Rome mourns Pope Francis in Solemn Mass of Suffrage

By Linda Bordoni

A solemn atmosphere of prayer, grief, and gratitude filled the Basilica of St. John Lateran on Monday evening as the Diocese of Rome gathered to commemorate Pope Francis on the day of his death.

Presiding over the Eucharistic celebration was the Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Baldo Reina, whose homily echoed the sorrow of a people mourning their shepherd.

“Our Diocese this evening sheds the tears of Mary Magdalene,” he began, recalling the Gospel figure who sought the body of the Lord "while it was still dark.” Her search, he said, mirrors that of the Church today, “seeking in that final contact with His body the comfort for her loss. So much love, tears, and darkness.”

Noting that “We weep for our bishop, the witness of the Gospel, the apostle of mercy, the prophet of peace, the friend of the poor,” Cardinal Reina said, “We feel suspended, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Conversion, solidarity, mercy

Throughout his homily, the cardinal recalled some of the most defining hallmarks of Pope Francis’ papacy: a call to conversion, closeness to the marginalised, and trust in God’s mercy.

“He asked us to go out, not to wait for people, but to seek them—especially those who do not expect to be noticed,” Reina said, upholding the late Pope’s often-repeated exhortation to reach out to the geographical and existential peripheries of our societies.

Cardinal Reina spoke of how the Pope was a man who did not flinch in the face of suffering, who dared to get “muddy” in his pursuit of justice and peace.

“He was a Pope who did not change course when it meant getting dirty, and he loved to repeat that the only time it’s acceptable to look down on someone is when helping them up from the ground,” he said.

The poor and migrants, Reina reminded the faithful, were for Francis “the sacrament of Jesus in a world ruled by the globalisation of indifference.”

'Turn your mourning into mission'

As the Mass drew to a close, the cardinal invited the congregation to turn their mourning into mission: “We are asked not to cling to him, as Mary Magdalene was asked—not to remain within his death, but to let him go as he returns to the Father.”

“In the mystery of God’s timing,” he added, “we have just celebrated Easter, and we are now struck by the death of our Bishop. But the promise of sharing in the Resurrection sustains our faith, enables us to hope, and consoles us in our grief.”

The Diocese of Rome, he said, “has been a witness to the grace of the ministry of your faithful servant, Pope Francis, and now entrusts to you the promise that it will continue to be guided by his example, grateful for having had him as our shepherd.”