My first Easter celebration in the United Kingdom was a beautiful event. The climax of the Easter Sunday morning celebration was to watch, at that time, our ailing Holy Father, Pope Francis, come out of the balcony of St. Peter Square to give the Easter Blessing to thousands of pilgrims who had gathered for the usual “Ubi et Orbi” blessings from the pope. Despite the Pope's failing health, he not only imparted his blessings on the waiting crowd of people but also got on the pope mobile and was driven around the square to greet pilgrims. What would believe that it would be his last ride?
I received my blessing with profound amazement that, despite the pope’s failing health, he still had to do his job, which is to be head of the catholic church. After watching the papal blessings, I put a few things in my backpack, ready for a weeklong Easter Holiday in the eternal city – Rome. I didn’t have anything planned for this trip aside from spending some time with some priest friends who were either studying or working in Rome. I got on the first flight from Gatwick Airport to Rome on Easter Monday morning. The duration of the flight was about two hours. When we landed in Rome, the mood in the airport wasn’t so lively. There were a lot of people in various corners murmuring and whispering mostly in Italian. When I finished immigration modalities, I turned on my phone and the first message I got was from the priest waiting to collect me from the airport, that Pope Francis had passed on. The message was received with mixed feelings. I had just seen the pope yesterday, and today he is gone! He has been sick for a while, and he looked frail yesterday, and now he is gone. For me, his death was sudden but not surprising. May God rest his soul.
I didn’t know how to approach this “holiday” anymore. This was no longer a holiday for me but a personal retreat reflecting on themes of the mystery of life, death, the priesthood, the church, and service to God and humanity. Most people I saw were sober, and most news media were agog with the legacies of Pope Francis and who his possible successor would be. I and my priest friend had the privilege to pay our last respect to Pope Francis while he was lying in state inside St. Peter’s Basilica. I queued, like all other mourners—no special treatment. This was a rare moment for me and a great privilege to pray before the corpse of “the people’s pope”- a man who was all things to all people. No wonder God decided that he share in the glory of the resurrection by calling him back to heaven on Easter Monday morning.
Indeed, Pope Francis ran the race to the end, he fought a good fight. May God now crown him with the crown of unfading glory.