Less than a week ago, Catholics across the world were expressing their disbelief in seeing the images of Pope Francis not only appearing at the balcony in St. Peter’s Square but also taking a spin around the crowds on Easter Sunday in the Popemobile.
As it would transpire, that was to be the final time that the world would see Pope Francis alive.
Two months after experiencing a brutal downturn in his health, the Holy Father had managed to fight back enough to visit a prison, host King Charles III and US Vice President JD Vance.
When he appeared in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday, he once again pleaded for peace, particularly in Gaza, in prepared marks that he was ultimately unable to deliver.
The week leading up to his actual funeral has been strange in the week after Easter Sunday, but there is something oddly fitting about it. With news emerging last week of record adult baptisms and large crowds (especially of young men) attending Masses in the Western World at Easter, there is a quiet feeling of optimism in some (not all) quarters of the church. With a Jubilee year ongoing and the canonisations of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati also, there are many significant events ahead in the coming year.
The funeral took place under beautiful blue skies, there was the political drama involving Donald Trump and Zelenskyy and there were the crowds numbering in the hundreds of thousands who lined the roads from the Vatican all the way to the Colosseum and through further to Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore.
There will be other times where we can asses the legacy of his 12 year papacy, but for now, let us pray for his soul.
Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him.