Thursday, May 22, 2025
He became an ordained Jesuit priest at 33, was the first pope from outside Europe in centuries, Pope Francis was known for his human touch.
He died on Easter Monday at 88. He was born on Dec. 17, 1936.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, just before his 17th birthday, was hurrying to meet friends when something directed him to go into the Basilica of St. Joseph in Buenos Aires that moved him to become a priest.
Jesuits are known for highlighting humility, aiding the poor and having respect for indigenous people.
Bishop John Barres who leads the Diocese of Rockville Centre noted those works in his statement.
“As we mourn the death of Pope Francis on this Easter Octave Monday and the gift of his contemplative global evangelization grounded in Matthew 25 and the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, we give thanks to Father, Son and Holy Spirit for his unique graces and charisms and the compelling way during his Pontificate that he has been a Light of Jesus Christ and the mission of mercy of the Catholic Church to the world,” he said.
“In Evangelii Gaudium (2013), Pope Francis speaks about the original freshness of the Gospel: “Jesus can also break through the dull categories with which we would enclose him and he constantly amazes us by his divine creativity. Whenever we make the effort to return to the source and to recover the original freshness of the Gospel, new avenues arise, new paths of creativity open up, with different forms of expression, more eloquent signs and words with new meaning for today’s world. Every form of authentic evangelization is always 'new.’”
Pope Francis was known for his charm and humility, and his everyman style.
"As a family of faith, we join the Church in mourning the passing of Pope Francis, a humble servant, who led with compassion and simplicity," St. Raphael Parish in East Meadow posted on Facebook. "May his soul and the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace."
"It is with a deep sense of sorrow that we join the Universal Church and the whole world in mourning the death of our Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis, who left this world to his Father this morning," Father Eugene Umeor of Malverne's Our Lady of Lourdes Church said in Monday's morning prayer that are posted online. "I hope in the resurrection we continue to live out the values he taught us, universal love, his care for poor, the vulnerable, and all those in special needs."
As pontiff, Francis was more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community than previous popes and that drew the ire of the more conservative members of the church.
"Today the Chair is Empty. Easter Sunday an empty tomb is found and we know Jesus our hope has risen," said Mark Daley, former grand knight for Valley Stream Knights of Columbus. "Today we pray for our Pope who has Risen to be with God Our Father."
Phyllis Zagano Ph.D, is senior research associate-in-residence in the Department of Religion at Hofstra University. She is one of the world’s foremost experts on the question of women deacons. In 2016 she was appointed to serve on Pope Francis’ first commission to look at this issue. Zagano was the only commissioner to travel from the Western Hemisphere.
“Pope Francis will be remembered as the pope who opened the door to more people, especially lay people, especially women, to participate in conversations about how the Church might best move forward,” she said.
“I told the press, with this man of God we will feel the love of the pope more than the power of the papacy,” Rabbi Jay Rosenbaum said he told media when Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Buenos Aires became Pope Francis nearly a dozen years ago.
Rosenbaum is the rabbi emeritus of Temple Israel in Lawrence and president of the North American Board of Rabbis.
Rosenbaum met with Pope Francis many times, including having the Temple Israel of Lawrence high school students meet the pope as well.
“He showed respect for the Jewish people through his outreach,” Rosenbaum said. “His humanity was most evident to me at Ground Zero, I had the honor of joining when he visited and seeing tears in his eyes.”
