I am not alone in having experienced the joy of watching Pope Francis travel through St. Peter’s Square, celebrating the Easter moment, only to wake the next day, in shock, to learn of the Holy Father’s passing. Looking back, it can only be thought of as a gift, and one deeply resonant with meaning. Many thought that Pope Francis was lost to us far earlier. Indeed, I was interviewed weeks ago for what were to be obituaries that are only now appearing. But to have Pope Francis at the helm to celebrate the most sacred moment in the liturgical calendar, and then to lose him on the Monday following, seems somehow fitting. 

Pope Francis’ time as leader of the Catholic church was striking for his humility, compassion, commitment to the poor, and leadership on international concerns. His encyclicals advocated for care and generosity, for our fellow citizens, for our environment, and for the common good. He travelled to some of the most troubled spaces on the planet, including a ground-breaking visit to Canada to issue a long-awaited papal apology to Indigenous peoples on Canadian soil.

No Pope leaves the world unchanged, but there can be little doubt that Pope Francis approached the papacy in a unique way. He was the People’s Pope. He was an advocate, like few before him, for the most marginalized and forgotten. He was accepting of our frailties and vulnerabilities. What he wouldn’t accept was complacency. He was not content with convention for the sake of the past. Rather, like Christ himself, he asked us to change for the better, to eschew self-interest for the common good, and to celebrate our shared humanity.

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I’ve had the wonderful opportunity of being president of a Catholic university throughout his 12-year papacy. It allowed me to have a particular view of the Pope’s impact on young people. Without a doubt, Francis had a way of connecting with younger folk, of making them feel valued in their faith, and of assuring them that the Church wanted to hear their voice. I had the honour of meeting him in person on two occasions, and it was so clear to see how he connected authentically with everyone he spoke to. Indeed, he began one audience I attended by hurriedly reading a formal text, and he seemed to rush through it so that he could engage with the audience directly. It was truly special to see. 

On one visit I met with the priest who robed him in the “Room of Tears,” a secret room adjacent to the Sistine Chapel, where a new pope is clothed following the conclave. The priest explained how they tried to convince him to wear an ornate red chasuble, but that Francis chose, instead, a plain white vestment. It was the start of a different approach to the papacy, stripped of formalities wherever possible — a value that was continued at his funeral: buried in a plain wooden coffin, outdoors at the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, instead of within the towering St. Peter’s Basilica. Pope Francis himself revised the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificus — the liturgical instructions for a papal funeral — so that they celebrate the passing of a “pastor and disciple of Christ” rather that the passing of “a powerful person in the world.” Francis himself wrote the burial instructions: “The tomb should be in the ground; simple, without particular ornamentation, bearing only the inscription: Franciscus.”

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As a Jesuit affiliated institution, Corpus Christi College and St. Mark’s College embrace the call from Pope Francis, a Jesuit, to lead by example. He provided a continual call to place people at the centre of the educational process. As he wrote, “God is present in others, especially in the poor and the marginalized. This is true education, accompanying young people to discover, in service to others and in academic rigor, the building up of the common good” (address to the International Commission on the Apostolate of Jesuit Education, May 2024). The example set by Pope Francis will continue to inspire our mission to prepare students to be reflective leaders who serve society with integrity and compassion.

Corpus Christi College and St. Mark’s extend our prayers for the soul of the blessed Holy Father. We are immensely grateful for his years of insightful leadership of the Church. May he rest in eternal peace. Vale Franciscus.