Vatican City, Feb 14, 2017 / 12:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A special invitation to visit Egypt was delivered to Pope Francis by Coptic Catholic bishops during their ad limina visit Feb. 6, during which they also gave a report on the state of the Church in their country.
“It was a formal invitation put in written form, that followed other invitations to Egypt,” Bishop Emmanuel Bishay of Luxor told CNA.
The Pope has also received an invitation to visit Egypt from the country’s president and from the Grand Imam of al Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb, who occupies a prestigious place in the Sunni Muslim world.
It is widely speculated that the Pope might go to South Sudan in November. There is a possibility he could use the occasion for a longer trip, with a stop in Egypt.
Bishop Bishay was one of the bishops who took part in the meeting with the Pope. The bishop, who is a former official at the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, described the meeting as “marvelous.”
“Previously, ad limina visits included a papal speech that gave the highlights of the situation of the country and provided recommendations. But now there are no more speeches, and each of us was invited to freely speak about the situation in his diocese,” Bishop Bishay recounted.
He said the Pope welcomed Egypt’s Catholic bishops.
“It reminded me of that passage of the Gospel when Jesus sent the apostles to make disciples, and, when they are back, asks them to tell their experience,” the bishop said.
Bishop Bishay said that the bishops, beyond the particular issues of each diocese, talked about the fruits of the Catholic Church’s Year of Mercy and about the daily life of the Church in Egypt.
The Pope “encouraged us to carry on our mission in the Church and at the service of Egyptian society, with a particular reference to education and dialogue,” the bishop reported.
In the Coptic Eparchy of Luxor, education is a major concern.
“We established two catechetical institutes, one in Luxor and one in Aswan, and classes are attended by about 250 people. We launched a vocational year last Dec. 8, placing it under the Virgin Mary’s protection,” he said.
Already there are five boys discerning a vocation who could begin seminary next year.
Terrorism is another concern for the Church in Egypt.
“Egyptians are very attentive, as they know that terrorism aims at undermining the unity of our country as well as our shared life with Muslims brothers,” Bishop Bishay said.
Despite incidents in which many churches were burned by extremists, “no reaction against the Muslim community came from the Catholic Church,” the bishop reported.
The government of Egypt understands the issue and helps restore the destroyed churches. Christmas 2014 also marked a new outreach from President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who visited a Coptic Orthodox cathedral.
“For the first time ever a president of the Republic of Egypt spent the Christmas night at Mass,” Bishop Bishay said.
Egyptian society was also profoundly shocked by the beheading in Libya of 20 Orthodox Coptic faithful and a companion by Islamic State militants in February 2015.
“On one hand, this wound does not only affect the Egyptian society, but the whole world. What has happened is part of a war that is fed by the instrumentalization of religions,” the bishop said, denouncing efforts to kill in the name of God.
On the other hand, he continued, “the example of the Coptic martyrs gave strength and courage to all of us. Instead of creating divisions within the country, the message of the martyrs bore more unity. So much that people do not speak about the shedding of Christian blood, but about the shedding of Egyptian blood.”
Despite apparent improvements, Christians still have some difficulties in getting permission to build new churches. Bishop Bishay is truly optimistic. He pointed to the passage of new legislation that regulates the construction and the restoration of churches as well as the right to have places of worship where none have been built.
“We look forward to having this bill be fully understood and applied,” the bishop said.
Coptic Christians are composed of Catholics and Oriental Orthodox. Ecumenical dialogue is going on at a good pace, the bishop reported.
“We are living at a time of a positive momentum, as Patriarch Tawadros pushes a lot for Christian unity,” he said. “Back in 2013, he spent one week in Rome, and met with Pope Francis May 10. Ever since, on May 10 there is a festival of Catholics and Orthodox together. There is still a long path to go, but we are walking the path for sure.”
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Pallbearers carry the wooden coffin of Pope Francis, marked with a cross, into St. Peter’s Square for the funeral Mass on April 26, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Vatican City, Apr 26, 2025 / 05:03 am (CNA).
More than 200,000 people filled St. Peter’s Square for the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday as the world said goodbye to the first Latin American pope who led the Catholic Church for the past 12 years.
Under the bright Roman sun and amid crowds extending down the Via della Conciliazione, the funeral Mass unfolded within the great colonnade of St. Peter’s Basilica. Heads of state, religious leaders, and pilgrims from across the globe gathered for the historic farewell.
An aerial view of St. Peter’s Square filled with thousands of mourners, clergy, and dignitaries gathered for Pope Francis’s funeral Mass under clear blue skies in Vatican City on April 26, 2025.`. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, presided over the Mass, delivering a homily that paid tribute to Francis’ missionary vision, human warmth, spontaneity, witness to mercy, and “charisma of welcome and listening.”
“Evangelization was the guiding principle of his pontificate,” Re said.
Pope Francis “often used the image of the Church as a ‘field hospital’ after a battle in which many were wounded; a Church determined to take care of the problems of people and the great anxieties that tear the contemporary world apart; a Church capable of bending down to every person, regardless of their beliefs or condition, and healing their wounds.”
As bells tolled solemnly, the funeral rite began with the intonation of the entrance antiphon: “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.”
The late pope’s closed plain wooden coffin lay in front of the altar throughout the Mass.
A view of the coffin of Pope Francis resting before the altar at the funeral Mass on St. Peter’s Square, April 26, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
“In this majestic Saint Peter’s Square, where Pope Francis celebrated the Eucharist so many times and presided over great gatherings over the past twelve years, we are gathered with sad hearts in prayer around his mortal remains,” Re said.
“With our prayers, we now entrust the soul of our beloved Pontiff to God, that he may grant him eternal happiness in the bright and glorious gaze of his immense love,” he added.
View of St. Peter’s Basilica during the Funeral Mass of Pope Francis on April 26, 2025. Peter Gagnon / EWTN
Among the more than 50 heads of state present were U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, alongside former President Joe Biden. Also in attendance were Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Argentine President Javier Milei, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva joined the throng of international dignitaries along with representatives of religious traditions from around the world.
Royal families also paid their respects, with Prince William representing King Charles III and Spanish King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia seated near the altar.
Pilgrims arrived before sunrise to claim their spots in St. Peter’s Square for the Mass with the first in line camping out the night before.
The funeral followed the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis, the official liturgical order for papal funerals, which was updated at Pope Francis’ own request in 2024. Scripture readings included Acts 10:34-43, Philippians 3:20–4:1, Psalm 22, and the Gospel of John 21:15-19 — a passage in which the risen Christ tells Peter: “Feed my sheep.”
More than 200 cardinals and 750 bishops and priests concelebrated the funeral Mass. More than 4,000 journalists representing 1,800 media outlets reported on the event. All told, the Holy See said more than 250,000 mourners attended.
In his homily, Cardinal Re reflected on key moments in Pope Francis’ pontificate from his risk-defying trip to Iraq to visit Christians communities persecuted by the Islamic State to his Mass on the border between Mexico and the United States during his journey to Mexico.
“Faced with the raging wars of recent years, with their inhuman horrors and countless deaths and destruction, Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice imploring peace and calling for reason and honest negotiation to find possible solutions,” the cardinal said, causing the crowd to erupt in spontaneous applause.
Pope Francis’ coffin lies in St. Peter’s Square during the papal funeral Mass on Saturday, April 26, 2025. Credit: EWTN News
“Pope Francis always placed the Gospel of mercy at the center, repeatedly emphasizing that God never tires of forgiving us. He forgives, whatever the situation might be of the person who asks for forgiveness and returns to the right path,” Re reflected. “Mercy and the joy of the Gospel are two key words for Pope Francis.”
The cardinal presided over the final commendation and farewell for Pope Francis, praying: “Dear brothers and sisters, let us commend to God’s tender mercy the soul of Pope Francis, bishop of the Catholic Church, who confirmed his brothers and sisters in the faith of the resurrection.”
“Let us pray to God our Father through Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit; may he deliver him from death, welcome him to eternal peace and raise up him on the last day,” he said.
After the crowd chanted the Litany of Saints in Latin, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, offered a final prayer: “O God, faithful rewarder of souls, grant that your departed servant and our bishop, Pope Francis, whom you made successor of Peter and shepherd of your Church, may happily enjoy forever in your presence in heaven the mysteries of your grace and compassion, which he faithfully ministered on earth.”
A poignant moment followed as Eastern Catholic patriarchs, major archbishops, and metropolitans from the “sui iuris” Churches approached the coffin while a choir chanted a Greek prayer from the Byzantine Funeral Office.
Re blessed the coffin with holy water and incense as the choir sang in Latin: “I know that my Redeemer lives: on the last day I shall rise again.”
At the end of the Mass, the traditional antiphon “In Paradisum” was sung in Latin, asking for the angels to guide the pope’s soul to heaven.
“May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs come and welcome you and take you to the holy city, the new and eternal Jerusalem. May choirs of angels welcome you and with Lazarus, who is poor no longer, may you have eternal rest.”
In keeping with his wishes, Pope Francis will not be buried in the Vatican grottoes alongside his predecessors. Instead, his body will be taken in procession through the streets of Rome in a vehicle to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, a church he visited over 100 times in his lifetime to pray before an icon of the Virgin Mary, “Salus Populi Romani,” particularly before and after his papal journeys.
Pope Francis’ wooden coffin is transported on the popemobile through the streets of Rome as crowds of faithful line the procession route from St. Peter’s Basilica to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, April 26, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
In Rome’s most important Marian basilica, Pope Francis will be laid to rest in a simple tomb marked with a single word: Franciscus.
Remembering Pope Francis
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and entered the Society of Jesus at age 21. Following his ordination in 1969, he served as a Jesuit provincial, seminary rector, and professor before St. John Paul II appointed him auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires in 1992. He became archbishop of the Argentine capital in 1998 and was created cardinal in 2001.
The surprise election of Cardinal Bergoglio on March 13, 2013, at age 76 marked several historic firsts: He became the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas, and the first to choose the name Francis, inspired by St. Francis of Assisi’s devotion to poverty, peace, and creation.
His 12-year pontificate was characterized by a focus on mercy, care for creation, and attention to what he called the “peripheries” of both the Church and society. He made 47 apostolic journeys outside Italy, though he never visited his native Argentina.
During his tenure, Pope Francis canonized 942 saints — more than any other pope in history — including his predecessors John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II. He published four encyclicals and seven apostolic exhortations while promulgating 75 motu proprio documents.
Throughout his papacy, Francis significantly reshaped the College of Cardinals through 10 consistories, creating 163 new cardinals. His appointments reflected his vision of a global Church, elevating prelates from the peripheries and creating cardinals in places that had never before had one, including Mongolia and South Sudan.
Health challenges marked the pope’s final years. He underwent surgery in July 2021 and in June 2023. In November 2023, he suffered from pulmonary inflammation, and in February 2025, he was hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for bronchitis and a respiratory infection.
His papacy faced unprecedented challenges, including the global COVID-19 pandemic, during which he offered historic moments of prayer for humanity, notably the extraordinary urbi et orbi blessing in an empty St. Peter’s Square in March 2020. He also repeatedly called for peace amid conflicts in Ukraine and the Holy Land.
Francis convoked four synods, including the Synod on Synodality, whose second session concluded in October 2024. He implemented significant reforms of the Roman Curia and took several steps to address the clergy abuse crisis, including the 2019 motu proprio Vos Estis Lux Mundi.
Pope Francis’ funeral marks the first day in the Catholic Church’s traditional nine-day mourning period that will include nine days of requiem Masses to be offered for the repose of his soul.
“Pope Francis used to conclude his speeches and meetings by saying, ‘Do not forget to pray for me,’ Re recalled at the end of his homily.
“Dear Pope Francis, we now ask you to pray for us. May you bless the Church, bless Rome, and bless the whole world from heaven as you did last Sunday from the balcony of this Basilica in a final embrace with all the people of God, but also embrace humanity that seeks the truth with a sincere heart and holds high the torch of hope.”
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