On the Pope’s plane– On the Pope’s plane (AP) – Pope Leo XIV First paid tribute to Pope Francis on Tuesday anniversary of his deathRemembering his preaching about God’s mercy and his gestures of solidarity with poor people.
“We thank God for the great gift of Francis’ life to the Church and the world,” Leo said.
The US Pope paid tribute in Italian while speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane en route from Angola to Equatorial Guinea on his last leg of his life. four country african trip.
francis He died on Easter Monday last year after suffering a stroke. He was recovering from illness in the Vatican stay in hospital for five weeks for double pneumonia, and had managed to give a final Easter salute to the crowds with the Popemobile through St. Peter’s Square.
His death at the age of 88 set the stage for Leo was elected in the conclave After a few weeks. This was an outcome for which Francis had laid the groundwork by promoting a former missionary priest, Robert Prevost, whom he considered “a saint”.
In his tribute, Leo recalled with precision Some of Francis’ most memorable sermons and messagesSaying that he “gave much to the Church with his life, with his testimony, with his words and with his gestures.”
“Many times what he did was he really stayed close to the poorest, the youngest, the sick, the children, the elderly,” he said.
He cited Francis’ preaching promoting human brotherhood and “authentic respect” among all people, as well as calling for a special Holy Year in 2015 to emphasize God’s mercy and forgiveness. Francis famously began the year in the Central African Republic, and Leo paid his tribute just as his plane was flying over that part of Africa.
Leo recalled Francis’ first Sunday afternoon prayer as pope, and the Mass he celebrated two days before his official papal inauguration, when he preached about an adulterous woman “and how he spoke to the heart of God’s mercy.”
“Let us pray that he is still enjoying the Lord’s mercy,” Leo said.
The anniversary was being marked with commemorations in Rome, including the release of commemorative books about Francis and a mass on Tuesday evening in St. Mary Major Basilica, where Francis’ tomb is located.
Amidst the flood of memorabilia, one work by Salvatore Cernuzio stands out as it presents a view of the current Pope from his predecessor.
Cernuzio, an Italian reporter for Vatican Media, the Holy See’s in-house news operation, developed a close personal relationship with Francis and often traveled in the Pope’s entourage when he left the Vatican. However, the book, titled “Padre” or “Father”, details the private side of their relationship, Cernuzio’s visits with Francis and their conversations at the Santa Marta Hotel.
“He? He’s a saint,” Francis told Cernuzio of then-Cardinal Robert Prevost, whom Francis brought to Rome in 2023 to take over the head of the Vatican’s bishop-veterinary office.
Francis’s assessment, given in 2023 when he announced that Prévost would be included in his new batch of cardinals that year, gives even greater weight to the hypothesis that Francis saw in Prévost as a potential successor.
Cernuzio recalls that when Francis called someone a saint, it was usually meant to describe “those who are able to handle conflict, stress and complex situations with composure, and who are able to foster a sense of community.”
The hypothesis that Francis laid the groundwork for Prévost’s election is well founded, given that it is clear that Francis had his eye on Prévost from the beginning and that he greatly appreciated his experience as a missionary who spent two decades working in Peru.
After Prevost served a second consecutive term as head of the Order of St. Augustine, Francis sent him in 2014 as bishop of the complex Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, and he rose from there to take on a leadership role in Peru’s bishops’ conference.
Francis then made Prevost the head of one of the Vatican’s most important jobs – prefect of the dicastery for bishops – giving Prevost vital experience in the Vatican bureaucracy and contacts with the cardinals who would ultimately choose Francis’ successor.
This combination made Prévost a viable contender in a future papal election, overcoming the otherwise impossible conclave hurdle of his American citizenship. There has long been a taboo in the church Against an American PopeGiven the geopolitical power the country already possesses.
The two men, who later became good friends, knew each other since Prévost was an Augustinian prior general and former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Prévost reports that at one time Bergoglio expressed interest in assigning a specific assignment to an Augustinian priest in his archdiocese.
“And I, as a former general, said, ‘I understand, Your Excellency, but he’s got something else to do’ and so I transferred him elsewhere,” Prevost told parishioners in his home state of Illinois in 2024.
Prévost said he “naively” thought Francis would not recall him after his 2013 election as Pope, and even though “he would never appoint me a bishop” due to disagreements years earlier.
Bergoglio not only made him bishop, but he also laid the foundation for Prévost to become his successor.
