From the strength and warmth of Cardinal Re’s message it was not difficult to see why St John Paul II described him as his “favourite’’ a quarter of a century ago.
Pope Francis wanted a simple funeral, and his coffin fitted the bill. His farewell had special personal touches – especially the 40 people – among them the homeless, refugees, migrants the poor, ex-prisoners, and others on the edges of society - who welcomed his remains to the Basilica of St Mary Major, where he chose to be buried. The white roses they held were a reminder of the history of that basilica, known since the 14th century as “Our Lady of the Snows’’, a nod to an unlikely legend, an August snow storm.
Francis’s funeral will be remembered for its “strength of hope’’ and “comfort of faith’’, as Cardinal Re described it:“We are enlightened and guided by the passage of the Gospel, in which the very voice of Christ resounded, asking the first of the Apostles: “Peter, do you love me more than these?”
Peter’s answer was prompt and sincere: “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!” Jesus then entrusted him with the great mission: “Feed my sheep.”
This will be the constant task of Peter and his successors, a service of love in the footsteps of Christ, our Master and Lord, who “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many”.
Francis took that message on board, as a Jesuit as a bishop and archbishop in Buenos Aires, and as pope since March 13 2013, and, despite frailty and suffering, working up to Easter Sunday, the day before his death on Easter Monday morning.
A dedicated man of peace, the sight of Presidents Trump and Zelensky conferring closely and constructively in St Peter’s Basilica where they paid their respects before the Mass, would have warmed his heart.
Outside, the setting for the Requiem – Bernini’s magnificent square, designed to invoke the welcoming, embracing arms of Mother Church – and the place where St Peter was martyred, being crucified upside down - could not have been more striking.
It easily accommodated 250 cardinals, 750 priests and more than 250,000 of the Catholic faithful, and those of other creeds and none, who spilled down the Via Della Conciliazione towards the Tiber.
Magnificent as it was, the Mass ended with the words that have comforted countless people around the world for centuries, grieving their loved ones in humble parish churches: “May the angels lead you into paradise, may the martyrs welcome you and take you to the Holy City, the new and eternal Jerusalem. May the choir of angels welcome you and with Lazarus who is poor no longer may you have eternal rest.’’
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Human existence does not end in the tomb, “but in the Father’s house, in a life of happiness that will know no end’’, Cardinal Giovanna Battista Re, 91, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, told monarchs, presidents, priests, worshippers who packed St Peter’s Square on a glorious Roman spring day under vibrant blue skies as he preached over his former boss, Pope Francis, in a masterful homily on Saturday.