Pope Francis’ legacy remembered by Bishop, mourners during diocesan Mass
April 21, 2025 at 3:18 p.m.
Hours after learning about the passing of Pope Francis, Bishop David M. O'Connell, C.M., and the Diocese's priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful had an opportunity to gather and prayed for the happy repose of the Holy Father's soul.
PHOTO GALLERY: Mass for Pope Francis
Celebrating the 12:10 p.m. weekday Mass in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, Bishop O’Connell said, "Although we continue our Easter joy, our hearts are heavy and burdened by the news of the death of our Holy Father, Pope Francis."
Pope Francis’ April 21 death was announced by the Vatican. It was reported that the death occurred around 7:35 a.m. Rome time.
Msgr. Joseph Roldan, Cathedral rector, and his staff, moved swiftly to prepare for the Mass. Placed in the sanctuary was an easel that held a large portrait of a healthy, smiling Francis with black ribbon bordering the portrait frame. Outside the Cathedral’s main entrance, black and violet bunting was affixed above to the building’s three main doors.
During his homily, Bishop O’Connell reviewed some of the highlights and pastoral priorities of the Pope’s 12-year pontificate. The Bishop said that from the moment that Pope Francis was introduced March 13, 2013, the world “witnessed something different, something unique about this man chosen by the College of Cardinals to be the 266th successor of St. Peter,” the Bishop said.
The uniqueness, the Bishop surmised, was perhaps reflected in the Holy Father’s “humble, more informal way of greeting the crowds gathered and watching, blessing them, but first pausing to ask them for their prayer and blessing.” The Bishop added that Francis was different from his predecessors being he was the first Jesuit pope, the first to take the name Francis, the first from the Americas and the first non-European pope to take the throne of Peter in 13 centuries, he said.
“The world welcomed Pope Francis with evident joy, watched him with great expectation, waiting with hope that he would courageously and boldly lead the Catholic Church forward in the third millennium,” Bishop O’Connell said. “Yes, from those first moments it was very clear that he would be a different kind of pope, taking as his papal motto ‘Lowly But Chosen’.
Bishop O’Connell acknowledged that while Francis’ papacy would be “different,” he was still a pope who “loved tradition.”
“People don’t give him credit for that. He loved tradition but he wouldn’t be burdened or held captive by it,” the Bishop said.
Focusing on when then-Cardinal Bergoglio was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bishop O’Connell spoke of how he lived simply, “walking among the people of the city eagerly and often.
“He had great evident pastoral care, the care of a shepherd and genuine priestly affection for his people. He would become a beloved shepherd,” the Bishop said. “From his early years as a Jesuit priest than religious superior, then bishop, archbishop and cardinal to the years of his historic papacy, Pope Francis’ journey of faith was marked by an unwavering commitment to the poor, marginalized and oppressed. His profound empathy and dedication to social justice resonated deeply with millions throughout the world, inspiring in them acts of kindness and courage.”
The Bishop continued, “Pope Francis embodied the sense of the term ‘servant leadership.’ He was relentless in his search for peace, dialogue and unity. He never stopped advocating for the poor, marginalized, migrants, refugees, for those disenfranchised, even by the Church, reminding us all that we shared a humanity and that we also shared the imperative to lift one another up.”
The Holy Father was known for his custom of greeting people of all beliefs including those who disagreed with the Catholic Church, but Pope Francis “was never afraid to speak the truth of the Gospel, the truth of Church doctrine, the truth of Church tradition with conviction.”
Yet, Bishop O’Connell noted, the Pope “urged all of us to step beyond our comfort zone, to reach out to those suffering, to be instruments of God’s love and peace in the world.”
“To me, Pope Francis’ legacy is one of boundless grace and simplicity and humility, and especially in this Jubilee Year of Hope. He had a gentle spirit and he offered generously his consolation and care for people in what he had to say and in what he had to do.”
The April 21 Mass was livestreamed on diocesan media sites. The video can still be accessed by clicking: Mass for Pope Francis
Mass goers prayerfully remember the soul of Pope Francis.
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Hours after learning about the passing of Pope Francis, Bishop David M. O'Connell, C.M., and the Diocese's priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful had an opportunity to gather and prayed for the happy repose of the Holy Father's soul.
PHOTO GALLERY: Mass for Pope Francis
Celebrating the 12:10 p.m. weekday Mass in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, Bishop O’Connell said, "Although we continue our Easter joy, our hearts are heavy and burdened by the news of the death of our Holy Father, Pope Francis."
Pope Francis’ April 21 death was announced by the Vatican. It was reported that the death occurred around 7:35 a.m. Rome time.
Msgr. Joseph Roldan, Cathedral rector, and his staff, moved swiftly to prepare for the Mass. Placed in the sanctuary was an easel that held a large portrait of a healthy, smiling Francis with black ribbon bordering the portrait frame. Outside the Cathedral’s main entrance, black and violet bunting was affixed above to the building’s three main doors.
During his homily, Bishop O’Connell reviewed some of the highlights and pastoral priorities of the Pope’s 12-year pontificate. The Bishop said that from the moment that Pope Francis was introduced March 13, 2013, the world “witnessed something different, something unique about this man chosen by the College of Cardinals to be the 266th successor of St. Peter,” the Bishop said.
The uniqueness, the Bishop surmised, was perhaps reflected in the Holy Father’s “humble, more informal way of greeting the crowds gathered and watching, blessing them, but first pausing to ask them for their prayer and blessing.” The Bishop added that Francis was different from his predecessors being he was the first Jesuit pope, the first to take the name Francis, the first from the Americas and the first non-European pope to take the throne of Peter in 13 centuries, he said.
“The world welcomed Pope Francis with evident joy, watched him with great expectation, waiting with hope that he would courageously and boldly lead the Catholic Church forward in the third millennium,” Bishop O’Connell said. “Yes, from those first moments it was very clear that he would be a different kind of pope, taking as his papal motto ‘Lowly But Chosen’.
Bishop O’Connell acknowledged that while Francis’ papacy would be “different,” he was still a pope who “loved tradition.”
“People don’t give him credit for that. He loved tradition but he wouldn’t be burdened or held captive by it,” the Bishop said.
Focusing on when then-Cardinal Bergoglio was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bishop O’Connell spoke of how he lived simply, “walking among the people of the city eagerly and often.
“He had great evident pastoral care, the care of a shepherd and genuine priestly affection for his people. He would become a beloved shepherd,” the Bishop said. “From his early years as a Jesuit priest than religious superior, then bishop, archbishop and cardinal to the years of his historic papacy, Pope Francis’ journey of faith was marked by an unwavering commitment to the poor, marginalized and oppressed. His profound empathy and dedication to social justice resonated deeply with millions throughout the world, inspiring in them acts of kindness and courage.”
The Bishop continued, “Pope Francis embodied the sense of the term ‘servant leadership.’ He was relentless in his search for peace, dialogue and unity. He never stopped advocating for the poor, marginalized, migrants, refugees, for those disenfranchised, even by the Church, reminding us all that we shared a humanity and that we also shared the imperative to lift one another up.”
The Holy Father was known for his custom of greeting people of all beliefs including those who disagreed with the Catholic Church, but Pope Francis “was never afraid to speak the truth of the Gospel, the truth of Church doctrine, the truth of Church tradition with conviction.”
Yet, Bishop O’Connell noted, the Pope “urged all of us to step beyond our comfort zone, to reach out to those suffering, to be instruments of God’s love and peace in the world.”
“To me, Pope Francis’ legacy is one of boundless grace and simplicity and humility, and especially in this Jubilee Year of Hope. He had a gentle spirit and he offered generously his consolation and care for people in what he had to say and in what he had to do.”
The April 21 Mass was livestreamed on diocesan media sites. The video can still be accessed by clicking: Mass for Pope Francis
Mass goers prayerfully remember the soul of Pope Francis.