There is one thing an atheist, a cynic, and a true believer can agree upon.
They all believe unconditionally in Pope Francis.
The curtain finally fell on one of the most eventful lives of this century.
In a blaze of sheer chutzpah, Pope Francis departed.
Having given his Easter blessing while visibly ill, he bid adieu to the stage he owned, he celebrated, and the one on which he strode like a Colossus.

What a Life!!
What a Light!!
What a Lesson for us All!!
Every traumatic epoch that a people pass through provides a Hero who transcends Time and Space.
An individual who Illuminates and leads by example.
The harrowing period of a brutal British occupation in India produced a Gandhi.
The de-humanising experience of Segregation gave the USA its Martin Luther King.
The sheer ignominy of Apartheid granted us a Mandela.
So, every Trauma bequeathed the world a Hero.
How then was Francis different??
We are arguably living in the most successful and contented period in all of Human History.

We have everything at our fingertips
Travel
Internet
Communication
Food — Too much of it actually
Entertainment
Relative Peace.
We couldn’t be living in a better period of Human History.
Yet, on the not-so-distant horizon, one can sense the Dread, the oncoming Tornado of Despair.
Walls coming up.
Hatred swelling in the Human Heart.
The insurmountable gulf between the rich and the poor.
The Clouds of War and Suspicion looming.
The Evil which lurked around the corner is now despairingly centre stage.

That is why a Francis is so consequential.
As the inevitable Darkness envelops all of us—indeed threatens all of us—this Man remained the unflinching, unblinking Light.
From the timeless virtues of Compassion and Love, Justice and Peace, he relentlessly hammered his message across.
Despite his failing health and all the ordeals he had to surmount, he constantly told us that there was Another Way to lead our lives other than the current, negative, hate-filled toxic one we are increasingly enamoured by today.
He could have been a diplomatic fence-sitter if he chose to be.
Taken the easy way out.
But to the very Last Day, he tread the Path of Christ,
unapologetically that of Christ.
And that is why He is so Consequential.

I can predict three Fallouts from his Papacy.
Rome will be stuffed to the gills for his Funeral on Saturday.
Everyone almost everyone will be there: both Friend and Foe, Prince and Pauper. Every Religious, Political and Geographical denomination will be present.
Because this human being touched lives so Profoundly and Meaningfully.
His burial site, not in the precincts of the Vatican as is the custom, but at the Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, will become the Pilgrimage Site for everyone:
The Faithful
The Faithless
The Environmentalist
The Warrior
The Peacemaker
A Pilgrimage Site For Generations on End.
The normally strait-jacketed Church will be put on notice.
The next Pope will necessarily have to follow in the Red Shoes of Francis.
No compromise.
A Dogma and Doctrinaire Fundamentalist Pope will not be palatable any longer.
In the twelve years of his Papacy, Francis showcased that what mattered in the world today was not the Structure of the Church, but the Message of Christ in all its humility of Tolerance, Acceptance and Justice.
We have been fortunate to have lived in the Era of one of the most Enduring and Endearing Human Beings of History.
Whether his message will percolate down to us is an open question, but accept it we must: frankly in our Age it is the only Message that Counts.
As a friend said to me:
“My favourite quote of Pope Francis, is that he believes that Hell is Empty”
“In a world of dark forces, He was a Maverick who believed in the radical goodness of all Human beings”
“May we live up to that belief.”
Touché
There are essentially three kinds of leaders throughout Human History.
The majority who use their devious brains to do what is both Convenient and Inconvenient.
That’s All!!
The insignificant cowardly ones who simply do nothing and let their time run out. Vichy, Neville Chamberlain.
And then there are the Rare Diamonds that choose Relentlessly, Doggedly, Fiercely, to distinguish between Right and Wrong.
Francis Always did what was Right!!
By the Logic of the Human Experience.
Always!! Always!!
I will say this, and Just This Once,
Thank God we had a man such as HE in our midst!!