Saturday, June 21, 2025
He became an ordained Jesuit priest at 33, and was the first pope from outside Europe in centuries. Pope Francis, who died on Monday at age 88, was known for his human touch.
“He was a first in a lot of ways: the first Jesuit and Latin American priest,” the Rev. Chuck Romano, of St. Raymond’s Church on Atlantic Avenue in East Rockaway, said. “He lived a simple lifestyle … He lived a very uplifting and edifying life that we bring to our own church.”
Jaymie Baal DePalo, from Lynbrook, visited Italy in 2016 on a family trip with her parents— who had never been out of the country.
As a Roman Catholic, her parish helped the family visit the people’s audience, where hundreds gather for a chance to meet the Pope in Rome. Her daughter, Arianna DePalo, had just turned one, and this fact helped the family make it to the front of the line.
“A few of the elderly women we met pushed us towards the barricades in hopes Arianna could be blessed by the Pope,” Baal Depalo said.
Shortly after, Bergoglio exited his ‘Pope-mobile,’ Baal Depalo recalled, and picked up Arianna and kissed her on the forehead.
She said this was a particularly special moment because it occurred on the Catholic holiday Ash Wednesday in February 2016.
“He had all of us in tears,” she said. “It was the greatest honor, especially because this Pope has been unlike any other Pope.”
Bergoglio, just before his 17th birthday, he 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, aiding the poor and having respect for indigenous people.
Bishop John Barres who leads the Diocese of Rockville Centre noted those 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 wrote about the enduring vitality of the Gospel, and Christianity has roots in breaking beyond rigid frameworks— revealing the divine through fresh creativity, Barres said.
“Every form of authentic evangelization is always ‘new,’” Barres said.
Pope Francis was known for his charm and humility, and his everyman style.
“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.”
As pontiff, Francis was more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community that drew the ire of the more conservative members of the church.
"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.
