ROMA (ITALPRESS) – On April 21, 2025 at 7.35, he died at Casa Santa Marta for a stroke Pope Francis. On the first anniversary of his death the Argentine Pontiff will be remembered with commemorative masses all over the world.
In Rome the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where its remains rest, is ready to solemnly celebrate the anniversary. The celebrations will take place from 17 in the Pauline Chapel. Later, a memorial stone will be discovered to commemorate its bond with an icon of the 11th century depicting the Madonna and Child, the Salus Populi Romani, in front of which he stayed and prayed 126 times during his pontificate. At 18 the Eucharist will be celebrated at the Altar Papal during which the message of Pope Leo XIV will be read, which will not be present as it is still engaged in his journey to Africa. In his twelve years of pontificate, which began in 2013, Pope Francis wrote four encyclicals who dictated the line for the future of the Church and of humanity, restoring the priority of Marian worship. A Pope who broke with part of tradition introducing his own personal style and a new form of government.
After his death much was written on his missionary theology, on his human qualities, on his pastoral care, on his attention to the “scarti” of society. In many of his speeches we can find deep reflections and indications, simple and concrete, on the fundamental and common aspects of the educational mission. In addition, almost all its encyclicals can be read in a pedagogical key. In particular, the “Laudato Si” has this connotation and can be correctly considered the first treatise of theology of environmental education. Its merit is to have given proper emphasis to the environmental question left for a long time at the margins of political, social and above all theological discussion. Pope Francis, in his twelve years of pontificate, showed that he had a particular focus on the care of young generations and the educational value of the transmission of faith.
As Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, recalled, “There is a word that crosses everything: mercy. Not as a vague feeling, but as a criterion of truth.” “Mercy does not erase justice: it makes it human. It does not make blind: it makes them able to see. It is mercy that prevents transforming faith into ideology. It is the mercy that frees us from the obsession of preserving our glory, our influence, our ‘dignity’, to seek the glory of God in the humility of the cross. It is the mercy that gives us the joy of the Gospel: a joy that is a mild force; a joy that comes from compassion and tenderness, that cares for disillusionment and overcomes individualist sadness, that makes it possible to rise up and start again.”.
A year later, after the explosion of further conflicts, his cry of peace is echoed stronger than ever. Francis was not only a Pope, but a prophet of peace and mercy, he sacrificed life in his mission of peace in the world. From the beginning he promoted dialogue, human brotherhood and disarmament. The legacy he has left lives in the challenge he has launched to the world: to recognize himself as members of a single family.
– Photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
