After a long, hard-fought battle against the terrorist pneumonia refusing to release its holy hostage, Pope Francis nevertheless triumphs and now just after Easter Sunday has set sail for his deserving reward–heaven.
His Holiness now sails toward his well-earned resting place, although he’ll probably not rest there either.
He will now be with his savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord God in heaven, where he’ll meet all the saints he worshipped and the dearly departed he so loved, all undoubtedly cheering the active reformer’s life and how he bravely lived it.
His legend began when some cardinals had started venturing further out for pastoral alternatives to likely contenders for the papacy.
Some began looking for a new source of inspiration, at different proving grounds for overcoming adversity, hardships and despotism.
They began to look at a part of the world heretofore untapped, yet full of promise for an invigorated new leadership for the Catholic Church that was burgeoning in an exciting and venturous part of the world, Latin America.
There was found Jorge Mario Bergoglio whom they elected Pope on March 13, 2013, at age of 76 to succeed Pope Benedict XVI and he took the name of Francis.
In those first 100 days of the electrifying Francis pontificate, he had taken the Vatican, and the world by storm— “flipping the omelet” as he liked to say.
People were trying to fit him into straightjackets, said author Austen Ivereigh in his wonderfully insightful book “The Great Reformer” whose jacket cover is pictured above with the late Pope on sail heading for you know where.
“People were trying to fit him into straitjackets that just didn’t apply in Latin America an even less in Argentina where Peronism exploded the categories of left and right,” said Ivereigh.
The Great Reformer is the narrative thread throughout Ivereigh’s book about a wise church leader who from an early age felt called upon to be a reformer and tightened the authority to do so for the good of the Church, and more importantly, to the ultimate benefit of mankind.
May Pope Francis not just rest in peace but continue to keep reforming and inspiring us all to be kinder, more considerate and loving toward one another.
Tom Madden prays that we all learn from Pope Francis that we each have a role to play in reforming what’s cruel, selfish, misguided and unfair around us, which is why Madden created Planetary Lifeguard, Blowing the Whistle on Climate Change and why his PR firm TransMedia Group seeks to a cast media spotlight on companies doing good things like ROKiT Homes providing inexpensive housing for victims of floods, fires and hurricanes and Altitude Water providing pure fresh drinking water to those same victims.
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