On Easter Sunday, April 20, at 6 p.m. Manila time, I watched Pope Francis on television giving the traditional Easter blessings to a large crowd in St. Peter’s Square in Rome and to millions of people online all over the world. It was obvious that he was not in the best of health, so his Message was read by a Vatican official. I had a feeling that he was saying goodbye to the Catholic faithful and to the rest of the world who appreciated his great humanity. Despite his physical limitations, he was still able to go around in his Popemobile, blessing some very fortunate babies along the way. I said a silent prayer asking God that some of these babies would dedicate themselves to God when they are old enough in some form of vocation or another, as Pope Francis wrote in one of his recent letters.

At midnight of that same Easter Sunday, I took a flight to attend an international conference in Rome via Dubai. True enough, as the plane from Dubai was about to take off for Rome, the passengers were abuzz with the news that Pope Francis had just passed away. I said a prayer for the repose of his soul. Despite what some of his critics say, I am convinced that he lived a very holy life and that he is already in the presence of God. That is why I recommend to my relatives and friends that we can both pray for and to him.

During the following days, the schedule of the international conference was modified so that we could go to the wake and the funeral at St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Peter’s Square. During the funeral on Saturday, April 26, an estimated 250,000 were present inside St. Peter’s Square. I was not fortunate enough to be among them. I was part of the additional 200,000 who were around the peripheries of the Square and had to listen to the conduct of the ceremonies through the public address system. I consoled myself that I was able to watch the funeral procession that took the body of the Pope to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, where the Pope had asked to be buried because of his great devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

The next day, I was lucky enough to join some of my friends to combine celebrating the Jubilee Year by visiting the Basilica of St. Mary Major and, at the same time, paying my respects at the newly finished tomb of Pope Francis in a very unostentatious place in the Basilica. The very modest tomb was very much in keeping with the way he lived, outstanding in his detachment from earthly goods. It surprised no one when, after his death, it was announced that the only earthly good he left behind was one hundred dollars. Pope Francis not only lived the virtue of poverty in a heroic way; he promoted the welfare of the poorest of the poor, the suffering, and all underprivileged people more than any other world leader of his generation.

As I prayed in front of his tomb at the Basilica of St. Mary Major, I promised that I would echo some of the numerous testimonies to him that appeared immediately after his death. Through this column, let me communicate to my readers some of the most eloquent eulogies to the Pope I have heard or read immediately after his demise. The very first one I read was from the Prelate of Opus Dei, Msgr. Fernando Ocariz: “In these moments of sorrow, together with the whole Church, we address our prayers to the Lord for the soul of our beloved Pope Francis. God will have rewarded his generous dedication to the service of the People of God and the whole world…The Pope had great faith in the mercy of God, and the main orientations of his pontificate have been precisely to announce it to the men and women of today. By his example, he urged us to accept and experience God’s mercy, who never tires of forgiving us; and, on the other hand, to be merciful to others, as he tirelessly was himself, with so many gestures of tenderness that are a central part of his witnessing magisterium.”

Quoting the Founder of Opus Dei, St. Josemaria Escriva, Msgr. Ocariz wrote the following words from the bestseller “The Forge”, point 133: ‘Welcome the Pope’s words with a religious, humble, internal, and effective acceptance.’ “May the example of Pope Francis lead us to echo this witness, to continue walking as apostles of mercy in a world pierced by the wounds of indifference and violence…Let us turn to Our Lady, Mater Spei—as Pope Francis liked to call her—in whom ‘everything in her life was shaped by the presence of mercy made flesh (Misericordiae Vultus), so that we too may one day be able to contemplate God face to face.”

As I arrived in Rome after the long flight from Manila via Dubai, I read the Message to the Filipino faithful on the passing of Pope Francis from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP): “With deep sorrow, yet with profound gratitude, we mourn the passing of our beloved Holy Father, Pope Francis. His final words to his beloved Church echoed the joy of Easter. He said: ‘Today at last, the singing of the ‘alleluia’ is heard once more in the Church, passing from mouth to mouth, from heart to heart, and this makes the people of God throughout the world shed tears of joy.’ It is okay to shed tears during this joyful Easter Octave. After all, it was he who reminded us that ‘we can only see more clearly through eyes washed by tears.’

“He was a shepherd who walked with his people, often choosing the dusty road toward the peripheries rather than the comfort of the center. Through Evangelii Gaudium and Fratelli Tutti, he reminded us that the heart of the Gospel beats most strongly where pain, poverty, and exclusion dwell. He invited us to be a listening Church—one that opens its ears to the cries of the people and its heart to the stirrings of the Spirit.” These words of the Catholic Bishops reminded me of the time in 2014 when I was most physically close to him in that rain-soaked Mass that he celebrated in the City of Tacloban when he braved one of the fiercest storms to hit the Philippines. He literally chose the dusty or muddy road toward the peripheries rather than the comfort of the center. The plane carrying us back to Manila almost was not able to take off because of the strong winds. That was also the time that he displayed his humanity. Despite his very visible manner of living the spirit of poverty (he lived in a very modest residence in Rome managed by nuns), he did not hesitate to show his pleasure in asking for a second serving of Carmen’s Best ice cream (salted caramel) that was offered to him by a flight steward of PAL. To be continued.