The Traveling Ridleys: Sunday Journal

It was unplanned. In several ways. We had no idea it was a jubilee year in Rome when we booked. A Jubilee takes place in Rome every 25 years and is a period when Catholic pilgrims visit for a period of prayer, reflection and penance. But we had no clue. We just chose to come through Rome because we got a good airfare and said why not?

So here we were, set to leave for a return to Europe through a busy Rome when the news came across the wire. Pope Francis had died. It was the Monday after Easter as though he’d been hanging on to perform a final blessing of the assembled crowd at the Vatican. Our flight left from Newark that night. Aside from a few priests, which probably isn’t all that remarkable on a flight to Rome, it didn’t seem as though anything unusual was afoot.

I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t wondered a little, when he was hospitalized earlier this year, if our timing might coincide with a Conclave, but then he was discharged from the hospital and seemed to be on the mend.

We landed at Rome’s airport, FCO, and neon billboards flashing a series of ads, included a thank you to the Pope. Several of the churches exhibited displays of gratitude in quiet ways.

His body was transferred to Saint Peter’s Basilica to lie in state until the Saturday funeral. The lines were so long that they left the viewing open to the public over night. We wandered down to Saint Peter’s Square to take it all in. As we approached, clouds filled the sky on a generally grey day, except above the dome of Saint Peter’s which was bathed in soft sunlight.

Press was everywhere. Security heightened (sadly but also fortunately) and the feeling was one of… sadness yes, but more so celebration. Celebrating a humble Pope who broke with tradition in many ways, and one who just seemed like a good man. As Joe Perticone of The Bulwark wrote on the day of Francis’ death “he was a decent man in indecent times. His voice, at this delicate moment, seems hard to replace.”

Bob Dylan wrote a tribute saying that this Pope was “a voice of mercy in a time of noise. He walked with humility, spoke with fire, and dared to love the unloved. He reminded the world that compassion isn’t weakness, and faith doesn’t have to shout to be heard”.

We don’t know what comes next, though that shall be revealed soon. Will the reforms he set to implement be expanded and extended or will there be a more conservative swing? Time will tell but regardless this Pope will be missed.