Pope Francis: “radical witness to the gospel”

A pope who placed the most marginalized people at the very heart of his pontificate

(LWI) - Religious and secular leaders from around the globe gathered in the Vatican on Saturday to remember the pope who consistently called for a culture of encounter, who reached out to the poor, the migrants and refugees, who incessantly appealed for peace and stressed our shared responsibility for the planet.

The President of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Bishop Henrik Stubkjær and Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations Prof. Dr Dirk Lange were among the 400,000 people who filled St Peter’s Square and the surrounding streets for a final farewell to Pope Francis, who died on 21 April.

Representing the global Lutheran communion, the LWF leaders joined more than 30 other ecumenical delegations attending the funeral, which was led by Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals. Among the guests seated under a cloudless blue sky were U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, over 50 heads of state, 10 monarchs and many other government leaders from countries around the world.

“It was deeply moving to be present, representing our worldwide Lutheran family as we recalled the life of Pope Francis and his radical witness to the gospel,” said Bishop Stubkjær. "I was particularly touched to hear the cardinal emphasizing the pope’s concern for migrants and refugees, shown by his first visit to Lampedusa where so many have died crossing the Mediterranean Sea in search of safety, as well as his meetings with refugees in Lesbos and on the border between Mexico and the United States,” he added.

“The huge number of participants, coming from all nations, all ages and from all walks of life, reflects the appeal of Pope Francis,” Prof Lange observed. “People were deeply moved by his witness and his personal example, always pointing to God’s mercy for all, especially for the poor.”

"As the pope often reminded us,” Lange continued, “we yearn for a reconciled world, a world at peace, a world as God intends it to be. “This vision and this hope have also deeply inspired the ecumenical movement. So many ecumenical guests were present and seated, not with the diplomats or other groups, but alongside the ministers of the Catholic Church.”

Final journey to St Mary Major

“With his emphasis on synodality,” Lange added, “Pope Francis has stressed that we are to walk together and by doing this, we discover what unity is. Unity is a gift and a journey, a harmony, that is enriched through its diversity. I was struck by the second reading at the funeral from Philippians, where St Paul encourages us to 'stand firm' and this is our task now: to walk confidently forward together on this synodal journey.”

At the start of the Mass, the plain wooden coffin containing the pope’s body was carried by over a dozen pallbearers out of St Peter’s Basilica and into the square, where it was placed in front of a raised altar. An open book of the gospels was placed on top of the coffin, which had been laid in the basilica over the previous days, as tens of thousands of pilgrims filed past to pay their last respects.

At the end of the liturgy, the bells of the basilica tolled and a long applause from the crowds accompanied the coffin as it made its final journey from the Vatican through the city center in an open-topped popemobile to St Mary Major, the oldest church in Rome dedicated to Mary, Mother of God. There, according to the pope’s wishes, the casket was buried in a simple white tomb, made of stone from Liguria in northern Italy, from where the pope’s great grandparents emigrated to Argentina in the 1800s.

During his lifetime, Pope Francis was a regular visitor to this basilica, stopping to pray in front of the icon at the beginning and end of every papal journey. As the coffin arrived at its final destination, a group of local homeless and other marginalized people gathered on the steps, each carrying a white rose, to say a last farewell. It was a fitting send-off for the pope who had placed the poor and excluded at the very heart of his pontificate.