POPE FRANCIS

"Dear brothers and sisters, it is with profound sadness that I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis.

At 07.35 this morning the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father." 

(Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Carmerlengo of the Holy Roman Church).

Despite the increasing frailty of the Holy Father, the news of his death has come as a shock. Only yesterday, on Easter 

Sunday, he was able to greet and bless the crowds in St Peter's Square, in Rome. Without us realising it, it was to be his  

last 'goodbye' to the Church in this world. As someone who  always wished to be close to the people, it is the kind of death

he would have chosen.

Having confronted death on so many occasions, Pope Francis had often reflected upon its true meaning. These are just 

some of his thoughts on the subject of dying.

"Death challenges all of us: apart from belief in God and a vision of life as something greater than earthly existence,

death appears as wholly tragic; we misunderstand it, fear and deny it. Yet human beings were made for something

greater; we yearn for the infinite, the eternal. Christ's resurrection not only offers us the certainty of life beyond death,

it also shows us the true meaning of death.

We die as we live: if our lives were lived in loving union with God, we will be able to abandon ourselves serenely and

confidently into his hands at the moment of our death. Our Lord frequently tells us to be watchful, knowing that our

life in this world is a preparation for the life to come. If we remain close to him...we need not fear death, but rather

welcome it as the door to heaven and to the joy of eternal life."

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine.

Et lux perpetua luceat ei.

Requiescat in pace. Amen.