Pope Francis (1936-2025) in the arms of the Father
In these hours we are all shaken. It is difficult to organize thoughts and translate them into words that make sense. It is a great shock, which needs to be traversed with faith. It will take time to fully understand the scope of the pontificate of Pope Francis.
What I feel like saying now is that I saw a profound fatherhood embodied in him, which I have experienced personally on various occasions. I felt attracted by his interior freedom and by his listening to the interior motions of the Holy Spirit.
For us Consolata Missionaries, Pope Francis is the Pontiff who canonized our holy Founder and who gave a huge missionary impulse to the life and choices of the Church. With his teaching and his example he has brought the evangelizing mission of the Church back to the center of the real life of the communities.
As for the Church in Mongolia, Pope Francis will certainly be remembered in the history of this country for being the first pontiff to come here. But also for the courage of his prophetic speeches on the value of universal brotherhood and commitment to justice, peace and harmony of creation.
In these hours I am receiving phone calls and messages from the civil and religious authorities of Mongolia.
One of the advisors of the Mongolian President conveyed to me the condolences of the Head of State, saying that Pope Francis has written in gold letters a new page in the history of relations between Mongolia and the Holy See.
A short while ago I received a call from the Abbot Primate of the Mongolian Buddhists, Hamba Nomun Khan Javzandorj, with whom no more than three months ago we had the joy of personally meeting Pope Francis in the Vatican. He wanted to tell me that, at the explicit request of the President of Mongolia, the Buddhist monastic community of the Gandantegchinlen temple, tomorrow will offer a ritual prayer for the soul of Pope Francis, as they had already done during his recent hospitalization.
Pope Francis was able to speak to everyone’s heart. We have so much to learn and apply to our lives as servants of the Gospel.
* Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, IMC, Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia). Initially published in: www.rivistamissioniconsolata.it
