Pope Francis: companion on the road to Emmaus

There will be many wonderful, long prepared and detailed tributes to Pope Francis.  But for many Catholics his death will simply have come as a shock – oddly, as he was obviously dying – and as a moment for tears and for cherishing personal memories.  Heaven above knows how many people he greeted, shook hands with after visits, meetings and conferences, how many babies blessed and held, how many prisoners, sick, disabled, spoken to with love.  There was something very moving about those daily phone calls to the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza — something, I would dare to say, that defined this papacy.

Francis made both the secular and religious-minded aware of a deeply personal way of being Bishop of Rome and leader of the Catholic Church.  He cut away so much of the formality of the office.  It was not only his stunning workload – an example to all in their 80s — but how he modelled love, concern, and compassion in his interactions with the public.  Watching the television pictures I was often reminded of words attributed to Pope Francis’ hero, St. Francis of Assisi:  “Preach the Gospel with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul and sometimes use words.”

Francis used plenty of words, easily understood ones, sometimes too loosely for his critics, who clung to tradition and didn’t like his approach, nor his emphases. In words and actions he so clearly took the side of the poor and vulnerable.  His great encyclicals Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti, his repeated calls for compassion towards migrants and asylum seekers, used words to great effect.  At a time when sexual abuse scandals had eroded the credibility of leadership in the Catholic Church, this mattered a great deal and gave hope.

Pope Francis  was perhaps at his most traditional in his conduct of international affairs, his efforts to  protect local churches as head of the Vatican State.  Even in those last hours before his death Pope Francis found time for Easter greetings with the Vice-President of the United States, J.D Vance, whom he could so easily have avoided. It could have been no easy matter to engage with the Chinese Communist Party, its persecution of religion, whilst attempting  to stay outside the politics of a polarised world.

From the crowds in St. Peter’s square it is obvious that popes have symbolic importance for Catholics.  Pope Francis also had importance for what he was as a man and as a priest, for other Churches and faiths, and for the secular world who recognised his goodness, humility and sincerity.  His spirituality fitted our troubled times. The Spanish poet, Antonio Machado wrote: “Traveller, there is no path – we make the path by walking.”  Francis taught us how to walk.  And following the life of our beloved Pope, Christians will emerge on the Emmaus road.

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