We loved you, as we ordinarily love our generous, enthusiastic, lively loved ones, always in search of a gaze that unites or a laugh that drives away the clouds.
It pleased us to see you dressed in white, the color of baptism, seated in the papal chair that no podiums and protocols could manage to separate from the people. You moved us with your blessings of children, your embraces of the poor and the suffering, or again with your full silences in front of the wounded faces of the victims of all possible crimes.
Yes, we loved seeing you cry – the paradox is only on the surface – with the forgotten victims of human history. Your tears were those we should have let fall down our cheeks long ago. Those times, you cried for us, without judging us.
We loved your love for the church, even when it expressed itself like an educator correcting a teenager who was a bit too spoiled. We rejoiced at your way of honoring France by treading only its Mediterranean shores.
In truth, we had a thousand reasons to see our father or grandfather in you. But we preferred, in our hearts, to call you our brother. Not out of ignorance of the dignity of your office, nor from exaggerated familiarity, nor from any egalitarian ideology that flattens hierarchies, but out of obedience to you, out of fidelity to the teaching of your gestures and words.
You wanted us to be brothers to one another, because you believed us all to be brothers of Jesus. All of us, beyond even the most impassable limits, even religious ones, that may separate us.
Farewell, Brother Francis. From the very first day of your pontificate, and so many times thereafter, you repeated: “Pray for me,” because you knew yourself to be a sinner. Not a single meeting, with anyone, without that final phrase, which was your way of saying goodbye.
Once again, we will pray for you. But already, in this very moment, the roles tend to reverse. It is now up to you to pray for us. Thank you, dear Brother Francis.
By Fr. Arnaud Alibert, an Assumptionist priest and the chief religion editor at La Croix.
What tears should YOU have let fall down on YOUR cheeks long ago?
GOD COMFORTS THE DISTURBED AND DISTURBS THE COMFORTABLE!
Please pray for the cardinals who are gathered in Conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis.
Do share today’s message. People you know are interested in hearing about Pope Francis.
