In a message posted on his Facebook page, the Bishop of Portalegre-Castelo Branco, Antonino Dias, reflected on Pope Francis’s legacy, noting that he “always built bridges and opened paths of hope and renewal.”
He further added that the Pope paved the way “towards greater tolerance, peace, universal brotherhood, human solidarity, and integral ecology.”
Describing Francis as “manifestly humble and open to dialogue,” Antonino Dias highlighted that the Pope “was not afraid to generate controversy, even within the Catholic Church, which always needs purification.”
The bishop argued that Francis wished the Church to be “like a field hospital” and saw him as “a different voice, often sharp, not always gentle in a world inclined to globalize indifference and forget the poor, refugees, migrants, and the marginalized.”
In an online audiovisual message, the Bishop of Guarda, José Pereira, expressed that the diocese “joins the entire Church in a prayer of thanksgiving to God.”
“We ask the Lord to welcome him into His peace and that the strength of the Holy Spirit now illuminates the Church so that it may continue the paths he opened through the ministry of Pope Francis,” he emphasized.
The Diocese of Viseu, via its Facebook page, through Bishop António Luciano, also expressed unity “in prayer with the whole Church as it bids farewell to its pastor, grateful for such a beautiful pontificate marked by closeness and dedication to building a living and synodal Church and a more fraternal world.”
Pope Francis died today at the age of 88, following a 12-year pontificate marked by his fight against sexual abuse, wars, and a pandemic.
Born in Buenos Aires on December 17, 1936, Francis was the first Jesuit to lead the Catholic Church.
He had been hospitalized for 38 days due to bilateral pneumonia before being discharged on March 23.
His last public appearance was on Easter Sunday at the Vatican, the day before he passed away.
