In a historic and profoundly emotional farewell, the Catholic world on Saturday, April 26, 2025, gathered at St. Peter’s Square, Vatican, to pay final respects to Pope Francis, a pontiff who transformed the Church with his humility, courage, and tireless advocacy for the marginalised. Under the grey Roman skies, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, delivered a thoughtful homily that captured the spirit of a papacy that redefined leadership with the simplicity and heart of a servant. “We are gathered with sad hearts in prayer around his mortal remains,” Cardinal Re began, standing before the immense crowd that had braved the morning chill.
“Yet, we are sustained by the certainty of faith… human existence does not end in the tomb, but in the Father’s house.” Heads of state, dignitaries, religious leaders, and millions watching across the world mourned the passing of a Pope who had remained a beacon of compassion and hope, right until his final moments. The Cardinal painted a vivid image of Pope Francis’ final public appearance: frail yet determined, blessing the faithful from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Easter Sunday before taking a last ride among them in his Popemobile. A gesture that would etch itself into collective memory — a Pontiff at peace with his journey, close to his people until the very end. From his election in 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio — choosing the name Francis — made clear his mission: a Church not confined to palaces but present in the streets, among the wounded and the weary.
“Through his resolute personality, he immediately made his mark on the governance of the Church,” said Cardinal Re, recalling a Pope who tore down walls of aloofness to build bridges of fraternity. From Buenos Aires to the Vatican, he carried the same heartbeat — to comfort, to listen, to love. His first journey as Pope to Lampedusa, mourning migrants lost at sea, set the tone. He would later wash the feet of prisoners, champion refugees, and reach across faiths to embrace a divided world. His daring 2021 visit to Iraq amid threats of violence, his historic signing of the Document on Human Fraternity in Abu Dhabi, and his ceaseless pleas for peace in war-torn regions underscored a relentless moral clarity. “Pope Francis shared the anxieties, sufferings, and hopes of this time of globalisation,” said Cardinal Re.
“He touched hearts and reawakened moral and spiritual sensibilities.” Central to his ministry were two profound gifts he offered: mercy and joy. ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ — his first Apostolic Exhortation — called the world to the “joy of the Gospel.” And in the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, he flung open the Church’s doors to a wounded humanity, declaring that no one was beyond God’s forgiveness. At a time when the world grappled with “epochal change,” as he described it, Pope Francis insisted the Church should be a “field hospital after battle” — a place where the broken could heal. “He reminded us that the Church is a home for all, with doors always open,” Cardinal Re said. His teachings in Laudato Si’ challenged humanity to care for the planet as a shared home, while Fratelli Tutti urged a new global fraternity, transcending divisions and prejudices.
He was a Pontiff who spoke with prophetic urgency against a “culture of waste” and for a “culture of encounter.” As the bells of St. Peter’s tolled and incense rose into the heavens, Cardinal Re voiced a final request, echoing the words Pope Francis had so often spoken at the end of his addresses: “Dear Pope Francis, we now ask you to pray for us. May you bless the Church, bless Rome, and bless the whole world from heaven.” The People’s Pope may have departed from this world, but his spirit — of mercy, simplicity, and steadfast love — remains deeply woven into the heart of the Church and the world he embraced so tenderly. Today, millions bid farewell not just to a Pope, but to a father, a friend, and a humble shepherd who truly “fed his sheep” until the end.
