On 1st Anniversary of Pope Francis’ Passing, Some Thoughts About Continuing His Mission

Today is the first anniversary of the death of Pope Francis.  Last year, this date fell on the Monday after Easter.  I woke up sleepily that morning at 6 a.m. after a very busy long weekend of Triduum and Easter events, and I opened my computer to read the news and was shocked awake by the bold headline announcing his passing.  Even though we had all been aware for several months of how seriously his health was declining, it still was shocking to learn this news.

New Ways Monistry staff with Pope Francis, October 17, 2023: Matthew Myers, Francis DeBernardo, Pope Francis, Sister Jeannine Gramick, Robert Shine.

Having had the incredible double blessing of meeting with Pope Francis not only once but twice, news of his death seemed so unbelievable because though already infirmed when my colleagues  from New Ways Ministry and I met with him, he was a man so filled with life and presence.  There was nothing stuffy about him, nothing forced, official, or seriously pious.  He was a man who was fully human, and it was obvious that he was delighted to meet other humans.  While I felt privileged to be meeting a man whose formal role as head of the Catholic Church gave him an aura of holiness, his reaction to meeting us seemed to indicate that he thought meeting us was also an experience with holiness.

Not that we were anything special.  Photographs and videos of his meeting with others showed that he had the same reaction to everyone he met, especially those at the grassroots of the church. Pope Francis’ happiness gave one the impression that he knew that as he encountered humans in all their rich diversity, he was getting a partial  glimpse of the face of God.

Seventeen days after his passing, Pope Leo XIV was elected.  And we held our breath. Would this new pontiff overtun everything that Francis had done for welcoming LGBTQ+ people?  Now that the Francis era was over, was the church heading back to the darker days of silence and repression?  Early signs indicate that the answer to both those questions is probably “no.”  And that is good news.  No, Leo is not the exuberant extrovert that Francis was. He is not a man given to grand gestures.  But he also does not appear to be a man who wants to stifle discussion or stamp out LGBTQ+ outreach. Unlike Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, Leo does not appear to be focused on the topic of sexuality.

So, one year since Pope Francis departed this earth, where does that leave us?

Pope Francis with New Ways Ministry staff, October 12 2024. From left, Francis DeBernardo, Bernadette Donlon, Robert Shine, Pope Francis, Matthew Myers, Brian Flanagan, and Sr. Jeannine Gramick

I think it is fitting that Pope Francis passed to eternal life the day after Easter.  The message of the post-Easter scripture passages remind us that as people of faith, the task of spreading the reign of God now falls to us.  The apostles and early disciples had to accept that although Jesus was no longer physically present with them, they could still continue his mission by imitating him and spreading his message of love.

I’m not implying that Pope Francis was Jesus, but I think the same dynamic that occurred back in the early days of post-33 C.E. needs to occur now.  If we want the inclusive church that Pope Francis was preaching, we have to be the ones to do the building of it.  In one sense, that task won’t be so hard because for decades, the work of transforming the Catholic Church’s approach to LGBTQ+ issues has been done by the grassroots, not the leaders at the top.

Pope Francis’ papacy gave us all a shot in the arm to forge ahead, and we have to rely on that boost of strength to keep going. And with what seems to be Pope Leo’s “hands off” approach to LGBTQ+ issues, we have a great opportunity to do that.

And we have a great saint in heaven, St. Francis of Bergoglio, to aid us spiritually in that work.

—Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry, April 21, 2026