francis, who met Sister Death this morning, the first day of the Octave of Easter. We watched him on TV yesterday as he gave the Urbi et Orbi blessing from the loggia of Saint Peter’s Basilica and spoke of peace in all the troubled parts of our world. He rode in the popemobile through the crowds in the square as if to give his final goodbye to the faithful and all of us. It is with a spirit of profound gratitude to God for the life and ministry of the People’s Pope.

This Jesuit, with a Franciscan heart, taught us by his words and especially by his example how to follow the Lord who loved the marginalized and outcast. He reminded us that the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth are intimately linked. His humble way inspired us not to seek fame and glory but to simply follow the Lord’s will without much pomp

He invited us to see the Church as a “Field Hospital” for all sinners, not a “Country Club” for the perfect. Who am I to judge, set the tone for his Pontificate. When he was elected, the Franciscan Cardinal sitting next to him in the Sistine Chapel reminded him to “not forget the poor.” May Pope Francis be welcomed into the house of the Father where Lazarus is poor no longer. May he find eternal peace.

Please join the friars of Our Lady of the Angles Province” as we remember this gentle, loving successor of St Peter, who looked into the empty tomb and believed!