Letter on the occasion of the death
of Pope Francis addressed to the Entire Order of Friars Minor,
to our Poor Clare Sisters and Conceptionist Nuns,
to Sisters belonging to affiliated Institutes, and to the Laity of the Franciscan Family.
Rome, the General Curia of the Order, 21 04 2025
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
May the Lord give you peace!
As I write to you all, my heart is filled with emotion and gratitude as the Church and the whole world mourn the death of Pope Francis, the first Pontiff to choose the name of our Seraphic Father. This choice, made on the evening of his election, revealed the direction of his pontificate from its very first moments; an ever-new return to evangelical simplicity, a Church that is close to the poor, and the primacy of mercy and of encounter with every human person.
Recent times have seen Pope Francis visited by serious “infirmity and tribulation” which have given us the opportunity to see how a Christian and a pastor meets “Sister Death.” This is a very precious testimony in a time of superficiality that tends to deny illness and death, and we are also grateful to him for his patience and for his praise of the Most High and Good Lord in all he endured.
Read the full text of the Letter:
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