By Rajan Narayan

POPE Francis, the son of an Italian migrant, challenged US president Donald Trump, when he threatened to build a wall between Canada and the United States. Pope Francis, who died early morning on the day after Easter, April 21, 2025 sharply reacted to President Donald Trump’s threat to build a wall to keep out migrants: “A person who thinks only about building a wall wherever they may be and not building bridges is not Christian.”
The world’s first Latin American Pope Francis made history caring for migrants and making them a priority in his last message to the Church. He repeatedly cited the biblical command “to welcome the strangers in demanding that the countries welcome, protect, promote, and integrate those fleeing conflicts, poverty, and climate disaster.”
Pope Francis in a strong reply to Donald Trump, who accused him of bias retorted, “Nations have the right to keep their communities safe from criminals. That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reason of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution and defenselessness have a right to seek shelter and safety and other lands.” He stressed, “What is built on the basis of force and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being begins badly and will end badly.”
POPE FRANCIS rose from very modest beginnings in Argentina to become the first Latin American pontiff. Pope Francis inherited the papacy when the Vatican was facing a crisis after the sudden resignation of his predecessor Benedict XVI who tried to revert the Church into a very conservative and super orthodox citadel. Francis was a left liberal and steered the Church in a totally different contemporary modern direction.
Reversing the stand of the Church the Pope declared that those belonging to the LGBT community were also children of God. Pope Francis strongly supported gender equity and created bigger roles for women in the administration of the Church. He showed an openness and was willing to debate issues such as divorce, possibility of married priests, acceptance of same sex couples and increased role for women.

CLOSER TO PEOPLE
AMONG the dramatic changes he made within the Church was the replacement of conservatives in the Vatican congregation of bishops. In choosing bishops and cardinals Pope Francis opted for street priests instead of powerbrokers and managers. He preferred bishops close to the people. Pope Francis appointed the first ever African American cardinal, relying less on Europe and America.
Pope Francis chose cardinals from Latin America, Asia and Africa. Among the cardinals he appointed was the first Indian Dalit Cardinal Anthony Poola, the Archbishop of Hyderabad. Pope Francis also canonized five Indians saints including Father Jose Vaz of Goan origin who spent most of his time in Sri Lanka. The other saints canonized by Pope Francis are St Kuriakose Elias Chavara and St Euphrasia Eluvathingal, St Joseph Vaz on Jan 14, 2015. St Mariam Theresia Chiramel on Oct 13, 2019 and St Devasahayam Pillai on May 15, 2022.
Pope Francis shunned the ostentation that surrounded the Vatican and churches around the world. When he was elected Pope Francis refused to move into the very ornate papal palace. He instead chose to live in a small apartment. He also avoided using the super luxurious Mercedes mobile vehicle especially made for the pontiff.
Pope Francis, despite all the security concerns, preferred to reach out on foot to the people. In his most recent letter to all bishops the pope asked them not to commercialize the offering of mass. Traditionally, the Church levies a fee for saying every kind of mass from baptism to marriage to death. There are also annual masses said for the soul of the departed. In Goa there is a tradition of a rich bhatkar leaving a large part of the family’s legacy for saying masses in memory for a long period of time.
Indeed, the Church in Goa is still required to say masses to the memory of Canon Souto Mayior who donated vast amounts of land to the Church, including the premises occupied by the church at Caranzalen. Pope Francis has directed that priests for a mass should be nominated and the mass conducted freely for those who unable to afford it.

MILLENNIAL POPE
INTERESTINGLY, Pope Francis was a millennial pope who loved to tango. In his youth he loved dancing the Argentinian style of the tango. He even organized performances by Argentinian groups at the Vatican. Pope Francis not only played football but was a great fan of the game. Right up to the end he took interest in his favorite football club. Pope Francis was baptized as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, born on December 17, 1936 in the Flores neighborhood of Buenos Aires to Maria and Regina, immigrants from Italy.
Fortunately, the family missed the original ocean liner which was to take them from Turin in Italy to Argentina in south America. The family had a narrow escape because the ship they were initially booked to sail in sank and so forcing them to take another ship. Jorge, the original name of Pope Francis, was the eldest of five children. He graduated from high school and worked as a bouncer in a night club. He also worked in a chemical factory; however, he was always keen on joining the Church at a very early age. The young Jorge declared, “I am going to study the medicine of the soul. “
Pope Francis was ordained as a Jesuit priest way back in 1969. He did not approve of how the Vatican was run, he was a rebel priest, and was virtually sent into exile in Germany. He was named the Archbishop of Buenos Aires and was then made a cardinal at the age of 75 years. Cardinal Bergoglio flew to Rome to help elect a new pope on the resignation of Pope Benedict. To his surprise he was elected the new pope and took the name Pope Francis.
Pope Francis was the soul of humility in death as in life. In his last will directed that he should be buried in an ordinary grave near the basilica of St Mary to whom he was very devoted. He specifically directed that there should be no ornate memorial built in his memory. Pope Francis never took possession of the papal palace apartments and refused a burial in the Sistine Chapel — the venue for the election of the new pope.
As many as six cardinals from India including Cardinal Felip Neri will participate in the forthcoming election of a new pope for the Roman Catholic Church.