Pope Francis.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on 17th December 1936 in Buenos Aires from Italian parents. He studied chemistry and entered the Society of Jesus in 1958. He was ordained a priest in 1969, quickly becoming an important figure within the movement. His spirituality was strongly influenced by that of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, with particular care to the poor, a love for humility and simplicity. Something which would define his entire ministry. He became bishop auxiliary of Bueno Aires in 1992 and then Archbishop in 1998. In 2001, John Paul II made him a cardinal, even as a cardinal he kept to his mission of sobriety and simplicity, he would move around town by public transport and was more often than not in less privileged areas. On 13 March 2013, he was elected as 266° pope, choosing the name Francis, a symbol of peace, poverty and love of creation. He became both the first American pope and also the first Jesuit pope. His pontificate was marked by an intense diplomatic and pastoral activity. He visited more than 40 different countries, often places marred by war and poverty. Notable are his travels to Lampedusa, the United States, where he advocated on matters of social justice and climate change. In 2021, he visited Iraq where he strengthened the dialogue with the Muslim community while preaching the Word of God from the site upon which ISIS had threatened conquest and destruction of the city of Rome. He also worked really hard to tackle corruption in the Roman Curia, pushing for more transparency in finance and for a more synodal structure of government. He also fought against sexual abuse and while he opened the doors to the LGBT community, he fought against those, within the ranks of the Church who preached on behalf of tradition, while acting in the opposite way in private. His theology was rooted around the idea of mercy, he even opened an extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2016. His Church was open to the poor, destitute, for those in war-torn countries, the lonely, LGBT and all those on the margins. He had a strong sense of social justice, as seen in Evangelii Gaidium but also a sense of protecting God's creation as seen in Laudato si. True to his mission, he was also a strong ecumenism, gifting the Archbishop of Canterbury a crozier in the shape of the one Saint Gregory the Great used to bless Saint Augustine of Canterbury before he set off to evangelize England, this is the greatest such gesture since the giving of the papal ring by Paul VI to +Ramsey. Despite his love of simplicity, his style was dignified and he was a lover of the arts. He had a certain sense of aesthetics, beauty, music - simple but very fine in a very Jesuit way. Nothing to do with the bronze tat of the Paul VI 70s... He was a pope of the lay, a man of the people. Often seen around Rome in his Fiat car. This man is a man who saw a realistic way of bringing the Church to all. Once an orphan asked him: "is my atheist father in heaven?" and he hugged him. This is what Christ's voice on earth truly does. When he passed away, with his body weakened by all the politics within the Church but with his faith strong as ever, he did so on what is known in Italy as the "Monday of the Angel" or "Little Easter", the day after Easter - in the Jubilee Year of the Church, inaugurated by him. As he died, the otherwise quite anti-religious Italian social media population was mourning for this man of the people, a true man of peace. 

As a born and bred Roman, the history of the papacy has always played a vital role in the day to day life of this young man. I was watching cartoons on tv when John Paul II passed away, we went to see him only days before. We watched his funeral at school. We followed the election of Benedict, the black and white smoke coming out of the Sistine Chapel. We occasionally saw the pope in his papamobile around Rome. My grandmother used to take me to Saint Peter's Basilica to attend services. The history of our whole city is rooted around the figure of the pope. The past few months have been a worry, the one constant spiritual figure in our day to day life was gone. That comforting voice that was always saying kind words in the background either on tv or the radio was gone. Some people thought he was going to get better, then the shock. Pope Francis had died the day after Easter, having served until the end. To me, he was a pastor. He accompanied me through my teenage years into my young adulthood. He was always there. He was there when I was a younger and annoying liturgy geek who despised the simplicity, he was there when he visited our church of All Saints', greeted me and changed my mind. When I brought him a lectern, he stopped mid-sentence, before the whole world, looked at me, smiled, and said: grazie. He was genuine. Kind to nobodies like me, ruthless to those that made the Church an unpleasant place to be. It was a pleasure to see him every year at the Vespers for the Conversion of Saint Paul where he made Anglicans and Christians from all denominations welcome. He really lived God's message until the end. He passed the day after the day of resurrection and because of his devotion to the Salus Populi Romani, Our Lady, he was buried at Saint Mary Major, giving the Romans a more accessible place to visit him, brining Our Lady into relevance, and giving the cheering and not wailing world one more chance to say goodbye along the streets of the Eternal Spirit. Pope Francis will be sorely missed but he will watch upon the Church from above, may the Holy Spirit guide the Church towards a successor of Peter who will follow in his Christ-like mission of helping the poor and marginalized. Rest in peace, Your Holiness. Thank you for being our pastor. You will be missed. Grazie, Papa Francesco.