‘Like a death in the family’ – Mobile Catholics mourn death of Pope Francis

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Archbishop Thomas Rodi preached about the “sense of sorrow and profound loss,” as the faithful gathered for Mass on Monday at the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception to mark the death of Pope Francis.

The 88-year-old pope had been ailing but managed to make it to Easter, the holiest of holidays on the Christian calendar.

“It’s like a death in the family,” Rodi told FOX10 News. “And I think we just have to acknowledge that first of all –that this is a loss. But death is a part of life.”

The pope’s death drew mourners from around the globe, including along the Gulf Coast. Symbols, both religious and secular, marked the pope’s passing – from the black curtains covering the entrance to the cathedral and other churches to the flag flying at half-staff in front of the federal courthouse downtown.

Rodi recalled his meeting with the pope in 2019, along with other bishops from Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Kentucky. He said the pontiff spent two hours with them at the Vatican.

“One thing that struck me about Pope Francis was how he listened,” he said. “You know, he, for two hours, we spoke. It was a conversation, and he spoke with us. We spoke with him, and he intently listened. He was very interested in what people had to say.”

Rodi said the pope wanted to hear how the church was spreading God’s message in Alabama. And that message, the archbishop added, inevitably worked its way to the pope’s favorite topics.

“He was certainly focused, as his whole pontificate was, on the people who were forgotten – people overlooked; the poor; the weak of the world,” he said.

Rodi said Pope Francis charged ahead, even as doctors counseled him to rest and avoid crowds after 38 days in the hospital.

“On Holy Thursday, he was visiting prisons in Rome,” he said. “He wanted to be with the people. And even though maybe he knew he was coming close to the end of his life on Earth, he wanted to spend even his waning days being with the people.”

Catholics attending Mass at the cathedral Monday, like Mobile resident Danny Barnett, are coming to grips with the loss of their leader.

“Well, it’s still really kind of sinking in, you know?” he told FOX10 News. “Just a great loss. Happy for him. Sounds kind of weird but, you know, I know where his faith was, and I know where he is.”

Sister Becky Holley, a Catholic nun in attendance, said it is a sad day for the church.

“Pope Francis was a wonderful, wonderful pope,” she said. “And I’m very prayerful for who Jesus has already picked out for the next one. … I would like for him to be very much like Pope Francis. But God has a plan. So I trust God’s plan that whoever is the pope has all the qualities and all the prayerfulness that he needs.”

Francis was 76 when he became pope in 2013 – the first non-European to lead the church since eighth century. Because of his age, many observers believed he would be something of a caretaker pope. But Archbishop Rodi says he was anything but.

Rodi said the pope had tremendous energy for a man of his age and health problems. And he added that Francis leaves a legacy that extends beyond the Catholic Church.

“The pope has a unique role in the world,” he said. “And not only does he speak for the 1.4 billion Catholics, but unlike anyone else in the world, he is he has an international stature. He, alone, can remind the nations of the world of the eternal truths of Jesus Christ more than anyone else.”