“He opened the doors of the Church to everyone,” said 31-year-old Irish woman Chenise, who was found by Lusa with her family near the altar at the prayer venue.
In Fátima for Easter, the pilgrim acknowledged that Francis was “a Pope for everyone.”
Recalling the Pope’s repeated calls for peace, particularly in Ukraine and the Middle East, Chemise lamented that no one seemed to have listened.
“I hope that people still hear them,” she added.
En route to Fátima, Sandra Lima, aged 46 from Braga, and her family heard the news of Francis’s death on the car radio.
“We had been planning to come here for some time and coincidentally or not…” said Sandra Lima, recalling the message from Francis directed particularly at young people.
She went on to list other qualities of Francis, such as “humility, example, simplicity.”
“It’s touching,” she remarked, anticipating that the Pope “will be dearly missed.”
Also hailing from the North, where she spent Easter, and traveling to Lisbon, Patrícia Proença, 33, accompanied by her family, reminisced about the World Youth Day in 2023 to describe Francis as a “people’s Pope, very empathetic with the people.”
“I think it’s a widely shared, very fair opinion,” she commented.
For the successor of Francis, Patrícia Proença hopes they continue “to convey a message of peace and hope.”
Inclusion was highlighted by another Portuguese pilgrim as a key aspect of Francis’s pontificate.
“Acceptance of everyone, that’s very, very important,” remarked the young woman, emphasizing the Pope’s message to “spread love and peace.”
From Lustosa, Lousada (Porto), a family stood out due to their large group of 54 people at the sanctuary celebrating the 90th birthday of matriarch Maria Luísa Moreira, with children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
The eldest daughter, Maria de Fátima Couto – “Fátima because of Our Lady’s name” – highlighted that Francis, despite being at the limits of his health, was always “very courageous.”
“He was a great friend to the youth and the world in general,” declared the 64-year-old pilgrim, regretting that his message was not always successfully received.
Meanwhile, Timorese nun Laurinda de Jesus, aged 25, described Francis as the Pope with “a big heart for the peoples,” while 75-year-old Frenchwoman Monique, who has lived in Leiria for six years, described Francis as “modern,” hoping that “the next pope will be too.”
Pope Francis died today at the age of 88, following a 12-year pontificate marked by the fight against sexual abuse, wars, and a pandemic.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on December 17, 1936, Francis was the first Jesuit to lead the Catholic Church.
Francis was hospitalized for 38 days due to bilateral pneumonia, being discharged on March 23. His last public appearance was on Easter Sunday at the Vatican.
In 2017, on the occasion of the centenary of the events in Cova da Iria and the canonization of the shepherd children Francisco and Jacinta Marto, the Pope visited the Sanctuary of Fátima for the first time.
In 2023, as part of the World Youth Day in Lisbon, he also visited the country’s largest Marian temple.
On August 3 of that year, in Lisbon, the Pope assured the thousands of young people gathered at Eduardo VII Park, that “there is room for everyone in the Church,” for “young and old, healthy and sick, just and sinners, all, all, all.”
The bells of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary at the sanctuary will toll funeral chimes daily after 9:30 a.m., until the day of the Pope’s funeral, while prayers for the leader of the Catholic Church, initiated as soon as his death was known, will be maintained in official masses until his funeral.
