Bishop Philip writes…

I welcome you to this Easter Tuesday brief edition of e-News. I want to wish you a very happy Easter! However, our Easter joy is tinged with sadness as we bid farewell to Pope Francis. Although not unexpected given his age of 88 and his illness these last months, he has been our Pope for the last 12 years, the first ever from Latin America. He came from Buenos Aires and was the son of an Italian immigrant father and an Argentinian mother. He is also the first ever Jesuit pope. Ordained a priest in 1967, he later served as provincial superior and later as an auxiliary bishop before being appointed in 1998 the Archbishop of Buenos Aires. A man of simplicity and humility, committed to social justice, he dedicated himself to the pastoral care of the poor in the favelas, the slums. In 2001, Pope John Paul made him a cardinal and in March 2013 he was elected Pope. He chose the name Francis, after St Francis of Assisi, as he said, because he was “a man of peace, a man of poverty and a man who loved and protected creation.”

We have so much to thank God for because of his papacy. During his twelve years as Pope, Francis was a champion of social justice. He constantly called us to put our faith into practical action in charity. He championed the marginalised and travelled to the ends of the earth. He worked for a more fraternal world and he called us to care for the Earth. Within the Church, he made us focus on the mercy of God and how each one of us is on a journey of faith. He sought to modernise the Church and began a major reform of the Roman Curia. In calling for synodality, he wanted every single member of the Church to have their say. The office of pope is central to the life of the Catholic Church; the pope sets the tone, the priorities and direction of travel. Yet the pope is also a key figure on the world stage, a pontifex, a bridge-builder, calling for peace and collaboration among peoples. In all of this, Francis excelled.

I have written a Pastoral Letter to be read at Mass next weekend, the Second Sunday of Easter, appropriately Divine Mercy Sunday. Over the next days we will have a lot to think about and reflect upon, in the time leading up to the Holy Father’s funeral Mass. It is a mark of Francis that recently he simplified the Funeral Rites for a deceased pope, saying that they need to reflect better that this is a liturgy marking not the death of a powerful person, but rather the death of a pastor and disciple of the Lord.

In Jesus Christ risen from the dead, we have the certainty that when a loved one dies, one day we will see them again. This is our faith: that we live with Christ; we die with Him, and we will rise with Him. Indeed, it is this faith that makes us pray today with confidence for the Holy Father, Pope Francis. May he hear the Lord Jesus say to him: “Well done, good and faithful servant; come and join in your Master’s happiness.” And we, with the help of Our Lady’s prayers, pray in our turn with confidence: “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.”

A fuller e-News will be published next week.

In Corde Iesu

+Philip

Bishop of Portsmouth

You can read this week’s issue in full here.

[Image: Mazur / CBCEW]