'He used his voice for comion': Tributes to Pope Francis pour in across Cork
Tributes have poured in following the death of Pope Francis this morning. Picture:AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
The Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr Fintan Gavin, has invited the people of the diocese to unite in prayer following the death of Pope Francis which was announced this morning.
In a statement issued this afternoon, Bishop Gavin said thanks should be given 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 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,” said Bishop Gavin.
“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.”
The late Pope Francis was described as an "exceptional leader" by Taoiseach Micheál Martin who was among many leaders across the world to pay tribute to the late pontiff following the announcement of his death.
According to the announcement this morning by the Camerlengo, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who takes over the daily running of the Catholic Church until a new Pope is elected, the late Pope died at 7.35am (Roman time) this morning, just a day after wishing gathered pilgrims in St Peter’s Square a ‘Buona Pasqua/Happy Easter’ and going on an extended tour of the crowd in the Popemobile.
He had recently been discharged from hospital after being seriously ill with pneumonia.
An Taoiseach, Mr Martin, said he had learned of the death of the Holy Father with extreme sadness and extended the “deepest condolences” of the Irish Government and people to all who mourned him, “to His Eminence Cardinal Battista Re, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, to his family and friends and to the Catholic community worldwide that has lost an exceptional leader”.
“Pope Francis’ long and distinguished papacy was marked by his unwavering commitment to the principles of comion, peace, and human dignity,” said Mr Martin in a statement.
“He spoke out for the poor, the marginalised, and the oppressed. His solidarity with refugees, his calls for climate action, and his insistence on global peace and equality set him apart as a champion of justice in the modern world.
“During his visit to Ireland, many will also Pope Francis’ expression of pain and shame about historic child abuse in the Catholic Church and his outrage about the failure of Church authorities to adequately address these appalling crimes.”
Cork’s Lord Mayor, Dan Boyle of the Green Party, said he had heard with sadness the news of the Pope’s death and described him as “a leader who helped redirect and repurpose the Catholic Church towards more Christian values of helping the disabled and dispossessed” while Fine Gael Cork South Central TD, Jerry Buttimer said the world had lost “a true pastor and a great man”.
His constituency colleague, Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire of Sinn Féin, said Pope Francis had “used his voice for comion, for dignity, for solidarity with the poor and did so with humility.
“He felt deep sympathy with the oppressed and those suffering in conflict, including in Gaza, the Middle East and the Ukraine,” said the TD.
“He also understood that climate justice was a moral imperative.”
Labour Party Cork North Central TD Eoghan Kenny described as a “remarkable legacy” the late Pope’s “leadership and courage on work, climate, migration, peace, on Gaza and always speaking out for the marginalised and disenfranchised in a deeply divided world”.
Former Lord Mayor of Cork, Tony Fitzgerald, had an audience with Pope Francis during a visit to Rome during his mayoralty in May 2018.
“We had a Papal audience with him and I gave him some gifts from Cork, which he really enjoyed, a book of photographs of Cork and I gave him a lovely candleholder which was handcrafted in Carrignavar and he was delighted with them,” said the Fianna Fáil councillor.
“We had a nice engagement with him.”
Mr Fitzgerald met with the late Pope during a visit to the Irish College in Rome where aspiring priests and ordained clergy from Ireland go for courses in priestly formation.
The President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, said he wished to with “all those across the world, from their stations in life, who have expressed such profound sadness on learning of the death of Pope Francis”.
“Pope Francis, in his important messages and in the presentation of his Papacy with a unique humility, sought to show in the most striking and moving of ways the extraordinary importance of the spiritual as a powerful source of global ethics in the challenges of contemporary life,” said President Higgins.
“On the vital issues of our time - such as global hunger and poverty, of climate change and justice, of the plight of migrants and indigenous peoples, of the dispossessed, of the fundamental necessity of global peace and diplomacy - Pope Francis' voice constituted a consistent invocation of a shared humanity that is represented by acknowledgement of the essential dignity of each human person.”
Cork composer Peadar Ó Riada, whose composition of the Irish language hymn was performed for Pope Francis during the Papal Mass celebrated in the Phoenix Park in 2018, described the late Pope as a "fear uasal/noble man".
“I felt pride when a piece of my music was performed for him during his mass in Dublin, and my father’s music also,” said Mr Ó Riada, referring to hymns such as for which his father, Seán Ó Riada, had composed the music. “Spirituality is a unique realm and we all have a foot in it,” he added.
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