The true legacy of Pope Francis

Testimony and messages from Pope Francis. The speech by Francesco Provinciali

The world mourns the passing of Pope Francis, who passed away at 7.35am on Easter Monday in the home of Santa Marta. He had imparted the "Urbi et Orbi" blessing on Easter day and the sacredness of this gesture, combined with the willpower to be present in the midst of a cheering people who eagerly awaited him, will go down in history as the last moving public act – intimately experienced – of a great Pontiff.

He made people love him for his immense humanity, an unmistakable trait of his frank and direct personality, for 12 years from 13 March 2013. Francis – the first Jesuit Pope in the history of the Church, the first Pontiff from the American continent, the first non-European since the time of Gregory III – has always looked at the world with a truly planetary vision and in particular at the least, the suffering, the disadvantaged, the needy, the marginalized, the poor, to migrants, to those rejected in a world too often dominated by the god of money. Only a few days ago he had visited the prisoners in Regina Coeli and apologized for not having washed their feet. Every word of his, every homily, every writing, every encyclical letter – starting from The Joy of the Gospel, Laudato Sì, Dilexit nos, Fratelli tutti up to the very recent autobiography 'Spera' exudes love and hope, participatory sharing in the ups and downs of earthly life, the beauty of creation and expresses a spontaneous and never ostentatious authority. He was able to show the way forward to a lost world, torn by wars and the plagues of evil, by interests that cloud feelings, by selfishness, by guilty indifference pushed to the point of sloth, dominated by bullies and by physical and symbolic violence, with a far-sighted gaze and always inspired by gestures of great humility, of good example, of unaffected mercy, of sincere affection.

The people, his people, grasped with emotional impetus and sharing his message of love where the virtue of hope was incarnated in the hearts and minds of everyone: he was a great Pope who put the Church and the evangelical message back at the crossroads of humanity in pain and in need of attention.

From the day of his election to the papal throne, his words were moving: "Brothers and sisters, good evening! You know that the duty of the Conclave was to give a bishop to Rome. It seems that my brother cardinals went to get him almost to the end of the world… but we are here. I thank you for your welcome. The diocesan community of Rome has its bishop: thank you! And first of all, I would like to say a prayer for our bishop emeritus, Benedict XVI. Let us all pray for him together, so that the Lord may bless him and Our Lady will protect him. […] And now I would like to give the Blessing, but first I ask you a favor: before the Bishop blesses the people, I ask you to pray to the Lord to bless me.

Simple and direct words but pregnant with sharing because he always wanted a Church that was poor and for the poor (as he had said in the first general audience, held in the Paul VI Hall, a few days after the election, explaining the reason why he had decided to call himself Francis) composed of priests who were witnesses of evangelical pietas and who therefore smelled like sheep, mixed among the people and always humble without giving up being witnesses of Christ and the Gospel.

“Permission, thank you, sorry”: these words of his had made him the Pope of all, because true greatness is not inspired by haughtiness and detachment but by sharing kindness and respect for others.

Having suffered since his hospitalization in Gemelli for bilateral pneumonia, he had become even more of a man among men, the disease had brought him even closer to the people he loved and who, more than ecclesiastical hierarchies, rituals and formal aspects, he has always considered the true backbone of the universal Church.

The hope (the strongest feeling he taught us) of a slow recovery animated us in the desire to still have him among us.

We will miss him and always remember him because he had now become a fundamental part of our intimacy and our feelings but the testimony of faith he gave us must be a viaticum for the heart and mind.

“You have made known to me the ways of life, you will fill me with joy with your presence” (Acts of the Apostles, 2:28)

Thank you Francesco for having illuminated our path with the promise of eternal joy and not goodbye but goodbye.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/la-vera-eredita-di-papa-francesco/ on Mon, 21 Apr 2025 10:28:46 +0000.