The Memorial Mass for Pope Francis was held on Monday, April 28, 2025 at 7 p.m. with celebrant, Bishop Louis Tylka. Bishop’s homily appears below.

One week ago, we awoke to the news that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, had been called home to God. This news seemed shocking as the day before, Easter Sunday, Pope Francis was in St. Peter’s Square to offer the Urbi et Orbi Address and Blessing, as well as to ride through the crowd of pilgrims who had filled the square for Easter Sunday Mass.

While saddened by the news of his passing, many have commented about the timing of his death. On Easter we rejoice in the news of an empty tomb – the news that Christ has risen from dead! Precisely because of the Lord’s great sacrifice, because of the Lord’s great love – we too share in the hope of the resurrection.

In his first encyclical, Evangelli Gaudium – The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis said:

Christ’s resurrection is not an event of the past; it contains a vital power which has permeated this world. Where all seems to be dead, signs of the resurrection suddenly spring up. It is an irresistible force…Such is the power of the resurrection, and all who evangelize are instruments of that power. (no. 276)

Indeed, after celebrating, once again, the joy of the resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Father was blessed to experience the joy in being called home. Having lived his life in service of the Gospel, having served as witness of Hope in Christ Jesus and having evangelized the world sharing his personal encounter with Jesus – Pope Francis in his death, as in his life, revealed the power of the resurrection won for us.

This is good news! This is our Hope! This is the journey we all must make in our human condition – to live and to die so that we might live again in God’s eternal kingdom.

There have been over the last week many fitting and moving tributes to Pope Francis. What stood out to me was the consistency by which his life, his leadership and his faith were marked. He was christened the Peoples’ Pope because of his accessibility, the ease in which he spoke, his humility and the warmth and tenderness of his smile and embracing of others. He was known as a moral compass in his defending the sacredness of life, of calling for peace in places of war and conflict, in challenging us to ‘care for our common home,’ to give voice for the plight of migrants and refugees, to call us to be bridge builders instead of erecting walls. Francis sought to embody a leadership that was about service to others, never seeking the ‘glory of the office,’ rather ‘the power of mercy and love in His office for the good of all.’ Of course, what grounded the consistency of his life, his leadership was his faith in Jesus Christ. Time and time again, because he had so personally encountered the Lord Jesus, he invited us to share in such a deep personal encounter as well. Demonstrating in his prayer that God’s love and mercy was something he had received – who could forget his response when asked who he was as the new pope, when he said, “I am a sinner” – he wanted everyone, regardless of the complexity of their life’s situation to encounter Jesus so that they felt the love that Jesus has for them. He consistently demonstrated this experience as he understood and sought to be the face of God’s compassion to each person he met: the prisoner whose feet he washed on Holy Thursday, the children whom he hugged in St. Peter’s Square, the sick or disfigured he reached out to touch without hesitation, the marginalized and unwanted who he spoke up for.. he wanted the whole of humanity to have such an encounter to meet Jesus.

His life, his leadership, his faith has been a blessing to the Church and to the world. He will most certainly be missed.

I personally owe a debt of gratitude to the late Holy Father as he called me to serve the Church as a bishop. I will always cherish my encounter with him on September 8, 2022, when he joined the group of new bishops for our last day of formation. Honestly, during the several hours I was with him, as the conversation took place through several different languages, I was only able to comprehend some of what he shared as he sat and answered many questions. I recall as we left the Clementine Hall, and began to share our experience amongst each other, there truly was a sense of having been in the presence of holiness. We often call the pope – holy father or your holiness. Yet, in my encounter, Francis demonstrated once again that the title of the office was secondary to the individual who held the office. In Jorge Bergoglio – Francis – I/we witnessed the loving face of Jesus, a witness of holiness.

It is fitting as we remember him today; we turn again to his own faith and wisdom. In his last encyclical given to the Church, Dilexit Nos – He Loved Us, “On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ,” Pope Francis reflecting on the Sacred Heart of Jesus wrote:

In contemplating the heart of Christ and his self-surrender even to death, we ourselves find great consolation. The grief that we feel in our hearts gives way to complete trust and, in the end, what endures is gratitude, tenderness, peace; what endures is Christ’s love reigning in our lives. (no. 161)

Pope Francis socks were worn in his honor at the Memorial Mass. photo by Anne Steffens

We are grateful for Pope Francis – his life, his priesthood, his papacy. We are especially thankful for the ways he manifested our hope in God’s merciful love. And now we pray:

Eternal Rest grant unto Pope Francis, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon him.

May he rest in peace.

May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.