Chronicle EditorHe preached world peace and love, denounced growing inequality and the “new tyranny” of capitalism and “idolatry of money,” and remained humble.
He was for equality thus departed from the norm, when appointing women to influential positions that used to be exclusively held by men. Due to his love for all, he embraced even the homeless, whom he referred to as “the nobles of the street.”
Speaking on Easter Sunday, he denounced the fighting in Gaza and called for a cessation of hostilities.
He advanced these and other values in his 33 years as a Catholic Bishop, Archbishop and Pope until he rested aged 88 on Monday at the Vatican, Rome, Italy.
The 1,4 billion Catholic faithful across the world as well as non-Catholics are mourning the death of Pope Francis following a prolonged respiratory illness. The 266th Pope, who assumed that role in March 2013, will be buried on Saturday at the Papal Basilica of St Mary Major, just outside the Vatican.
In his message of condolences on Monday, President Mnangagwa highlighted some of the values that Pope Francis espoused.
“I join the world in mourning the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis, a man of profound humility who stood for peace, compassion and justice. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the Catholic Church and Catholics across the globe. May his soul rest in eternal peace,” he posted on X.
The world has lost one of its more consequential voices. Women, the poor, the vulnerable and the oppressed have lost one of their biggest backers.
We urge the world to take note of what Pope Francis preached and stood for and strive to live by that.
If all of us shun the relentless pursuit for wealth and wealth for its sake and stop idolising money, traits which we are seeing across the globe, we think most of the ills that we are grappling with as humanity will be resolved. We will have a more just and equitable world in which prosperity is shared.
Still on riches, we learn a lot from Pope Francis’ choice of a humble life. He preferred to travel in smaller, utilitarian vehicles instead of large, luxury ones. He eschewed elaborate clothing such as silk robes, which we have come to associate with the clergy, opting for ordinary garments.
If all of us take after Pope Francis to be modest, the showiness and gapping inequalities that we are seeing in society would end.
If we take care of the poor as he preached and practised, we will have fewer and fewer people wallowing on the streets with no food, clothing, security and dignity. We will have more decent homes, enough food and a more secure existence for all of us.
If we heed his calls for peace, the fighting in Gaza and the resultant suffering and deaths on that strip would end, life in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo would return to normal and Sudan would be calm. We will be a world of tolerance and peace.
On a visit to predominantly Islamic Morocco in 2019, Pope Francis preached unity between faiths.
That message resonated worldwide then and remains important now, given the religious intolerance that sometimes escalates into armed conflict and terrorism in countries like Nigeria, Somalia and Mozambique as well as discrimination against Christians in Britain, Spain, Germany and elsewhere.
Online Reporter