His off-the-cuff remarks, his smile and humour, his gentle chiding of fellow cardinals(‘ Shepherds should carry with them the smell of the sheep’) not to be Princes of the Church but its servants, all these meant that the Pope became regarded as a Pope for the People, especially those at the ends of the earth and at its margins, for whom he had a passion and affection.
Of course, his active encouragement of the conversations with other Christian churches and other faiths made my ecumenical work easier as we cultivated Methodist and Catholic relationships with the city and with the wider communions. Being there for the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the international dialogue enabled us to host the World Methodist Council visit in 2017 when a private audience was given, when we each got copies of the Evangelii Gaudium and Laudato Si encyclicals presented to us. Such warm relations were evident too in the first visits of the Pope to a Waldensian church in Torino and All Saints Anglican church in Rome.
So much more could be said, but I leave you with the man who set aside worldly pleasures and loved his people, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, with a passion for sharing the Gospel with all God’ s children, especially the young and the vulnerable, especially those far off, like the son returning home to the Forgiving Father. Catholicism has lost a leader who inspired devotion among its followers and fellow Christians, a holy man who reached out to others, striving for justice and peace in God’ s world.
Tim Maquiban
Tim Maquiban and Pope Francis in Rome.
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