The pope releases a dove as a symbol of peace while in Tbilisi, Georgia, in September 2016.
Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty images
by Robert Gillis, Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, published in the Sun Chronicle as a Letter to the Editor 4/22/2025
I remember seeing images of newly-elected Pope Francis appearing on the balcony back in 2013. That smile — you could FEEL the kindness. The humanity. The LOVE.
“Here I am,” he said with a smile and asked us to please pray for him.
Francis was an amazing, humble and brilliant man who served as Shepard of the Holy Church and we just loved him so much. Such a GOOD man, such a GREAT pope.
He made it to one last Easter, passing away early morning Monday. What a beautiful gift.
He was the first pope from Latin America and the first Jesuit Order pope. My beloved alma mater BC High — that made such a difference in my life — is a Jesuit high school and two of the school’s ‘mission statements’ are that the students become, “A man for others” and “Ut Cognoscant Te” (“That They May Know You”). Pope Francis was indeed a man for others and his way of leadership facilitated all of us knowing God.
He was the type of leader this world needs right now, and we are better that he served as Pope and that we knew him. He will be greatly missed. We loved you, Holy Father.
“Well done, good and faithful servant.”
