Pope Francis Remembrance
Following the announcement by the Holy See that Pope Francis has ‘returned to the
House of the Lord’, Bishop Fintan Gavin invites the people of the Diocese of Cork and
Ross to unite in prayer to God at this time. “I invite the parishioners, priests, deacons
and religious of our diocese to join as one with the faithful across the globe as we
commend Pope Francis to the Lord.
We give thanks to Almighty God for the gift of Pope Francis as shepherd of the people
of God and we thank God for his selfless service and dedication to the end of his
earthly life. We remember Pope Francis as one who challenged us to reach out to those
on the margins and to bring God’s mercy to all those we encounter. We pray together
that Pope Francis’ call to all of us to make this Jubilee Year a Year of Hope may be
fulfilled.
In what was to be his last pastoral message to the faithful on Easter Sunday, Pope
Francis said: ‘All those who put their hope in God place their feeble hands in his strong
and mighty hand; they let themselves be raised up and set out on a journey. Together
with the risen Jesus, they become pilgrims of hope, witnesses of the victory of love
and of the disarmed power of Life.’
We pray together now that Pope Francis prayer will be answered and that his soul
may be in eternal peace with God.“
An online Book of Condolences has been opened by the Irish Bishops' Conference and
people are invited to submit their messages of sympathy. Here
