Saturday, June 21, 2025
He became an ordained Jesuit priest at 33 and was the first pope from outside Europe in centuries, yet Pope Francis was known for his human touch.
He died on April 21. He was born on Dec. 17, 1936.
“The Church has lost a very humble devoted man for the poor and I have met him a couple of times and experienced in his presence that he is always a caring person,” Reverend Johnny Mendonca, pastor at The Church of St. Christopher in Baldwin, told the Herald. “He was the true voice of the poor for humanity so today we can say that the poor has lost a father who cared for them. He will always be remembered for a person for spiritual courage who served all those who needed help. I will truly pray that God will grant him eternal rest,”
Bergoglio, just before his 17th birthday, was hurrying to meet friends when something directed him to go into the Basilica of St. Joseph in Buenos Aires that moved him to become a priest.
Jesuits are known for highlighting humility, aid the poor and having respect for indigenous people.
Bishop John Barres who leads the Diocese of Rockville Centre noted the works in his statement.
“As we mourn the death of Pope Francis on this Easter Octave Monday and the gift of his contemplative global evangelization grounded in Matthew 25 and the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, we give thanks to Father, Son and Holy Spirit for his unique graces and charisms and the compelling way during his Pontificate that he has been a Light of Jesus Christ and the mission of mercy of the Catholic Church to the world,” he said.
“In *Evangelii Gaudium* (2013), Pope Francis speaks about the original freshness of the Gospel: “Jesus can also break through the dull categories with which we would enclose him and he constantly amazes us by his divine creativity. Whenever we make the effort to return to the source and to recover the original freshness of the Gospel, new avenues arise, new paths of creativity open up, with different forms of expression, more eloquent signs and words with new meaning for today’s world. Every form of authentic evangelization is always ‘new.’”
“As a family of faith, we join the Church in mourning the passing of Pope Francis, a humble servant, who led with compassion and simplicity,” St. Raphael Parish in East Meadow posted on Facebook. “May his soul and the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.”
“It is with a deep sense of sorrow that we join the Universal Church and the whole world in mourning the death of our Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis, who left this world to his Father this morning,” Father Eugene Umeor of Malverne’s Our Lady of Lourdes Church said in Monday’s morning prayer that are posted online. “I hope in the resurrection we continue to live out the values he taught us, universal love, his care for poor, the vulnerable, and all those in special needs.”
“Today the Chair is Empty. Easter Sunday an empty tomb is found and we know Jesus our hope has risen,” said Mark Daley, former grand knight for Valley Stream Knights of Columbus. “Today we pray for our Pope who has Risen to be with God Our Father.”
Phyllis Zagano Ph.D, is senior research associate-in-residence in the Department of Religion at Hofstra University. One of the world’s foremost experts on the question of women deacons and in 2016 was appointed to serve on Pope Francis’ first commission to look at this issue. She was the only commissioner to travel from the Western Hemisphere.
“Pope Francis will be remembered as the pope who opened the door to more people, especially lay people, especially women, to participate in conversations about how the Church might best move forward,” Zagano said.
Let me know if you want a cleaned-up version of the entire article too—happy to help polish it further.
