Catholics pray in the hope preached by late pontiff

Hours after receiving news of Pope Francis’ death early Monday, Catholics in the Omaha area gathered for Mass, praying for the repose of his soul.

Archbishop George J. Lucas noted that a day otherwise filled with Easter joy was tinged with sadness for Catholics and other people in the Archdiocese of Omaha and around the world.

It was revealed later in the day that Pope Francis had died after suffering a stroke and the collapse of his cardiocirculatory system.

Despite the sad news, the faithful have reason for hope, “renewed hope that Francis himself urged on us,” Archbishop Lucas said in his homily at the 11:15 a.m. Mass at St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha. “We have hope for life in Christ.”

“We pray for him,” the archbishop said of Pope Francis. “We pray that mercy will be shown to him now at this moment … that God “will welcome him home safely now at the end of his pilgrimage, his pilgrimage of hope.”

In the Scripture readings for the Mass, Jesus’ disciples saw the Risen Jesus face to face, and after witnessing his death on the Cross, they could see that He was alive.

“That opportunity to see the Risen Lord face to face is the hope of every person, isn’t it?” the archbishop asked. “This was the hope of Pope Francis,” who invited everyone to be pilgrims of hope during this Jubilee Year.

Pope Francis urged people “to look for the face of Jesus even now” in this life, Archbishop Lucas said, in the poor, migrants and refugees, the sick and elderly.

“Francis just kept inviting us … to look, to recognize the face of Jesus in these brothers and sisters and to offer them our love, our care, our respect, as Jesus Himself desires that they experience.”

“In the coming days let us continue to remember Pope Francis, in our prayers of thanksgiving for his life and ministry, and in the hope that the Lord will show mercy and bring him home,” the archbishop said.

“Let’s also pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, for all of us in the whole Church throughout the world, especially for the cardinals who will be traveling to Rome soon for the funeral of the pope and for the conclave that will follow.”

There the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, will choose a new Holy Father.

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